February 25, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 37 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE MODERNIZATION OF CONGRESS; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 37
(House of Representatives - February 25, 2020)
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[Pages H1184-H1187] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE MODERNIZATION OF CONGRESS The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Kilmer) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. General Leave Mr. KILMER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Washington? There was no objection. Mr. KILMER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about the work of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. As chair, I am extremely proud of what the select committee has accomplished in the past year. I am also proud of how we have accomplished our work. In addition to unanimously passing 45 recommendations to improve the way Congress works, the select committee is establishing a new and meaningful precedent for bipartisan collaboration. For those watching on C-SPAN, your television is not broken. We are actually proving that it is possible for Members of Congress from both sides of [[Page H1185]] the aisle to sit down together, engage in tough discussions, listen and learn from one another, and reach consensus. And I am fortunate and grateful to serve on this committee with such thoughtful and dedicated Members, including Vice Chair Tom Graves, whom we will hear from later this evening. The select committee's guiding principle is to make Congress work better so that the institution and its Members can better serve the American people. That simple but profound goal guides all of our work. It helps us identify institutional problems and develop helpful solutions. Last year, we held hearings on important topics like improving transparency in Congress, bettering constituent engagement, cultivating staff diversity and retention, developing next-generation leadership, technology best practices used in the States, the congressional schedule and calendar, and rules and procedures. We kicked off this year with two hearings on Article I of the Constitution. The first focused on restoring congressional capacity, and the second focused on debate and deliberation. While this may not have set any ratings records on C-SPAN, the reality is these hearings actually helped us dig deeper into the many challenges facing Congress and helped us identify innovative solutions to have this institution function better on behalf of the American people. As we continue to examine the range of issues in our mandate, we are going to continue to listen closely to what our colleagues and staff have to say about making Congress work better for the American people. Many Members and staff have generously devoted their time and knowledge to helping the select committee think about policies to modernize Congress. We are grateful for their support and thrilled by the amount of interest our House colleagues have expressed in our work. If one thing is clear, it is this: The desire to make Congress a more effective and efficient institution is actually devoid of partisanship. Modernizing Congress helps all Members to do a better job on behalf of their constituents. So far, the select committee has reported three sets of recommendations containing a total of 45 unanimously approved recommendations out of committee. The committee reports containing these recommendations were reported to the House today, pursuant to section 201(f)(2) of H. Res. 6, and will be made publicly available at govinfo.gov. Our first set of recommendations was reported favorably by the select committee last May and focused on improving transparency in Congress. Transparency increases accountability and, ultimately, improves the way Congress serves the American people. While a lot of legislative information is public, it is often not made available in a format that is easy to access or to review or to digest. These recommendations address transparency and accessibility problems and encourage the continuous public posting of new legislative information, including bill status, committee votes, program authorizations, and lobbying disclosures. Ultimately, it is the people who pay for the data Congress collects, so they should be able to access basic information about what Members of Congress do here, whether it is following a bill through the process, seeing how we vote in committee and on the floor, or tracking what bills Members of Congress sponsor and cosponsor. Improving public access to legislative data is wholly consistent with making Congress work better for the American people. Our second set of 24 recommendations were reported favorably by the committee last July. These recommendations fit into four broad categories. The first set updates policies governing House human resources and consolidates the many H.R.-related offices in the House into a one-stop shop to help Members and staff with questions about recruitment, retention, diversity, legal counsel, training, and benefits. These recommendations recognize that attracting and retaining a diverse and highly qualified workforce requires offering competitive benefits and a motivating work environment. The second set overhauls the onboarding process for new Members and provides continuing education for all Members. The select committee has heard a lot about how new Member orientation should be nonpartisan and should include courses emphasizing the necessity of civility and respect. Rather than divide new Members by party as soon as they arrive here for orientation, we should encourage more relationship building. Whether at the start of someone's service or later, Members should also have the opportunity to continue learning best practices so they can better serve those they represent. The third set of recommendations modernizes House