27 Aug 2026 Improving Government Operability and Fiscal Responsibility: BPC Action Rules Recommendations for the 120th Congress in Economics and Finance, Government Reform
As Congress considers Rules for the 120th Congress, BPC Action offers the following eight recommendations to help Congress better serve Americans, rein in ballooning deficits, and pave the way for economic security.
Improving Government Operability:
1. Schedule and Calendar
- Amend House rules to require committees to input their scheduling data into the House’s Deconflict tool.
- Optimize the House calendar to reduce travel days and increase session days.
- Adopt a block schedule for committee meetings, which our research shows could vastly reduce members’ scheduling conflicts.
- Rescind unilateral authority for the Speaker to adjourn the House at any time, which was granted on an ad hoc basis during COVID-19 but now is codified in House Rules.
The inefficiencies of the congressional calendar are among the most common sources of frustration members identify. While some progress has been made thanks to the deconfliction tool recommended by the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and developed by the House Digital Service, problems persist.
2. Continuity of Congress
- Establish a Joint Committee on the Continuity of Congress.
An unusually high number of vacancies during the current 119th Congress, combined with a heightened threat environment, raises concerns about security, the institution’s ability to operate in a crisis, and the continuity of representation for all Americans. Following the Modernization Committee, we recommend a systematic review of these issues to inform additional constitutional, legal, and policy recommendations.
3. Empower Congressional Committees
- Create a “guaranteed regular order” procedure that empowers committees to advance bipartisan legislation—particularly reauthorizations—to the floor if they conduct a thorough, deliberative process through hearings and markups.
Committees are essential sources of knowledge and deliberation, but their use within the institution has diminished. As BPC’s Working Group on Congress, Courts, and Administrative Law notes in its report, “Legislating After Loper: Practical Solutions for a Post-Chevron Congress,” committees are vital to Congress assuming the more robust role in regulatory direction and oversight demanded by recent Supreme Court jurisprudence. A Hoover Institution-Sunwater Institute task force outlines a workable model for guaranteed regular order.
4. Dual Sponsors
- Amend House rules to allow for one lawmaker from each party to serve as joint sponsors of legislation.
Bipartisan collaboration is a key factor in delivering results for the American people. Allowing dual sponsors will not only incentivize bipartisan collaboration but will also increase transparency by allowing constituents to better see which measures have bipartisan support. This idea was recommended by the Modernization Committee and has been championed by Reps. Cleaver (D-MO) and Kim (R-CA) in the current and recent Congresses.
Controlling Spending and Getting the Budget in Check:
Budget gimmicks are driving up the debt and making life more expensive for the average American. Congress should return to responsible budgeting, which requires tough leadership that cannot wait as the debt continues to grow.
Taken together, these budget-specific recommendations would:
- Restore Congress’s institutional authority over budgeting and appropriations to strengthen long-term budgeting and fiscal credibility.
- Close procedural loopholes that have enabled repeated debt expansion through single-party legislation.
- Channel tax and spending debates back toward more durable, transparent, pro-growth, and fiscally responsible policymaking.
1. Conrad Rule: Close the Reconciliation Deficit Loophole
Senate Rules prevent reconciliation bills from increasing deficits outside the 10-year window. In practice, however, Congress has used reconciliation to enact massive deficit increases within the window itself, two recent examples being the American Rescue Plan and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The House could adopt a rule—sometimes referred to as the Conrad Rule, named for former Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)—prohibiting consideration of reconciliation bills that increase deficits in any year.
2. Keep Congressional Control Over Discretionary Spending
Reconciliation bills during both the Biden and Trump administrations have used reconciliation to fund programs that are traditionally funded through annual appropriations, shifting whole agencies or programs from discretionary to mandatory spending and cutting Congress out of the oversight that comes with regular order.
Because the Byrd Rule prevents Congress from including language that is not primarily budgetary, these laws relinquish a considerable amount of congressional control over agencies and programs. Allowing discretionary funding to migrate into reconciliation also further erodes the appropriations process. The House could establish points of order against the inclusion of funding for accounts traditionally funded through annual appropriations. This would force both parties to come to the table to fund discretionary programs and ensure Congress doesn’t give up control in directing how programs are operated.
3. Ensure Baselines Reflect the True Cost of Tax and Spending Decisions
Some scoring practices can make proposed budget legislation appear less expensive than it is, or not costly at all. For example, treating expiring tax or spending provisions as permanent hides the long-term cost of extending them. Similarly, projecting one-time emergency or supplemental appropriations forward and assuming they grow with inflation swells the spending base and makes proposed increases appear comparatively modest.
Both practices make deficit expansion easier. For the estimates and baseline it uses to enforce budgetary points of order, the House could direct the Budget Committee to reflect current law for expiring provisions and to exclude emergency-designated and supplemental appropriations from the projected baseline.
4. Make PAYGO Votes Count
Congress waives statutory PAYGO at year’s end, buried in large packages, with almost no accountability. If Congress is going to waive it, it should do so in the open through standalone recorded votes on scorecard waivers above a set dollar threshold—$1 billion, for example—with a minimum public disclosure period before consideration.
BPC Action is here to support Congress as policymakers and staff think creatively to improve Congress. Please contact Hello@BPCAction.org if you’d like to learn more or partner with us.
