Today, the House has restored regular order and fiscal sanity to the federal budget process by successfully passing all twelve appropriations bills.
Restore regular order to the federal budget process through committee-led appropriations bills.
Occurrences
that's why it's important to pass a budget, to pass appropriation bills and to stand firm on those appropriation bills. That's a position I've had since I've been in Congress, and I will continue to have it.
Evidence
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Westerman released a statement (Jan 22, 2026) praising the House vote that passed the final four FY2026 appropriations bills and saying the passage "completes the annual appropriations process through a committee-led approach and restores regular order."
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The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (P.L. 119-75) was enacted Feb 3, 2026, implementing multiple FY2026 appropriations divisions into law (consolidated package covering many of the 12 appropriations bills).
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The committee said the package was negotiated on a bipartisan, bicameral basis and that moving it forward kept "continued progress towards completing all 12 FY26 appropriations bills".
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Congress.gov shows H.R. 7148 passed the House on Jan. 22, passed the Senate on Jan. 30, and became law on Feb. 3, 2026.
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The committee's FY27 markup calendar shows subcommittee and full committee markups continuing through June 10, 2026, including the Homeland Security bill.
Assessments
The outcome was only partially delivered. House and Senate enacted FY2026 appropriations in early 2026 through a committee-driven process, and Westerman publicly claimed that this restored 'regular order.' But the evidence points to a consolidated appropriations package rather than a full return to the classic 12 standalone committee-led bills, so the promise was not fully met. Because the relevant enactment occurred in January-February 2026, after the 2023-2025 House term tied to the 2022 campaign, the timing is later_term. Westerman can receive some credit for supporting and taking ownership of the result as a continuing member of Congress, but the record here does not show singular personal leadership sufficient for full delivery credit.
Evidence shows Congress enacted FY2026 appropriations divisions into law (P.L. 119-75, Feb 3, 2026) and Representative Westerman publicly praised House passage of the final FY2026 appropriations bills as completing the process via a committee-led approach. That indicates meaningful movement toward the promised "regular order" and the member took public credit/support. However, the action appears to be partial: several measures were implemented in a consolidated appropriations act and the record does not show a full return to classic regular order (all 12 bills independently reported and enacted entirely on a committee-by-committee basis). There is clear same-term involvement/support by the member but not definitive evidence he single-handedly restored full regular order, so the claim is partially fulfilled.