Can Republicans and Democrats in Congress learn to work together in 2020?

Whether you are talking about the UK parliament or the US Congress, I think everyone would agree that cooperation is not high on the agenda.

In Washington, bipartisanship between the Democrats and the Republicans has been slowly eroding for a while. The election of Donald Trump helped quicken the pace, and the battle lines drawn over the impeachment of the president have added more fuel to the fire. There have been acts of compromise between the two parties, but they have been few and far between.

That’s probably why you’re not likely to have heard much about the Select Committee on the Modernisation of Congress, whose mission, since it was set up in January, has increasingly become finding ways to boost civility and cooperation in the legislative branch. While the committee also seeks to find ways for Congress to work better for the American people – mostly by saving taxpayers’ money – it is the civility part of the mandate that has taken up a lot of the time.

Their third round of recommendations was passed by the bipartisan (obviously) committee on 19 December. There were 16 recommendations including: “create a bipartisan members-only space in the Capitol to encourage more collaboration across party lines” and “establish bipartisan committee staff briefings and agenda-setting retreats to encourage better policy making”. Added to the 29 other recommendations that have come from the committee throughout the year, that makes 45 in total, with the group having held 14 hearings since March.

Earlier in December, the committee introduced legislation to the House of Representatives to implement the 29 bipartisan recommendations that had previously been set. Each member co-sponsored the legislation and are hopeful it will pass through the House and then be implemented. Will it make a difference to the atmosphere in the House? Again, members are said to be hopeful.

The original mandate for the committee was due to expire in February but, thanks to widespread support, that has recently been extended by another year to allow it to work until the end of the 116th (and current) session of Congress.

The benefits might not be noticeable as quickly as we may like, with Representative Derek Kilmer, the Democrat co-chair of the committee, aware of its limitations. “I wish I could tell you I was confident that we will make recommendations that will heal all of the division in our society,” Mr Kilmer recently told The Washington Post. “I don’t think that’s realistic.”

However, both he and Republican co-chair, Representative Tom Graves, are optimistic that their work can help make some difference in 2020 and beyond.