Bishop: Time for House to change way it does business
Washington,
Nov 18 -
By Thomas Burr, Salt Lake Tribune
Washington • Every weekday morning for decades on Capitol Hill, workers lugged buckets of ice to the office of every single member of Congress.
It was a service that pre-dated modern refrigeration but for some reason continued for decades — until Republicans took power in 1994 and stopped it.
Rep. Rob Bishop, now serving on the GOP’s team handling the transition to the majority, has a few more suggestions that he says would save money, foster better government and create efficiency.
Take for example the House’s committee hearing system that often tries to place a single member in more than one meeting at the same time, leaving witnesses jetting into Washington to testify before a couple actual representatives amid a lot of empty seats.
“Pretty embarrassing isn’t it?” Bishop said, rattling off a story as he literally ran across the street between office buildings to vote in two separate committees.
“When I came here, I hated the system,” says Bishop, who previously served as speaker of the Utah House of Representatives. “And I still do.”
Bishop’s pitch — a 27-page proposal — includes such concepts as working two weeks in Washington and then returning home for a week’s work in each individual’s districts, separating committee time from floor debate time and making legislation easier to read.
His suggestion for ways to reform the system caught the eye of Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner and helped land him a spot on the 20-member transition team.
“There are better ways to maximize productivity in Washington while still keeping a pulse on constituents back home, and Representative Bishop is helping us to find them,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said. “Changing the ways of Congress are never easy, but the American people just sent a very clear message that the status quo isn’t working. We’re listening, and we’re going to shake things up around here.”
Some of Bishop’s ideas may shock people outside of Washington — not because they’re outrageous but because people might be outraged to learn of the current practices they’re aimed at changing.
Case in point: floor debates.
Most voters are familiar with the images of a member of Congress speaking about bills from a podium in the hallowed chamber. What is less well known is that often the rest of the chamber is virtually empty save for a C-SPAN camera.
The solution? Bishop suggests moving committees to the morning hours and reserving five hours in the afternoon for actual debate on the floor, with every member present — a variation of the schedule used in the Utah Legislature.
Another idea could save some $15 million a year and a lot of travel-weary members. As it stands, members often fly in late Monday or early Tuesday to Washington, spend the next three days in session and jet out late Thursday. That leaves only three days a week for Congress to get work done.
Bishop’s plan would put members in Washington for two straight weeks, then back home for another week to work there. More work days, less travel.
“Some of this can easily take place,” Bishop says. “Some of it’s more long-term.”
The former school teacher knows not all of his proposals will get picked up in the switch to Republican control, but he’s hoping the list at least opens up the idea of systemic change to how Congress does business.
“Any time you propose this type of change, there will always be resistance,” Bishop said. But, he adds, “The stuff we’re talking about — I know it works.”
