In the News
WASHINGTON – Congressman Kurt Schrader, co-chair of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, today released the following statement on the retirement of Congressman Jim Matheson (D-UT):
Blue Dogs Urge Budget Conferees and House Leadership to Find Bi-Partisan Solutions To Nation's Fiscal Challenges: Earlier this month, the co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition, along with three members of the moderate Republican "Tuesday Group," sent a letter to Congressman Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murray committing to work with them "on a bipartisan solution that solves our nation's fiscal problems." And back in October during the government shutdown, a similar letter was sent to House leadership, signed by the Blue Dog co-chairs, urging Congress to discontinue governing fro
Written by Alan Ota
Blue Dog Democrats are hunting for the middle ground in the partisan fight over spending and taxes, and they are looking at centrist Republicans as potential allies.
"It's something we plan to do from time to time," Dent said at an event hosted by the Republican Main Street Partnership, another group that represents GOP moderates.
Meetings across the aisle worked in the past to help build consensus, Dent said.
"That's something else that we're doing to try to help build a critical mass of people who want to try to get some things done together," he said.
Since election night, many political pundits have written about the demise of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Caucus in Congress. What is most distressing to us is not the pontifications of the political punditry (many of whom picked Mitt Romney to win in a landslide) but, rather, the acceptance by many Democrats that the South is a lost cause.
Congress has a lot of unfinished work before the end of the year. But if the last election has taught us anything — especially the election in the 12th Congressional District — it's that folks are tired of business as usual in Washington.
They don't just want us to get to work — they want us to work together.
Congress has work to do. Much of this work will require members to find solutions to some of our nation's most pressing issues. I think we can all agree that our first priority should be our nation's economic recovery and getting Americans back to work in good-paying, stable jobs.
ATLANTA, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) - Congress passed a bill Wednesday introduced by Congressman John Barrow (GA-12) that will cut funding for the General Services Administration to buy vehicles for the federal government fleet by 20 percent. The government fleet currently has more than 700,000 vehicles, and this bill will substantially reduce that number.
By U.S. Congressman John Barrow, Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Journalists in Washington and other places have reported for at least the past year and a half on the so-called end of the moderate in Congress. I'll be the first to admit that there are fewer moderate members of Congress than there were in the last Congress. And after Election Day, there may be fewer still.
Due to copyright laws, only excerpts are available. To read the column, please visit the Washington Times directly at the link below.
Over the last several years, the media has placed great focus on the fact that moderate Republican politicians are not only becoming a rare breed, but in fact stand ripe for extinction during low-turnout primary races.