Davis announces Select Committee reports on modernizing Congress made publicly available

Congressional reports issued by the bipartisan U.S. House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress regarding its ongoing work are now publicly available, according to U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL).

“Making these reports publicly accessible keeps our commitment to transparency and allows the hard work of the Select Committee to continue beyond this Congress,” said Rep. Davis, who is ranking member of the U.S. House Administration Committee.

The reports, which were mandated by legislation passed in March, detail how the Select Committee’s recommendations on increasing transparency, boosting technology capabilities, reforming human resources, improving accessibility, and including efforts to build bipartisanship throughout the U.S. House of Representatives could be implemented in the legislative branch. Reauthorized for a second year in 2020, the select committee has approved nearly 50 recommendations to date.

“Understanding how this institution works, and sometimes doesn’t work, is half the battle in getting the results Americans deserve,” Rep. Davis said on July 10. “Over the last year and a half, the Select Committee has worked with experts across the board to study this institution and identify ways to make Congress more efficient and effective. Many of these changes can be implemented now and others will take more time.”

U.S. Reps. Tom Graves (R-GA) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA), who are vice chairman and chairman, respectively, of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, jointly issued a statement noting that the committee’s public reports are another step toward increased accountability “and a true team effort in the House to modernize and rethink some of our current procedures.”

“We are grateful to our colleagues at House Administration for their continued partnership in this effort,” the lawmakers said.

The House on March 10 approved House Resolution 756, the Moving Our Democracy and Congressional Operations Towards Modernization Resolution, the first piece of legislation introduced by the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.

The resolution included 29 recommendations from the Select Committee’s findings on ways to bring Congress into the 21st Century and called for more than 20 reports that would pave the way for the institution’s advancement, according to Rep. Davis’ office.