For us on the committee to do something radical, to listen more than we talk. For us to heare from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle about their ideas for the next rules package. Regardless of who controls Congress Next year, i think we can all agree running this house with integrity means listening to all members so that is what we will be doing today. We took a collaborative approach with the rules package for this congress and im proud to say the first bipartisan package in decades. It took time to acknowledge no party has the monopoly on good ideas. Of what weve created together, the consensus calendar to expedite consideration of ideas with bipartisan support, the Diversity Office to get the calls falls of Congress Looking like the real world, and the Modernization Committee to advance good ideas from both sides to get this place functioning better. Although we were hearing these in committee, we required other committees hold them so all members have the chance to be heard across congress. Hopefully more ideas have the chance to see the light of day and move forward. I couldnt ask for a better partner in this process than our Ranking Member tom cole. We come from different parties, but share the same dedication to this institution. Better not forrk one Political Party or the other, but for the American People because that is really what this is all about. A well functioning Congress Allows us to make a positive difference in peoples lives and that is why we ran for congress and the first place. Before i turn to our Ranking Member, i want to ignore the newe smith,entarian, jason mr. Cole and i have said a lot about him to his predecessor. And he and his predecessor tom wickham on the floor last week. Im not going to repeat all of the stuff, but suffice it to say that our members spent a lot of time consulting with the parliamentarians office. I think its fitting that hes starting as parliamentarian on a rules committee day. So all of that is good news. So, now, i want to turn to our Ranking Member, mr. Cole, for any comments he would like to make. Can you hear me . I think we have a little bit of a Technical Glitch here. We will just wait a minute for mr. Cole. Check, check, 1, 2, i can hear you. Its working. So, mr. Cole, i said a whole bunch of nice things about you. Im not sure if you were plugged when i said that . Just now . Yeah, i just said a whole bunch of nice things about you. Oh, mr. Chairman. This is the prehearing, so its not recorded in any way, youre in the clear. Oh no, were in the hearing. Oh . Thank you for thank you nice things about me. Ill reciprocate and take your word that you said nice things, i feel obliged to say nice things back, but theyre pretty easy to say. First of all, mr. Chairman, i want to thank you for holding the hearing, and i dont think theres any one more dedicated to the institution than you and frankly, making it member friendly and having a forum where we try to make this as responsive to each individual member as an substitution as it can be while we discharge our functions. Weve been a good partner in defending the powers and prerogatives of the institution and, again, trying to position members where they can be successful as they fight to achieve whats in the best interest of the people who sent them here. And the interests of the country as a whole. So, i look forward very much to the ideas well hear today. I have no preconceptions. I would be shocked if i agreed with every one of them, but i appreciate every one being offered. And i know the members who want to present ideas are doing it, again in the best interest of the institution. So, i thank you very much for making this forum available to our colleagues. I look forward to working with you to see if there are suggestions that we can in a bipartisan manner work on together to try and improve the functionality, the flexibility and the effectiveness of the house of representatives and i know that we all want to do that. I applaud you for your leadership. With that, i yield back, mr. Chairman. I thank you very much, Ranking Member cole yields back. And im grateful for his opening. We will be calling up witnesses in panels as they log on to the virtual platform. Id like to welcome our first panel to propose rule changes to the 117th congress. Were delighted to you have. Without objection, any written materials that you submit to rulesdocuments house. Gov before the conclusion will be entered into the record. The first panel is majority leader hoyer, clyburn, thompson, mr. Landerman and miss esche. Well yield to our, mr. Hoyer. Hoyer thank you very much, mr. Chairman, im glad to be with you today, and i thank mr. Cole as well. I think the house is advantaged by the new relationship that you and tom cole as the Ranking Member have. And the fact that both of you care about the institution. And i might start with my remarks with no matter what we do in the rules, no matter what our rules say, if we dont have comedy and respect from one another, the rules will not make us work better. They can set great guidelines for us, they can be the rules of conduct. They can be the rules of how we consider bills, but one of the things that we all need to work together, in the next congress is to raise the respect for one another, raise the consideration for one another. And i think, mr. Chairman, you and the Ranking Member reflect that kind of attitude and working relationship. So, i appreciate the opportunity to participate in the days member listed day on the rules package for the house for the 117th congress. As we look ahead, many are anticipating a busy start to next year. I certainly do. Our rules ought to facilitate the houses moves for the most pressing challenges facing our country. Others have spoken or will speak, im sure, at length, about several of the proposals for next years rules package