New year, new Congress?
Ending the year on a hopeful note, with five reforms from the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.
Congressional dysfunction was on full display this week, as members hobbled together a leader-led omnibus spending bill and a Covid-relief bill that left many… unenthused. But while the end-of-year drama seemed made-for-TV, these large packages, created behind closed doors, and rushed through Congress are par for the course. As the figure below shows, Congress is consistently passing fewer—yet larger—bills.
It’s clear that Congress isn’t functioning like School House Rock would lead you to believe, but it is functioning. However, it could do better (okay, maybe a lot better).
In the endeavor of forcing holiday cheer, this post outlines five reforms passed by the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress earlier this year that have the potential to make Congress more effective and efficient. These recommendations (and the below text) are pulled from the Modernization Committee’s final report, which you can view and download here.
The Modernization Committee passed 97 recommendations in total over the past two years. And just this week, the Committee was given the green light to continue working into the 117th Congress (“select” committees are temporary, versus permanent “standing” committees). So if the list below is encouraging, good news—there’s more where that came from! 🤗
These recommendations (and the fact that they were passed unanimously by a bipartisan group of legislators) have brought me hope for our political system. Perhaps they can do the same for you.
1. Improve congressional staff retention.
Turnover rates for House staff are high, with most positions in Member offices turning over every two years or so, leading to a congressional “brain drain”.
And while staff leave for many reasons, two of the biggest are limited benefits and low pay. Congress has not adjusted its pay since 2011—and when taking cost of living adjustments into consideration, staff pay has actually decreased significantly. A career on Capitol Hill is often unsustainable, particularly for experienced, senior staff. The result is less experienced staff, and a greater reliance on outside experts (namely, lobbyists).
The Committee made several recommendations to improve staff pay and benefits by suggesting ways to increase the available MRA (congressional budgets) for staff pay and creating a centralized Human Resources office. Increasing pay for staff and making it easier to get hired in the first place, is an important first step to improve congressional capacity and diversity.
Read more about these recommendations here.
2. Encourage expertise in congressional committees.
Over the past several decades, Congress’ standing as a co-equal branch of government has softened. The executive branch has expanded in size and scope of power. Ongoing cuts to the legislative branch have jeopardized Congress’ ability to effectively perform its policymaking, oversight, and representational responsibilities.
In large part, this departure from Article One responsibilities is because Congress does not facilitate bipartisan policy development and expertise in committees. Cuts to committee budgets and staff have made it more challenging to perform ongoing and comprehensive oversight.
The Committee made several recommendations to encourage bipartisanship and expertise-development in committees—including hiring committee-specific staff, holding bipartisan closed-door member meetings, and committee retreats to plan committee goals at the start of the year.
Read more about these recommendations here.
3. Reclaim Congress’s power of the purse.
The power of the purse is, arguably, Congress’ most essential responsibility. Laid out by the Founding Fathers in the U.S. Constitution, Article One provides a critical building block for the legislative branch, and explicitly designates to the U.S. House the responsibility of appropriating funds.
But over the past few years, Congress has neglected these duties. This was on full display this week as the repercussions of failed appropriations led to a massive Omnibus spending bill and several CRs to keep the government funded. The figure below shows how common this practice has become.
In addition to chaotic negotiations, Congress has also let go of their responsibility to decide who receives the funding, particularly competitive discretionary grants.
The Committee recommended the implementation of a new Community-Focused Grant Program (CFGP) that would put these financial decisions back in the hands of people who know their districts best—members of Congress. The CFGP would also motivate Congress to pass appropriations bills and reauthorizations on time.
Read more about the CFGP here.
4. Improve bipartisanship and civility among members of Congress.
For the last decade, few things have ranked lower than Congress’ approval rating. This constant fluctuation and generally dismal approval rating is often attributed to one thing: partisan bickering. Partisanship is cited as the reason for gridlock, inaction, ugly campaigns, and vitriolic arguments seen everywhere from the House floor to social media.
Of course, conflict plays an important role in the legislative process. The Founders, to some degree, presumed that conflict would play a constructive role in our politics and that Congress should be a place where disagreements are publicly aired. But the intense level of partisanship and polarization that now grip Congress are more recent phenomena.
And this is obviously a huge issue to tackle! But one place to start is forcing members of Congress to get to know each other, away from television cameras. The Modernization Committee recommended establishing a members-only room in the Capital building, and bipartisan retreats to get to know one another. After all, it’s harder to be nasty to people when you know their spouse and kids.
Read more about these recommendations here.
5. Improve and streamline congressional technology.
Just this week, Congress was delayed by none other than… a printer. Like HR, the House of Representatives leaves technology decisions and purchasing up to individual member offices. By streamlining the purchasing of technology and developing a standardized set of tech for offices, Congress can not only be more efficient, but save taxpayers money.
Read about technology recommendations here.
I hope these ideas (and others throughout the report) bring you some hope that Congress is salvageable. But like all good things, reforms takes work. So contact your Representative and let them know you’re interested in these recommendations (and those yet to come). While many of the Committee’s recommendations have passed the House and been implemented, about half of them still await floor action.
Lastly (for those who have made it this far!!), I want to say thank you for joining this project this year! It has been a great experience, and I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it. I'm taking January off—but can’t wait to get back to your inboxes in February.
As always, keep sending any ideas, topics, and suggestions, and have a Happy New Year! ❤️