Derek Kilmer: “I have the honor of working with Vice Chair Tom Graves, who has been a terrific partner in this effort.”

I am grateful to my colleague and friend, Congressman Brad Wenstrup, for serving on our first panel today.

I think we make a terrible mistake--and I am through--when Members get elected and there is a Democratic bus and there is a Republican bus right at beginning.

First, it can help us promote bipartisanship and civility, which I believe is desperately needed in our polarized politics.

My hope is, regardless of which party holds the gavels, that that Subcommittee continues, because the work of institutional improvement needs to continue.