technology resources and emphasizes quality IT services to reduce reliance on outside vendors, to leverage bulk purchasing power, and to save taxpayer dollars. Congress has been described by one of our colleagues as an 18th century institution using 20th century technology to solve 21st century problems. To address that, we also recommend reestablishing and reenvisioning the Office of Technology Assessment to help Congress address modern science and technology challenges. Our fourth set of recommendations establishes that all proceedings and functions of the House should be made accessible to all Americans. This year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. While much progress has been made, there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that Americans with disabilities do not face discrimination. Our recommendations seek to address the equal access challenges persons with disabilities face when working for, visiting, or interacting with Congress. Before I continue and dive into some of the other work of the select committee, I want to invite my colleague and the vice chair of the committee, the gentleman from Georgia, Tom Graves, to say a few words. Tom has been a terrific partner, and I value the way that he has approached this committee, approaching these as problems to be solved, not working to score political points and, like every member of this committee, has really had his oar in the water trying to move our effort forward. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Graves), and I invite him to say a few words. Mr. GRAVES of Georgia. Madam Speaker, let me first thank Chairman Kilmer for his great work. How he has led this committee has been remarkable and an example for all committees, so I thank him for that example. Madam Speaker, I rise today not only to commend my good friend from Washington State, but to echo his remarks and also the pride and the joy that each of us on the committee share in the work that has been done. I guess tonight I am representing the six Republican members of this completely bipartisan committee, and we have all committed to work together in a great way. So, on behalf of our side, I thank the chairman for his good work. In the last year, as Mr. Kilmer shared, we have passed 45 recommendations to make Congress work better for the American people. Now, he has highlighted the way we have worked together to get that job done, and I want to commend him for leading us in an environment of bipartisanship and true collaboration. It is through his commitment to success and thinking outside of the box that we have been able to break the mold and to get this job done. This is an opportunity that comes around about every couple of decades, and to see the work that the chairman has done and how he has led this committee is really a great thing to be a part of. When the select committee first started, we chose to work together and combine our resources as one team. Instead of separating the staff and office by party line, we chose to just join together and work to get the job done as one team. As Mr. Kilmer often says: We decided to put the committee not in red jerseys and in blue jerseys but, instead, ``fix Congress'' jerseys. Thanks to him, this experiment has created a bipartisanship bond of trust and collaboration unlike anything I have seen in my 10 years here in Congress. In fact, our committee was only supposed to last for 1 year, through 2019. [[Page H1186]] But thanks to the support of our colleagues throughout the House, from freshman Members to Republican Study Committee members, to House leadership in both parties, to the new Democrat members of that Caucus and many other caucuses, we were able to get our committee extended through the end of this Congress. Now, I know I speak for both of us when I say that we are grateful for the opportunity to build on last year's work and dive a little bit deeper into the issues affecting the legislative branch. Every recommendation we make aims to strengthen the capacity of the House so that we can better serve all Americans. Our goal is simple. It was something we set out early on in an early retreat that we had together. The goal is simple, but it is critical, and that is we are to make Congress work better for the American people. It is that simple but yet that critical. So, as the chairman shared, our first round of transparency-focused recommendations in May aimed to ``open up'' Congress for the American people. The work we do here in Washington is for our constituents, and they should be able to easily access information about our votes, about the bills and who is lobbying Congress. What happens here should just be a click away, as the chairman said a minute ago, just one click, one-stop shopping. We want to make sure that the American people can truly view the inner workings of Congress. While exploring ways to improve transparency and access, we heard from many of our colleagues and staff about the need for better technology and better processes here in the House. This also included giving offices the flexibility to hire more staff and to meet the needs of their constituents, as it is individual in each and every office. We also recommended creating a Congressional Leadership Academy to offer training for Members, not just any ordinary training, but professional development training, because each and every Member deserves that opportunity to better prepare themselves in how to manage their offices and better represent their districts. Every day that we are here, we should be asking the questions and learning about the issues that matter most to our constituents. Continued learning is an important part and an important piece of our representation here in Congress. Another one of our recommendations that I think is incredibly important is that Members of Congress should receive mandatory cybersecurity training. Now, this idea came from one of our colleagues on