In his first speech as Speaker of the House, Rep. Paul Ryan acknowledged that “the House is broken” and promised some changes in how the House would do business. He laid out two rules of thumb: “The committees should retake the lead in drafting all major legislation” and “open up the process. Let people participate.” The problem is that these two rules of thumb, strong committee leadership and wide-open rank-and-file participation, stand in tension with one another. Now almost a month into his speakership, Ryan’s first major organizational moves are evident. As his “downpayment” on reform, six chairs of major committees were removed from the House Republican Steering Committee to be replaced by members elected by the conference at large. As his second move, Ryan has called for “listening sessions” in which appropriations subcommittee chairmen will hold meetings with rank-and-file members on the outstanding appropriations bills. In short, Ryan’s reforms prioritize more participation from the rank-and-file and tend to further weaken committee chairs. No longer guaranteed slots on the Steering Committee, chairs of major committees will have less influence over
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