A bipartisan committee tasked with reforming the broken spending process in Congress launched a new website Monday that will track the committee’s progress.
The site will be “a source for general information and updates” as the 16-member committee attempts to find a solution that would end the years of House and Senate dysfunction when it comes to passing the dozen appropriations measures that fund the government.
The panel this month held its inaugural public hearing, which featured former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin and former Obama Administration economist Martha Coven.
The committee plans to hold more public hearings and is required to produce spending reform legislation by Nov. 30.
The panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said this month after hearing from witnesses that legislative fixes may not be enough to end the gridlock that created the spending dysfunction. Congress has not passed all 12 spending bills on time since 1994.
“The discussion also underscored my concern that while some worthwhile improvements can be made to the process, we also need to find ways to overcome the deep policy disagreements and a lack of political will that are the root cause of many of our difficulties in acting on budgets and appropriations.”
The budget reform committee was created earlier this year as part of a two-year budget deal and after a months-long, partisan spending fight.
