Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Modernization Committee ends its work with a call for the House to keep up the effort

House Modernization Committee

Rep. Derek Kilmer cited the collaborative nature of the committee's work as a key to its success.

YouTube

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.”

Read More

Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

The B-2 "Spirit" Stealth Bomber flys over the 136th Rose Parade Presented By Honda on Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, California. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

After a short and successful war with Iraq, President George H.W. Bush claimed in 1991 that “the ghosts of Vietnam have been laid to rest beneath the sands of the Arabian desert.” Bush was referring to what was commonly called the “Vietnam syndrome.” The idea was that the Vietnam War had so scarred the American psyche that we forever lost confidence in American power.

The elder President Bush was partially right. The first Iraq war was certainly popular. And his successor, President Clinton, used American power — in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere — with the general approval of the media and the public.

Keep ReadingShow less
Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are
a close up of a typewriter with the word conspiracy on it

Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are

The Comet Ping Pong Pizzagate shooting, the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and a man’s livestreamed beheading of his father last year were all fueled by conspiracy theories. But while the headlines suggest that conspiratorial thinking is on the rise, this is not the case. Research points to no increase in conspiratorial thinking. Still, to a more dangerous reality: the conspiracies taking hold and being amplified by political ideologues are increasingly correlated with violence against particular groups. Fortunately, promising new research points to actions we can take to reduce conspiratorial thinking in communities across the US.

Some journalists claim that this is “a golden age of conspiracy theories,” and the public agrees. As of 2022, 59% of Americans think that people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories today than 25 years ago, and 73% of Americans think conspiracy theories are “out of control.” Most blame this perceived increase on the role of social media and the internet.

Keep ReadingShow less
Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job
woman wearing academic cap and dress selective focus photography
Photo by MD Duran on Unsplash

Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job

A college education used to be considered, along with homeownership, one of the key pillars of the American Dream. Is that still the case? Recent experiences of college graduates seeking employment raise questions about whether a university diploma remains the best pathway to pursuing happiness, as it once was.

Consider the case of recent grad Lohanny Santo, whose TikTok video went viral with over 3.6 million “likes” as she broke down in tears and vented her frustration over her inability to find even a minimum wage job. That was despite her dual degrees from Pace University and her ability to speak three languages. John York, a 24-year-old with a master’s degree in math from New York University, writes that “it feels like I am screaming into the void with each application I am filling out.”

Keep ReadingShow less