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Updating the way Congress operates can restore trust in a distrusted institution

By Congresswoman Virginia Foxx

During 2009 and 2010 many Congress watchers groused about the lack of openness in Congress and urged the House of Representatives to let more light shine on the way it did business.  I certainly agree with those concerns.

Some of the worst problems with how Congress conducted business were the ways in which the Americans we represent where either shut out of the process or left confused by the unconventional way their tax dollars were spent or major legislation made it into law. Those days are over.

With the start of a new Congress and under a new House majority, the House will be run differently.  For instance, no more last minute introductions of major legislation right before it is put to a vote.  Another major rule change transforms the way Congress handles government spending.

The House previously operated under what was called pay-as-you-go rules. This essentially meant that if spending increases, so must taxes. It was the kind of accounting that justified more spending and higher taxes.

The new rules flip this on its head. Instead of “pay-as-you-go” (tax increases) the new rules will require the House to “cut-as-you-go” (spending reductions). As a result, if the House wants to increase spending it must find somewhere within the federal government’s budget to trim spending – just like millions of American families do with their budgets.

With respect to last minute, dead-of-night legislating, think back to the health care debate.  You might recall how the final text of the bill was only made available the night before it was voted on by the House.  That amounted to hundreds of pages of legislation to review in mere hours.  Members of Congress not only struggled to figure out what exactly was in the bill, average citizens trying to follow along at home were hung out to dry as well.

Such an opaque and hasty process not only leads to major mistakes, but it also serves to erode the public’s trust in the very institution that is meant to represent their interests in Washington.  In fact, a 2010 Gallup poll conducted in the summer after the health care bill passed found that a record low 11 percent of Americans trusted Congress, putting it in last place among the 16 institutions Americans were asked about. 

A new set of House rules for the incoming 112^th Congress will help us win back some of the trust of the American people.  We’re ensuring that no legislation is voted on by the House before it has been posted online for public review for three days. Putting legislation online well before a vote doesn’t just build trust. It also strengthens the legislative process by increasing scrutiny and flushing bad ideas into the open. After all, no party has a corner on the market for good or bad ideas.

The new rule to put bills online before a vote is one of the cornerstones of the GOP’s Pledge to America, which was released in September. Another rule change that comes from the Pledge requires representatives to cite constitutional authority when they author a new bill. With this rule change, Congress will be forced to consider whether the federal government is staying with its constitutional bounds or if it is straying far afield. This is a welcome change from the capricious lawmaking of previous Congresses.

One other major rule change is also worth highlighting. It takes Congress a tremendous step toward transparency and accountability in House committees.

During the past Congress major legislation was frequently funneled through the Speaker’s office instead of through the traditional committee hearing process.  The lack of hearings and amendments meant that rank and file representatives were not given a chance to weigh in on the issues before Congress until the end of the process. This served to concentrate power in the Speaker’s office, rather than diffusing it throughout the entire House of Representatives.

The new House rules will change this and place renewed emphasis on the committees’ roles in the legislative process. To that end, the various House committees will be held to a higher standard of transparency under the new rules.

Committees will be required to give notice when a hearing to amend a bill is held as well as posting all committee votes online within 48 hours. Plus committees must now post the text of all amendments adopted in committee hearings online along with a record of which representatives werepresent at committee meetings. Best of all, committees will also be required to webcast every meeting.

Previously, committee activities were the province of a select few, while voting and attendance records and hearing transcripts were next to impossible to come by. That will change, moving the House in the direction of greater openness to average concerned citizens and making the legislative process more deliberate as well.

Together these rule changes in the House of Representatives will allow anyone to follow what is happening in Congress without getting lost in a thicket of legislation slight of hand. They will also help focus Congress on its solemn duty of upholding and protecting the Constitution. And during these times of record-breaking budget overruns, the new rules will halt the runaway spending increases and force the House to make the tough decisions needed to bring us back towards a balanced budget.

Let’s not kid ourselves though—these rules are just a start. Restoring Americans’ trust in Congress will require both good rules and attentive representation. All the rule changes in the world won’t work if representatives aren’t listening to their constituents. So as we start a new year and a new Congress, I hope you will let me know what you think about these new rules and anything else before Congress. By doing so we can begin to rebuild trust in this important democratic institution.