America’s long-term future — the strength of our economy , the health of our democracy , and our standing in the world itself — rests on our ability to tackle our fiscal challenges. This generational problem is made worse by the inability of Congress to abide by even the most basic budgetary disciplines.

By establishing the Budget Process Reform Task Force, the House Budget Committee has a unique opportunity to tackle this problem head-on, fundamentally change how the government spends tax dollars, and transform a set of archaic guidelines that are no match for today’s polarized environment.

The cascade of showdowns and shutdowns in recent years is evidence of how far afield we are from the current statutory budget process. Under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, a unified House-Senate budget resolution is supposed to set a spending framework by April 15, distilled into individual appropriations bills that are sent to the president by the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1.

This may all sound foreign now, but for a long time, it was the norm. Until the late 1990s, Congress never failed to pass a budget while routinely delivering appropriations bills on schedule. But since then, it has become increasingly rare to pass or even prepare a budget resolution.

As for the spending side of the equation, we just ignore deadlines and buy time with stopgap continuing resolutions. As the process has become more politicized, it has become more protracted: Since 2007, it has taken an average of 170 days after the start of the fiscal year to pass all spending bills. Even with the extra time, the result is usually a massive omnibus spending bill few members reviewed, let alone were permitted to provide input to.

Today, there are no consequences for missing deadlines to produce a budget framework. The process has been used by both parties in recent years to advance their respective partisan agendas and bypass supermajority requirements in the Senate. Our task force will look at ways to make the budget process more about setting actual budgets and achieving responsible budget outcomes rather than reducing it to just another procedural tool to jam through an unrelated partisan agenda.

It is also clear that the timing of the appropriations process is unrealistic. The work starts too late, and congressional leaders give up on it too early. The task force will assess the following: Is there a more streamlined, straightforward way to fund the government on an annual basis? How can we start the process earlier in the year? How can we avoid continuing resolutions and the uncertainty they cause?

Under the current process, the president can submit pro forma budgets, which essentially serve as partisan messaging vehicles with little substantive impact and accountability. The Constitution gives the power of the purse to Congress, and it is our responsibility to lead in the process of funding the government from start to finish.

An honest discussion about spending, debt, deficits, and revenue — and how those contribute to our debt, and whether and how the debt limit should be raised — is also a needed reform. We welcome that conversation.

Lastly, any serious budget process reform must provide a path to addressing our mandatory spending programs, long-term unfunded obligations, and trust fund solvency for Social Security and Medicare. Our task force will explore the best and most effective means to address these politically charged topics and bring greater accountability and transparency to the process.

As we hope to produce a more open, productive, and responsible budget process, these are the kinds of reforms our task force will consider. We will lead public hearings, convene roundtables, meet with stakeholders from across the country, and seek feedback from voices on both sides of the aisle. Most importantly, we will encourage the input of the public at every turn.

Process reform is by no means a panacea for our broader fiscal problems, nor is it a guarantee of finding common ground. If anything, we hope to foster more debate about the size, scope, and spending of the federal government. Stripping away the unrelenting dysfunction will make it easier to resolve our differences, address our growing financial imbalance, and do the work the public elected us to do.

Jodey Arrington is a U.S. representative for Texas and serves as the chairman of the House Budget Committee. Rudy Yakym is a U.S. representative for Indiana and the chairman of the Budget Process Reform Task Force.