# Congress relies on ChatGPT for 90% of AI tool spending, drafting legislation and constituent responses

> New House spending records offer a candid look at how Congress actually uses AI, and the answer is mostly ChatGPT. Of about $113,740 that Congressional offices spent on AI tools in fiscal 2026, roughly $100,580, or 90%, went to OpenAI across nearly 800 transactions. Anthropic's Claude trailed at $13,160 over just 37 transactions. Staffers are not using these tools for novelty. The records point to drafting memos, analyzing bills, preparing for hearings, researching policy, and writing responses to constituents, the daily grind of legislative work. There is also a partisan split worth noting, with Democratic offices spending roughly $54,000 versus about $15,800 for Republican offices. A few caveats keep this honest. The data covers the House only, excludes free accounts, and misses AI quietly embedded in larger software subscriptions, so real usage is surely higher. Still, it is a concrete data point on how a major institution is folding these tools into governing, and a reminder that the people writing your laws are increasingly doing it with an AI assistant open in another tab.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: TechCrunch · Published Thursday, August 6, 2026_

## Wortins' read

New House spending records offer a candid look at how Congress actually uses AI, and the answer is mostly ChatGPT. Of about $113,740 that Congressional offices spent on AI tools in fiscal 2026, roughly $100,580, or 90%, went to OpenAI across nearly 800 transactions. Anthropic's Claude trailed at $13,160 over just 37 transactions. Staffers are not using these tools for novelty. The records point to drafting memos, analyzing bills, preparing for hearings, researching policy, and writing responses to constituents, the daily grind of legislative work. There is also a partisan split worth noting, with Democratic offices spending roughly $54,000 versus about $15,800 for Republican offices. A few caveats keep this honest. The data covers the House only, excludes free accounts, and misses AI quietly embedded in larger software subscriptions, so real usage is surely higher. Still, it is a concrete data point on how a major institution is folding these tools into governing, and a reminder that the people writing your laws are increasingly doing it with an AI assistant open in another tab.

## Source

[Read the full story at TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/03/congresss-favorite-ai-tool-chatgpt/)

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