Improving Congress: Report Offers Suggestions for Next House Rules Package

While we won’t know which party will control Congress until after the November election, a new report suggests changes to the upcoming House rules that would improve the way the House operates.

“As we approach the start of the 119th Congress, representatives have an opportunity to reimagine the House of Representatives in a way that better supports their constituents’ needs and reflects our current political moment,” said Zach Graves, Executive Director of the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI), which issued the report along with Daniel Schuman of the American Governance Institute (AGI). 

The Rules package, which is put in place by the majority party at the start of Congress, effectively outlines how the chamber is governed. It vests significant formal and informal power to the speaker and committees, and establishes support offices, all playing a key role in the legislative process.

In its report, FAI/AGI argues that leaders should use the opportunity to implement reforms through the House Rules package. The reforms run the gamut from selecting committees to ethics.

Committee Changes

When it comes to committees, the report argued for additional staffing and for changes in the way committees are selected.

Due to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Chevron doctrine, which reduced agency deference and put more responsibility on the shoulders of Congress, the report recommended increasing capacity for hiring committee staff, establishing a House regulatory review office, and requiring that all executive branch fellows and designees register with the House.

On committee makeup, it recommended that the members of the three Speaker-selected committees (Intelligence, Administration and Rules), instead get elected by broader members.

In addition, it recommends that the House establish a select subcommittee on House Modernization, as well as reestablish the House Committee on Elections.

Congressional Function

The report endorsed keeping the “motion to vacate” which allows a single member to introduce a motion to remove the speaker, which was used to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023. The report calls the motion an “essential tool” in keeping the Speaker responsive to members.

Congressional Ethics

One contentious area is stock ownership by members. The report recommends the Ethics Committee review and update guidance on securities trading. It also states that “Members of Congress should be required to fully divest from publicly traded individual stocks or move investments to a blind trust.” And if not in a blind trust, members should disclose any action to buy or sell a security 30 days ahead of a trade.

Oversight

Currently, it takes seven members of the Oversight Committee to demand information from the executive branch, as long as one of those seven is the committee chair. The report recommends striking the requirement that the chair be on board and restore the so-called “rule of seven” to claw back power from party leaders and empower individual committee members.

It also recommended adding an independent special counsel to “decide whether to prosecute findings of contempt by Congress and providing an expedited review and enforcement process in the courts that (as appropriate) narrow the issues presented.”

Intelligence

On security clearances, the report suggests that every member of the House have at least one staff member who is eligible to apply for a TS/SCI clearance to support the member on relevant matters.

The new Congress is due to be sworn in on January 3, 2025.