Kilmer Named to Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform
TACOMA, Wash.—Today, Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) was named to Congress’s new Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform. The bipartisan committee was created to propose long-term changes to Congress’s budgeting process and, ultimately, end the dysfunction that has produced government shutdowns and temporary spending plans.
“I’ve long said Congress is a fixer-upper. The budget process is in the most urgent need of repair,” Rep. Derek Kilmer said. “I am committed to tackling this challenge and getting things working better with a bipartisan group of my colleagues. I hope our efforts lead to meaningful reforms that improve transparency, avert the persistent uncertainty and budget crises, and restore the voice of the American people in the budget process.”
Congress created the committee through the spending plan passed earlier this month. The plan was the fifth short-term measure to fund the government passed this fiscal year. It ended the second government shutdown in as many months. According to the Pew Research Center, Congress has not passed appropriations measures individually and on time in two decades.
The federal government is the largest employer in Washington’s Sixth Congressional District. Kilmer represents people who work at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Olympic National Park and in the region’s forests for the US Forest Service. They are disproportionally harmed by Congressional dysfunction and the uncertainty surrounding the budget. When the government shuts down, thousands of them receive furlough notices. For that reason, Kilmer recently called for meaningful reforms to the budgeting process in an op-ed published online by Time Magazine called “How to Stop Government Shutdowns.”
The Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform will have until the end of the year to offer reforms. Once the committee produces reforms the House and Senate will have the chance to debate and vote on them.