It’s rare for a member of the House to say something nice about the Senate, that boulevard of broken legislative dreams, but Rep. William R. Timmons IV let it fly. 

“I never thought the Senate would listen to the House, but [incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune] has 31 five-day work weeks this year, er, next year. So I was very pleased by that,” the South Carolina Republican said last week, comparing it to the House’s comparatively paltry three five-day workweeks scheduled for next year.

The occasion was a ceremony on Thursday in the Cannon Caucus Room, where Timmons and Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., received the U.S. Capitol Historical Society’s 2024 Freedom Award for their efforts leading the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. 

Among those in the audience were Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., whose introductory remarks praising Kilmer and Timmons for their “ModCom” work included quoting from one of Roll Call’s dispatches describing it as a “parallel congressional universe” where members worked hard to get consensus about ways to make the legislative branch work better for the public, members and staff.

Among the committee’s recommendations, as Timmons pointed out — and in front of the speaker, no less — was to spend more time in Washington, putting in the effort to work on legislation, master the process, acquaint with fellow members and figure out bipartisan solutions to bipartisan problems. 

“It takes time. It takes intention,” he said. “There’s always work to do.”

An evolving panel

Formed in 2019, the select committee was tasked with making recommendations that could be implemented to “make Congress more effective, efficient, and transparent on behalf of the American people.”

Kilmer chaired the committee, made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, for both the 116th and 117th Congresses. In the 118th Congress, the panel was folded into the aegis of the House Administration Committee as a subcommittee, where Kilmer, who is retiring at the end of this term, continued as ranking member.

The parlance of our time

The people assembled in the Cannon Caucus Room last week — a mix of members, staff, society board members and other folks from what Kilmer cheekily described as the “reform-industrial complex” — were under no impression that “ModCom” recommendations would hasten the demise of Congress’ current atmosphere of dysfunction, partisanship, hard feelings and embarrassing conduct. 

In fact, only minutes before the event started, the House voted to block Democrats’ efforts to compel the House Ethics Committee to release its findings on allegations that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., had sex with a minor, took illegal drugs and showed naked pictures on the House floor.

Just the clerk’s reading of the resolutions was enough to bring the stench of ill repute to the chamber. For good measure, one of the resolutions cited Ethics panel precedence of releasing reports on a rogue’s gallery of former members engaged in bad behavior — taking bribes, sending sexual messages to minors, sexually harassing staff (and much more!) — just to remind people Congress has always had its share of skeeviness.

So the committee, and Congress, has its work cut out for it. “It’s just going to take time,” Timmons said. 

Kilmer, similarly unbowed by the enormity of making Congress a better place without losing perspective on that enormity, said in his own remarks that it starts with the work of individuals, who translate that to their committees, their colleagues, staff and more. 

“I’m most proud of the way we did our work,” he said, such as using one staff for the committee, not one from the Democrats and one from the Republicans, and taking the time and effort to get things right, to work toward consensus and to get recommendations adopted, such as making new member orientation more accessible and bipartisan. 

He added, “The most popular thing a politician can do is bash Congress.” But, he said, with more stewards, the institution has a fighting chance. 

Kilmer is famously a “Star Wars” fanboy, even copping earlier this year to liking the “Star Wars” prequels, but he ended with a reference to another pop culture artifact from the 1970s, which hints at the awareness one needs to keep up the fight for which he and Timmons were recognized. 

“As I wrap up my time here, I do so with a sense of hope. Not in a Polyannaish way. Not in a Kevin Bacon at the end of ‘Animal House’ yelling, ‘All is well!’ I actually am hopeful about this institution, in part because you have people who care about it,” he said. (For the record, Bacon’s character repeats “All is well” in the middle of a panicked parade, trying to restore order amid chaos. He is literally flattened by the hordes despite his exhortations.)

Now the question for the incoming Congress is: Will enough people put in the time, and the work? 

Admitting all is not well, and doing something about it regardless, is the first step.

Jason Dick is the editor-in-chief of Roll Call and the host of its Political Theater podcast.