Four years ago, the House of Representatives established a committee to recommend changes to how the chamber operates, covering everything from technology to bipartisan resources to constituent services. On Thursday, the committee announced its final set of recommendations, bringing the panel’s total number of proposals to more than 200.
The new recommendations focus on additional steps to improve congressional operations, but also call on the House to begin the work begun by the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.
“The 105 recommendations this committee has passed will make a difference well beyond the 117th Congress and that’s the goal of modernization – to put processes and practices in place that will ensure ongoing improvement of the institution,” said the committee’s chairman, Rep. Derek Kilmer. “And I think we made great progress toward that goal.”
Of the 195 recommendations passed by the panel prior to the final set, 88 have been partially implemented and 42 have been fully implemented, according to the committee’s own tracking.
“I feel that we have made a huge impact in healing this institution and I know that our work is not done,” said Vice Chair William Timmons. “But I think the work that we have done thus far is going to pay dividends for years to come.”
The new recommendations call on the House to:
- Require committee meeting times to be entered into a shared scheduling tool.
- Regularly publish a report on lawmakers voting after House votes are supposed to conclude.
- Direct the House Administration and House Rules committees to send bipartisan congressional delegations to visit other nations’ legislatures to learn as well as facilitate collaboration among lawmakers.
- Direct the House Administration Committee to hold voluntary seminars for new lawmakers during their first terms, going beyond post-election orientation.
- Change the management of lawmaker’s travel-related expenses to align better with the policies used by federal agencies and the private sector.
But the committee wants to see modernization continue even after it is disbanded. The members recommended the House Administration Committee include a subcommittee on modernization to allow for continuing, ongoing work, as well as the reappointment of a select committee at least once every eight years.
The committee, which includes an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, was established in January 2019 with a one-year mandate to study Congress and make recommendations on how to make the legislative branch more efficient, effective and transparent. It was renewed for an additional year in February 2020 and then granted two more years in 2021.
Kilmer, a Democrat from Washington, spoke of the productive partnerships he has had with the panel's two Republican vice chairs, first Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia and now Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina.
“I’m a big believer in the notion that the boat moves best when all the oars are in the water, rowing in the same direction. In this place not only is that often not the case but even worse sometimes the oars are out of the water with people actively beating each other over the heads,” Kilmer said. “That has not been the case with William Timmons.”
See all the preceding recommendations from the 116th and 117th Congresses.
“Our work is not done,” Timmons said. “One of our recommendations is to continue this as a subcommittee on House Admin and I’m hopeful that will happen. I believe that will happen.”
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."