In the News
In 1994, when Republicans won the House for the first time in four decades, a band of fiscally conservative Democrats had a simple explanation: Their party had moved too far to the left.
In 2014, when Republicans shrunk Democratic numbers to their lowest since the end of World War II, a similar faction of fiscally conservative House Democrats came to a similar conclusion: The party's progressives weren't speaking to moderate voters.
The leadership of the Blue Dog Coalition issued the following statement today in response to the release of the President's FY2015 budget proposal:
WASHINGTON – The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition is expanding its ranks in the U.S. House of Representatives by adding Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ), Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). These additions bring the coalition's total membership to 19.
Congressman Kurt Schrader, co-chair of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, today released the following statement on the retirement of Congressman Mike McIntyre (D-NC):
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.