No Labels
Floor Speech
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Mr. BERA of California. Thank you to my colleague from Wisconsin for organizing this, and thank you to my colleague from New York.
I am honored to be here with colleagues from both sides of the aisle. As you've heard us talking about the Problem Solvers, that's what we're elected to do--to solve problems. One of the first organizations I joined when I got here was the No Labels organization. One of the first bills that I had the honor of cosponsoring was the No Budget, No Pay legislation. What a novel idea--putting together a budget. That was a bill that was an idea that came out of the Problem Solvers. We sponsored that bill, we put it forth, and lo and behold, the House of Representatives has a budget, the Senate has a budget, and the President has a budget.
We've got to continue moving forward, and that is exactly what this organization allows us to do. It brings Democrats and Republicans together to have a conversation, to listen to one another and to solve problems. We're not going to agree on everything. In fact, in divided government, it isn't necessary that we agree on everything. You want to have all the ideas, but we're not asking anyone to give up their convictions. What we are asking, though, is for us to listen to one another, to hear the ideas that are being put out there and then to find common ground so we can start working together on that common ground, moving forward and addressing the challenges that our Nation faces.
We don't have to look too far back in our history to see how this works. The great Speaker, Tip O'Neill, was able to work together with President Ronald Reagan to not only address some of our debt and deficit but to also strengthen Social Security. President Bill Clinton was able to work with Speaker Newt Gingrich to not only balance our budget but to create budget surpluses.
Now, the American people expect us to start working together. I grew up in a country that always talked about what we could do, that focused on the challenge of the day. It is time that we start coming together as Democrats and Republicans, and it's time we start solving problems. That's why I'm so glad to be here and to be a member of the Problem Solvers and a cochair of the Problem Solvers.
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