our Member listening day, Miss Kathleen Rice from New York. She has a bill that requires this practice, and it is something that we have pushed forward as a recommendation in the House. Congressional staff must undergo cybersecurity training, so our thought is that Members of Congress should do the same. In September, we held a hearing to discuss improving civility throughout the Halls of Congress. At times, it felt like we were going against the grain just a bit on this issue. Recommendations on civility and bipartisanship are not something that I think the American people have heard from much here in Congress, but I think that is why this committee's work matters so much. Even during times of division, we have to find a path forward. We recommended creating a bipartisan, Members-only space here in the Capitol to encourage more collaboration across party lines and instituting biennial bipartisan retreats for Members and their families at the start of each Congress so that Members and their families can begin to get to know each other. I have often said that the breakdown in civility and bipartisanship here in Washington is because of the breakdown in relationships; and, in fact, maybe it is because many relationships haven't even begun yet. So it is important that we can talk to each other but, most importantly, that we can listen to one another. So when it comes to communicating, we recognize the importance of good, robust communication with the American people as well. That is why we recommended increasing opportunities for constituents to communicate with their Representatives and allowing for faster correspondence between our offices and our constituents. {time} 1745 Now, we aren't finished yet. We have more work to do before the year is over. And I can think of no better capstone to my legislative career than to leave Congress in better shape for future Representatives. Through the partnership of this committee with the Committee on House Administration, we have crafted legislation that will turn our bipartisan recommendations into results. This ongoing work is so important because it is the first time a committee like ours has seen its work move through the legislative process in this way. So, as I close, no idea is too big or too small, and we encourage everyone to continue sharing their ideas with us to reform Congress. Together, we are giving the House a roadmap for a brighter future, and it wouldn't be possible without the great leadership of Chairman Kilmer. Mr. KILMER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kind words and for his partnership. This has been a true partnership with every member of the committee, but I particularly appreciate Mr. Graves' leadership as our vice chair. Madam Speaker, I want to just dive in a bit on where he ended, which is we are the first select committee in several decades to propose and adopt recommendations on a rolling basis. Put simply, when we have consensus, we move. We are also the first select committee in recent history to introduce our recommendations as legislation, to ensure that they actually get implemented further on down the road. We introduced legislation in December, H. Res. 756, that incorporates the first two sets of recommendations passed by the select committee, and we are expecting a committee markup soon. The select committee unanimously approved a third set of recommendations in December, and those recommendations fit into three broad categories. The first set emphasizes the necessity of civility and the importance of bipartisan collaboration in Congress. Select committee members believe that Congress is stronger when Members find ways to work together to solve problems, and civility is key to making Congress a more productive institution that better serves the American people. That is especially important now. And the select committee intends to continue pushing for improved civility through further recommendations. The second set addresses various administrative inefficiencies in Congress: to update Member cosponsorship powers, procurement and bulk purchasing policies, the travel card program, and Member emergency preparedness training. And the third set, modernize the House Franking Commission on mailing standards and its regulations governing all Member communications. The select committee worked closely with the Franking Commission to develop these recommendations, and we were pleased to see the Commission implement updated communication standards for Members in January. The new guidelines modernize franking rules by including digital communications, improving transparency, expediting the review process, and allowing for more seamless interaction with constituents across platforms. As with our first two sets of recommendations, the select committee will introduce legislation that incorporates our third set of recommendations to ensure further implementation. We don't want to just make recommendations for the sake of making recommendations; we want to make recommendations that actually improve Congress and its function on behalf of the American people. The select committee has accomplished a great deal in the past year, but there is still a lot more work to do. I believe I speak for all of the members of the committee when I say we are ready for that challenge. Our plan is to build on our success thus far and continue issuing recommendations over the next several months. Working to build a more efficient and effective Congress that will better [[Page H1187]] serve the American people is a mission I am proud to lead, and I am lucky to lead this committee alongside Vice Chair Tom Graves, who has been a great and steadfast partner in this effort. I am lucky to have a terrific set of committee members who are working to make Congress function better on behalf of the American people. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________
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