Can programmers and Internet gurus help make the U.S. government more transparent to everyone? The Sunlight Foundation thinks so. Here’s the scoop from the horse’s mouth:

The Sunlight Foundation was co-founded in 2006 by Washington, DC, businessman and lawyer Michael Klein and longtime Washington public interest advocate Ellen Miller with the non-partisan mission of using the revolutionary power of the Internet to make information about Congress and the federal government more meaningfully accessible to citizens. … Sunlight’s ultimate goal is to strengthen the relationship between citizens and their elected officials and to foster public trust in government. We are unique in that technology and the power of the Internet are at the core of every one of our efforts.

The Sunlight Foundation is funding a variety of projects, including the second round of a contest that is raising the hopes of cash-strapped programmers everywhere. Interested in healthcare reform and curious about the web of relationships linking key congressional committee members to the healthcare industry? Click here. Then there’s a widget that allows you to see the latest tweets from members of Congress.

YouTube, once the go-to arena for those interested in cat hoarders, pirated tv and movie clips, and musical performances from Helsinki, is now being embraced by a wide variety of political players and institutions. As this fairly awkward two-minute introduction from our nation’s congressional leaders proves, Washington has woken up to the usefulness of searchable video clips.

The House of Representatives’ YouTube channel, HouseHub, is found here. Click on a state in the U.S. map on HouseHub’s home page to find the channel for your congressional representative (the drop-down menu at the right top of the map might be faster).

The Senate’s channel, SenateHub, can be found here. Scroll past Senator Dodd’s video requesting feedback on healthcare reform to the map. Click Alabama and then Senator Sessions’s name (strangely surrounded by a blue box…is a staffer to blame for this?) to watch video of his skeptical questioning of Judge Sonia Sotomayor over the past few days.