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Lofty goals, few results for \'No Labels\' group in Congress

Author:Jonathan Tamari ComeFrom:philly.com Date:2014/10/15 1:49:10 Hits:2059
They have bold orange lapel pins, their own nickname - "problem solvers" - and even a theme song written by the R&B star Akon.

And with a lofty goal of ending congressional gridlock, the bipartisan group No Labels has also sought and won flattering headlines across the country. Locally, U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) has trumpeted his participation.

But what No Labels has produced little of in its four-year existence is tangible results.

Since the group relaunched with a focus on Congress in 2013, it has laid claim to two meager legislative victories, one of which was watered down and one that recycled an idea first enacted in 2008.

No Labels members have held high-profile news conferences pledging to bring lawmakers together. They wore their custom lapel pins to the 2013 State of the Union speech, but the current Congress still has been among the least productive in modern history.

"If you want to look for concrete results, they're not there, but I'm not sure there's any real way of making them happen," said Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute who has written extensively on political polarization.

Ornstein and other analysts praised No Labels' intentions, but, he said, "so far, it's been pretty limited in its impact." Sarah Binder, a political scientist at George Washington University, said, "They really haven't, I don't believe, found much traction."

A skeptical Washington headline once labeled the group the "kumbaya caucus."

Fitzpatrick said No Labels is "not a feel-good organization."

"It was formed to address partisanship, inaction, and gridlock," he told The Inquirer this week, "and we've moved the ball forward."

The Bucks County congressman pointed to the two ideas that No Labels had supported and were signed into law, and said the group was working on much more.

No Labels' regular breakfast meetings bring together lawmakers from all over the ideological spectrum, said U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (R., Pa.).

"We are much better off because of this group," said Dent, of Allentown. "If this group were to go away, I don't know that there would be a good forum for members to sit down informally and have these regular bipartisan conversations."

Based in Washington, No Labels has a staff of 20 and a $4.5 million budget for 2014. It is not required to disclose its donors and does not do so, its website says, because that "doesn't advance our core mission."

Noting how young the organization is, its executive director, Margaret Kimbrell, said, "No big ideas ever happen overnight."

The accomplishments listed on the group's website begin with Akon's having written the "No Labels Anthem" because he was inspired by its goals. (The song is for sale on iTunes and plays for callers on hold at the No Labels office: "Put your differences aside man if you can / Cos there's way too many people suffering / I wish they didn't have no labels.")

No Labels' most ambitious push began in September, when the group laid out four big aims: create 25 million jobs over the next decade, balance the federal budget by 2030, preserve Medicare and Social Security, and make the country energy-secure.

But the details of how to reach these towering goals will not be announced for another year - after planned discussions and meetings - leaving it unclear whether the lawmakers who support the agenda will endorse the policies to enact it.

Just about all public officials like new jobs and Social Security. It's the details that defy consensus.

"We really want to inject this national strategic agenda into the presidential debate," Kimbrell said, explaining the plan to release proposals in Iowa and New Hampshire next October.

Of course, the lack of concrete proposals has not stopped lawmakers from boasting about the plan to develop a plan.

Fitzpatrick sent an e-mail highlighting the agenda. "Now more than ever, it's critical that our nation sees there is more that brings us together than separates us," he said in the news release.

Eighty-three lawmakers signed on to the goals, including Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D., Pa.) and U.S. Reps. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.) and Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.). Fitzpatrick and Dent have been the most vocal local participants.

"Problem solvers realize we need to start winning on policy," Dent said.

No Labels' first package of bills, pitched at a 2013 news conference that featured Fitzpatrick, Dent, and a long line of other speakers, resulted in two that became law - though each passed as asides, tacked on as small pieces of more significant bills that had broad support.

One proposal, "No Budget, No Pay," would dock lawmakers' salaries if they did not pass a federal budget, with no back pay. But the final version applied for only one year - and provided for full back pay at the end of the congressional session even if a budget never passed.

Fitzpatrick said he supported the tougher, permanent version. (His website allows that the final bill "differed slightly from No Labels' original plan.")

The other big win No Labels highlights was tucked into Section 525 of a 494-page bill approving military spending. It requires the Defense Department to provide the Department of Veterans Affairs with veterans' medical records electronically.

The same goal had been part of a law passed in 2008, before No Labels existed, and has been pursued without success for years.

Ornstein credited the group with trying to build trust among lawmakers, but said too many No Labels members go to bipartisan meetings and then rejoin "their tribes" and vote on partisan lines anyway.

Fitzpatrick and Dent, to be sure, have reliably supported key compromises in Congress.

Voters hate dysfunction, but parties remain important to them, said Ross Baker, a Rutgers University professor who last month released a book, Is Bipartisanship Dead?

Party affiliation provides information and energy.

"Political party labels are really a part of the personal identity of a lot of Americans. As much as they deplore excessive partisanship, they really do want their team to win," Baker said. "There's an emotional dimension to this that I think that No Labels just doesn't quite get."

Lofty goals, few results for \'No Labels\' group in CongressU.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) defends No Labels. ("Now more than ever," he has said, "it's critical that our nation sees there is more that brings us together than separates us.")

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