No Labels Meeting No Labels Identifies Problem Solvers in Washington

Today, politicians, activists, and frustrated voters gathered in New York for No Labels’ Meeting to Make America Work! in an effort to identify problem solving leaders in Washington.

“The dysfunction of Congress makes our own nation dysfunctional,” Gov. Jon Huntsman said, setting the tone of Monday’s conference.

In an act of bipartisan cooperation, Gov. Jon Huntsman and Sen. Joe Manchin took the stage to discuss problem solving in Congress. “We need a network of grassroots organizers that takes the ethos of No Labels… putting the next generation before the next election,” Huntsman said in an address to the audience. “Can you imagine…what it would look like to have 75 problem solvers in Congress?”

Suggesting a bottom-up approach, Huntsman encouraged students to get involved and be civically-minded in order to solve the problems facing America today.

While not physically there, former President Bill Clinton and Senator McCain appeared via video touting messages of cooperation, sharing their support for the nonpartisan organization.

Among the proposed reforms, as reported by the Associated Press, are:

  • Requiring Congress to work five days a week instead of the typical late Monday-Thursday schedule;
  • Demanding an annual address to Congress on the fiscal condition of the nation;
  • Withholding congressional pay if lawmakers fail to pass a budget;
  • Forcing an up-or-down vote on presidential appointments within 90 days of a nomination;
  • Changes to the rules for filibuster in the Senate that allow the minority party to stall the process on bills and nominations that have fewer than 60 votes.

Do you support these reforms? Why or why not?

For more, check out No Labels’ Live Blog of the event here.