including the importance of our pay as you go rule. But i want to focus on the restoration of congressionally directed spending. Now, thats a great phrase. And you and i both know the press and the public will call them earmarks. But congressionally directed spending with the safe guards that democrats put in place in 2007 and 2009, very, very important. The safe guards are discussed at the same time we discussed the focus on congressionally directed spending. Let me add, before i go further, on the pay as you go, that we created the pay as you go waiver for emergencies like the covid19 crisis, where we have to meet a serious threat by investing in immediate priorities and needs. We now have substantial fiscal challenges however about that. And they will confront us in the years and years ahead. And we must work responsibly together to address them in the coming years. With regard to congressionally directed spending, after abuses in the system were brought to light, we implemented significant reforms, as i referenced, that made it transparent and held members accountable. A couple of those reforms are included in the rules. And i number of those reforms included in the committee rules. As you know, weve restricted to governmental or nonprofit recipients and required every request to be published online for the American People to see and judge. One of those rules is in the rules of the house. We made the system work and kept it honest. Unfortunately, however, when our republican colleagues took control of the house in 2011, they used congressionally directed spending as a partisan talking point, unfortunately. And eliminated this valuable tool for congress and surrendered part of our power to the executive branch. Tom cole just said, and i agree i with him very much, that the powers and prerogatives of the institution need to be protected. Ill speak just a minute about that. Restoring this power in congress, i believe, is essential to restoring the balance of our constitutional systems of checks and balance. A major moakfocus, mr. Chairman, and Ranking Member, if i am fortunate enough to be the majority leader in the next congress will be finding ways to restore that balance. That is the balance between the executive and the congress. And looking now, congress can better assert the powers that our founders intended us to have as a coequal branch of government. And as the Sole Authority on spending taxpayer funds. Not the executive, that is why i think the restoration of the congressionally directed spending for projects, that is so important. And my belief is that members of congress elected from 435 districts around the country know, frankly, better than those who may be in washington what their districts need. What their states need. And we ought to return to a time when members can make that decision. But obviously, have that judgment reviewed by the other 434 members of the congress. The founders neither intended nor envisioned the expansion of executive power the kind weve seen in recent years. Through many administrations, democrat and republican, however, we have seen that concern heightened by the actions of the Trump Administration. This president , in my view, sees congress not as a coequal partner in governing, but as an impediment to his authoritarian tendencies. We much approach the issue of congressly directed spending within this context. Since the elimination of congressionally directed spending in 2011, decisions about funding requests for projects in communities across the country have been made by the executive branch, not by the members of congress, who under the constitution are solely responsible for the spending of money. Members know the needs of their district as i said and are in contact on a daily basis with local leaders and civic organization. Thats why i strongly support restoring safe, transparent, and accountable congressionally directed spending of the 117th congress. And i will work towards that end with whomever is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Several of the reforms we adapted during our previous majority are still part of the current house rules. But others were adopted as committee practices, and we ought to consider whether codifying them within the house rules between the 117th congress. I want to thank the chairman and his fellow commit members, mr. Committee members, mr. Chairman, for working hard on a number of recommendations for the next congress which include restoring congressionally directed spending and i thank him for that. I believe strongly that this spending ought not to be, however, conditioned in any way on the involvement of entities outside of congress. When i say involvement, let me explain that i mean without the necessity to have a checkoff or an approval of a local official or state official. This is the congress judgment. However, obviously, we would involve all of those in communications for their advice and counsel on what spending may be helpful for local jurisdictions. I, therefore, would say that we ought not to have any requirement for outside approval, other than the voting members of the congress. I hope you will consider this proposal seriously, which can help us better serve the people and communities that we represent. Again, i want to thank you again for holding the listing day and the hearing and the many important and positive ideas members are bringing to the table for next year. I would close as i began, however, i think all of us, as leaders, as members of the congress of the United States, when we get through this toxic partisan battle that were now participating in, hopefully, well be able to restore the kind of comidy, mr. Chairman that i experienced and you were working in the congress and i was a member of the congress, the kind of comedy, not only on the rules committee but with the congress of the