As created by our Founding Fathers, America is a republic with laws made by elected representatives of the people and held accountable by the people. It has never been – nor will it ever be – considered an efficient form of governance, nor was it ever intended to be.

Our democracy is built upon checks and balances through all branches – legislative, judicial, and executive. A major component of Congress’ effectiveness relies upon the exchange and debate of ideas by members of Congress in an open arena so that we, the people, gain a clearer understanding of exactly what our elected representatives and senators are discussing. Sadly, this openness and dialogue between members has been missing for too many years.

Representative Kevin McCarthy’s election as House Speaker brought a breath of fresh air to House operations. Speaker McCarthy and members of the House Freedom Caucus worked diligently to adopt some much-needed House rule changes like a single subject bill requirement; requiring bills to be released at least 72 hours before floor vote, and a House Appropriations Committee and subcommittee process requiring spending measures to be considered as separate bills; instead of as an omnibus bill. With these rule changes, we are finally seeing essential operational reforms to bring the House back from a leadership-directed and often closed decision-making process to a more open process that allows citizens to see more clearly what their representatives are considering.

The recent House reforms are a great start, but so much more could be done to further the accountability of House members by adopting a few additional rule changes. However, the adoption of additional rule changes is required to make the House of Representatives a true working body for the people of this great nation. 

For example, change the congressional work ethic – no more Mondays and Fridays off. A five-day DC work week is a start.

When have you viewed a real debate in either the House or Senate? As a rule, the member of Congress advocating for an issue reads from prepared notes from a staffer and the opposing member does the same. Where are all the other members? C-SPAN focuses their video feed upon the speaker and rarely opens the view that would show an empty chamber.

Yet, an empty chamber is the rule in most House as well as committee debates. Why not show a broader view of the House chamber and any committee hearing? House members do not want the American public to see they are not in the chamber participating in the House floor discussion or participating and attending their assigned committee hearing. Congressional member absenteeism can be easily corrected by adopting a House rule that would require members to be in the House chamber for floor debate until floor action is completed. The same rule would apply to member committee hearing participation.

Does such a rule change pose a potential conflict between House floor action and committee meetings? Potentially. But House committee and House floor scheduling conflicts are easily resolved by synchronizing the House committee and floor action calendars. For example, schedule committee hearings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings with member attendance required. House members should be required to attend the entire hearing, not just the attendance roll call and initial media coverage. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons should be reserved for House floor action with member attendance required until recess. Constituent communication would be reserved for Wednesdays. Members could hold electronic town hall meetings and constituent meetings in their offices during this time.

These are just a few proposed House rule changes that complement the actions already taken by Speaker McCarthy to ensure House accountability. Adopting these highlighted House operation rules in conjunction with Speaker McCarthy’s implemented rule revisions would create a House more answerable to the American public and focused towards considering and acting upon issues of the most importance to Americans.