Adopting the Rules of the House of Representatives for the 116th Congress
Floor Speech
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise as the designee of the Republican leader, and I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), my good friend, for yielding me 30 minutes.
For the third time in 2 days, Madam Speaker, my good friends from the Democratic side of the aisle and I are here to debate part of the Democratic rules package for the House of Representatives. Unlike the first two times, I find myself in agreement with what the Democrats are proposing today.
We are here today on title II of the rules package, which establishes a Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. While I think improvements can be made to what my friends are proposing, I am pleased to say I think that this proposal is an excellent idea.
I know my good friend also mentioned the last Congress, and I want to take just a second to defend that Congress. Frankly, it was the last Congress that gave us the first tax modernization overhaul and tax reduction in 31 years. It was the last Congress that began the opioid initiative that we worked on in a very bipartisan way. It was the last Congress that did more deregulation than any Congress in American history. It was the last Congress, working with my friends on the other side, that did historic work in human trafficking. It was the last Congress that also did historic work, again, in a very bipartisan way, with my friends on the veterans' issues. Finally, it was the last Congress that began rebuilding the American military after 8 years of neglect. We will see if this Congress has a record that matches that in the next 2 years.
Having said that, as my friend laid out, the proposed select committee would be charged with investigating, studying, and making recommendations for modernizing Congress, including improvements to rules; to procedures, including the schedule and the calendar; to staff recruitment, diversity, and retention; and to technology.
I am especially pleased that this select committee will be equally divided between Democrats and Republicans and that the makeup of the committee will include two members of each part from the Rules Committee, the House Administration Committee, and two freshmen.
Most importantly, the select committee is required to produce a report with their recommendations by a two-thirds supermajority by the end of Congress. Those are all excellent proposals by my friends, and I wholeheartedly endorse them.
Madam Speaker, there is a lot to like in this proposal. I think we can all agree, no matter which party you belong to, that Congress needs to be modernized and its processes improved. I am especially happy that my friends have done so in a way that is bipartisan and, hopefully, will be above politics.
The proposal isn't quite perfect, of course. Personally, I would have preferred to have seen the House take up this responsibility in coordination with our colleagues in the Senate. I am sure the bulk of my conference and probably the bulk of my friend's conference would probably tell you that, if any body in Congress needs improvement, it is undoubtedly the one on the other side of the Capitol rotunda. On that, we can have a bipartisan agreement within this Chamber.
Of course, Congress works best when the House and the Senate work together, and that includes the need to improve processes and modernize Congress as an institution, as a whole. The majority would have done better to have found a way to work with the Senate on developing a joint committee made up of Members from both houses of Congress that would be charged with making improvements to the House, the Senate, and to Congress, as a whole.
That aside, this is certainly a very good and serious proposal, and I look forward, with a great deal of optimism, as the select committee does its work this Congress.
Madam Speaker, I urge support of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I echo my friend's comments, to some degree.
First, I thank him personally, and I thank his fellow members on the Democratic Rules Committee, for presenting this proposal. It is a genuinely excellent and bipartisan effort, and it suggests that the language we heard about trying to change the way in which we operate was very sincere and well motivated. It is much appreciated on our side of the aisle.
While we certainly had our differences yesterday, I appreciate the way, frankly, that was handled by both sides. I am pleased that we are ending this on a point of agreement and a bipartisan commitment to actually improve the nature of our institution.
Again, I expect this committee to actually produce really substantive proposals. I don't know yet, obviously, who the members on either side will be, but I know the leadership on both sides takes this very seriously. I think there is a genuine commitment to try to open up the process a little bit to make it, if you will, more Member-friendly, whether you are Members in the majority or the minority, and that is to be commended on the part of my friend.
Again, this is a good start, as my friend Mr. McGovern said, and I look forward to playing my part in participating as we make progress in this direction.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I have an additional speaker on the way, I hope, but, right now, I don't have anything additional to add personally.
Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, my additional speaker has not yet arrived, so I am prepared to close whenever my good friend is.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I again want to advise my friend I am prepared to close whenever she is.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
In closing, while I normally would stand here and be in opposition to what my good friends, Mr. Hastings, Mr. McGovern and Ms. Lofgren would be proposing, in this case I fully support the measure that they are bringing before us.
The proposed Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress is a serious, well-intentioned proposal to create a bipartisan committee to produce a bipartisan product aimed at improving the way Congress functions now and into the future. And while this idea could have been improved if it incorporated the Senate and insured that both houses were working together on improving the overall institution, it is still, nonetheless, a very worthy endeavor.
I, for one, thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I think that this is an issue that they could and should support in a bipartisan fashion. Frankly, I want to thank my friends; having been on the losing side of every vote yesterday, it will be nice to be on the winning side today.
So, Madam Speaker, I want to urge a ``yes'' vote on the underlying measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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