‘A great day for America’

Despite the sweltering heat and humidity in Washington, a bipartisan group of more than 70 members of Congress known as the “Problem Solvers” gathered on a grassy area near the Capitol on Thursday to unveil a 9-point legislative agenda and to declare that the days of partisan gridlock are numbered.

The rally was organized by No Labels, the staunchly bipartisan/non-partisan group (as the name implies) that helped create the Problem Solvers coalition.

Congresswoman Janice Hahn, a California Democrat, said: "Today is a new day that calls for new ideas, collaboration and real solutions for the American people ... No Labels presents a pathwayto breaking the partisan gridlock.”

The emcee for the event, centrist political commentator Michael Smerconish of Sirius/XM satellite radio, was so impressed with the event that he called it “a great day for America.”

The nine-bill plan offers pragmatic approaches toward cutting wasteful spending, making the federal bureaucracy work more efficiently, and reshaping the budget in a more effective manner.

For example, one proposal called “No adding, no padding” would end the automatic inflation-adjusted increases granted to each federal department and agency on an annual basis. Another initiative, “Stay in place, cut the waste,” would slash by 50 percent all federal agencies’ travel budgets and replace those trips with video conferencing.

No Labels was launched in 2010 and gained little traction at first. When they launched the Problem Solvers last year it began as a group of about two dozen lawmakers. It now consists of 81 House and Senate members and is nearly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

After critics initially accused No Labels of mushy politics and labeled the group the “Kumbaya Caucus,” the group moved away from its centrist image. Problem Solvers gained some staunchly partisan Republican and Democratic lawmakers who are frustrated by the stagnation in a Congress that is on pace to become the least productive in the nation’s history.

In January, No Labels announced its new co-chairs, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and former Republican Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman,

Writing in today’s New York Times, Jonathan Wiseman reported: "There do appear to be new stirrings of cooperation -- or at least the desire to cooperate. On Thursday, the staunchly bipartisan group No Labels and 81 House and Senate lawmakers -- some of the most liberal and conservative — will roll out a slate of specific legislative proposals with broad and surprising support across the ideological spectrum. Thursday’s No Labels event could signify a real change."

UPDATE: Smerconish, who is a major media figure in the Philadelphia area, wrote a column over the weekend that further expounds on the significance of the Problem Solvers event.


To watch a short video about the Problem Solvers agenda, click here.