Swamp Stories Episode 11: Fixing the People’s House

“[T]his episode is a little different because it’s about part of the swamp changing for the better, a truly positive development amid plenty of dysfunction. It’s a story of bipartisan cooperation that is increasingly rare these days.”

On this week’s episode of Issue One’s “Swamp Stories” podcast, host Weston Wamp walks us through the origin story of one of the few bright spots in Washington — the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.

The select committee has seen great success in the short time it’s been working to make the legislative branch more effective and efficient — including unanimously agreeing on 45 recommendations to improve Congress, as well as passing bipartisan legislation in the House that included nearly 30 of those recommendations.

But how did the committee get its start, and what’s it like to be part of such an influential group? We’ll answer these questions and more as we take you behind the scenes in our new episode — Fixing the People’s House.

Listeners will hear from:

• Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Chairman of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
• Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
• Rep. William Timmons (R-SC), Member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
• Betsy Wright Hawkings, Managing Partner, Article One Advisors, LCC
• Erin Hustings, Legislative Counsel, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) 
• J.B. Lyon, Co-founder of the Rebuild Congress Initiative; Managing Director of Mt. Independent Investments
• Bruce Patton, Co-founder of the Rebuild Congress Initiative; Co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

Congressional approval ratings have been at an all-time low in recent years, but this small group of members of Congress — and dedicated political reform groups — are trying to turn that around and make Congress more functional and responsive to the American people.

Listen to this week’s episode, “Fixing the People’s House,” to learn more about the effort both inside and outside of Congress to make Washington less swampy.

This episode has been updated with additional information.