New Study Proposes Rules Reforms for the 120th Congress

A new paper finds that a more participatory legislative process would help both leaders and members be more engaged and productive — without costing the majority party its agenda.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the R Street Institute and Protect Democracy released a new study titled “Renewing the House of Representatives.” This report was co-authored by Jeremy Dalrymple, Associate Policy Director and Resident Fellow of governance policy at the R Street Institute, Alex Tausanovitch, Policy Strategist and Counsel at Protect Democracy, and Jason M. Roberts, Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

With the November election approaching, both political parties are considering how the next class of the House of Representatives should operate. The House Rules Committee has already held a hearing on proposed rule changes for the 120th Congress, making this the moment to consider reforms that would give rank-and-file members a meaningful role in legislating.

Over the past several decades, control over which bills and amendments reach the House floor has shifted increasingly from committees and rank-and-file members to party leaders, particularly the Speaker of the House. The shift accelerated in the 1990s and has continued under both parties, leaving rank-and-file members with fewer ways to shape legislation.  

The study lays out four proposals to give broadly supported bills, amendments, and budget alternatives predictable paths to a vote: a discharge alternative through designated days for bipartisan-backed petitions, guaranteed votes on germane amendments with cross-party cosponsors, floor votes on alternative budget resolutions and restoring the motion to recommit with instructions, and a standing select committee empowered to bring reform proposals directly to the floor. 

“When leadership monopolizes the agenda, it also monopolizes the pressure. It monopolizes the blame as well: when every outcome is understood to be the speakerʼs personal choice, every disappointment becomes the speakerʼs personal fault. As a result, any member who wants a vote must extract it from the speaker personally, and the speaker must say no to most of them. The reforms proposed cut the other way. By adopting clear, bipartisan thresholds for floor access, they shift the work of managing bills pushed by individual members from the leader to the members themselves.”

Each policy recommendation can be read about in the full report here.

If you would like to speak to the author of this study, please contact pr@rstreet.org.