United States. One of the finest members with whom ive served in the congress over the last 40 years was bob michael, who was the minority leader. He was a partisan republican from peoria, illinois. The middle of our country. He cared for his party and his partys leader. But he cared for his country, and he cared for the institution. And he respected and worked with in a positive way his fellow members. I appreciated that. I think other members appreciated that. And as a member for over 20 years on the Appropriations Committee, when i came there, it was a very partisan committee. And mr. Conte was an extraordinary member, a passionate member, but also a very bipartisan member. And thats what we need. Not bipartisanship in the sense that im going to change my philosophy, or my republican counterpart is going to change his or her philosophy, but that we both have a philosophy that your ideas are worth listening to, as are mine. And we may disagree, but we can do so in a positive way. In a way that furthers the work of the congress of the United States. And our country. Thank you very much for this opportunity to be with you. Thank you very much. I appreciate your testimony. Were now going to majority w. H. I. P. Clyburn. Rep. Clyburn thank you very much, mr. Chairman. And mr. Ranking member, Ranking Member cole and members of the committee, thank you very much for allowing me to participate in this members hearing today. To discuss what may be ways to take back the Spending Authority that we have in article 1, of the constitution, which in recent years have been seated ed to the executive branch. I joined this office proudly back in 1993. By the time the appropriations process allowed members to direct funds to activities and communities they deemed worthy. This process directed a small percentage of the appropriations levels to be congressly directed, thereby not adding anything to the cost of the spending bills. This resulted in federal Agency Employees with no knowledge of needs deciding on the merit of our requests. In efforts to make the process unfairis inherently because they reward skills, rather than needs. I represented many rural communities, each with its own challenges and needs. These committees have limited resources and are unable to hire writers and lobbyists. What they do have is their congressmen who lives among them, interacts with them regularly, understands their needs, and has been elected by them to represent their needs. When i was first elected to congress, i was told by my states secretary of commerce that until all the problems in my district were solved, theres attracting thef levels of investments needed to improve the health, education and welfare of the citizens who had overwhelmingly elected me to serve them. Heeded his advice. I needed to hear my process to secure funding. Through the United States army corps of engineers, to create and expand the late marin regional water. And might i add, i was criticized severely, by many of the people in this district, because that to them was wasting federal dollars. Well, we moved not just to stab establish, but to expand it and it includes a sixcounty rural area. Today, i am pleased to say that South Carolina won the first viable plant in this country because of their water system. And now, theyre creating what is to be 4,000 jobs in this rural area. Were it not for this water system, these jobs would surely have gone elsewhere. 25 years ago, South Carolinas economy was driven by textiles and tobacco and many of these communities relied on them. Today, South Carolinas economy is driven by transportation and tourism. 25 years ago, South Carolina had no today it has two. South carolina had no, what would be called national plots. Today, South Carolina has three. The initial funding for the nationally Acclaimed Program designed to recruit, educate, and train africanamerican males to become School Teachers in elementary schools. That program, started by princeton university, was started with an earmark and is now a national program. Many of the communities in my district have been chronically neglected over the years. I was elected to address this hese inequities and help these communities that have been mired in poverty for generations to help them get their fair share. While ive spoken to a few successes, many other communities in our district are still struggling. Them need clean water. They need sewage systems. They need targeted federal investments. Mr. Chairman and members, we can fit into our rules the safe guards needed to protect the process from abuse. We should prohibit a member from sponsoring a project that their that they or family members have financial interests in. We should require transparency, so that the public can see what the members have requested. I have always been proud of the spending i requested for my district and i welcome the public knowing about every one of them. As our districts elected representatives, our rules should empower us to request spending we deem to be in the best interest of the people we represent. We do our constituents a disservice by ceding to the bureaucracy the power that the constitution has given us to improve the lives of our constituents and help them pursue their dreams and aspirations. I thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important matter and i yield back. Thank you very much. This is a rules committee, and less time. I now yield to chairman thompson. Chairman thompson thank you, chairman, Ranking Member cole. Listen, chairman, 16 years ago the Bipartisan Commission recommended that congress should create a single principle point of oversight and review of Homeland Security. That should be one permanent standing community for Homeland Security in each chamber. At the time, the commission acknowledged that their recommendation to reform congressional oversight was