Patton is director of the Rebuild Congress Initiative and a co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project. Fitch is president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation.

In an era when polls show head lice is more popular than Congress, something unusual is happening in Washington. Twelve politicians from all ideological stripes are regularly getting together to address serious problems, demonstrate mutual respect and make unanimous recommendations about improving our democratic institutions.

This unlikely group of superheroes is called the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.