Press Releases
WASHINGTON—Today, the Blue Dog Coalition announced its leadership for the 116th Congress and inducted several new members. In the 116th Congress, the Coalition will fight to restore the American Dream and put our country on the path to prosperity. The Coalition will continue to focus on its long-held mission to pursue commonsense, bipartisan solutions that will get our country's fiscal house in order and ensure a strong national defense.
The Blue Dog Coalition's leadership for the 116th Congress will include:
WASHINGTON—Today, the Co-Chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition—Reps. Jim Costa (CA-16), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), and Dan Lipinski (IL-03)—met with Leader Nancy Pelosi and released the following statement:
"Today, we had a conversation with Leader Pelosi regarding the anticipated increase in the Blue Dog Coalition's membership and the need to ensure the Democratic Caucus is representative of the broad views of its membership going into the 116th Congress.
Today, in an Agri-Pulse editorial, the Chairman of the Blue Dog Special Task Force on Rural America, Rep. Tom O'Halleran (AZ-01), and the Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), Rep. Cheri Bustos (IL-17), sent a clear message to rural America: The gridlock in Washington does not reflect the values of the rural communities around the country – and that has to change.
The Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed the Problem Solvers Caucus' Break the Gridlock, a package of proposed changes to the House Rules that would make Congress work for the American people. The Blue Dog Coalition is the first official caucus within the U.S. House of Representatives to back the proposal since the Problem Solvers Caucus introduced it.
Last week, the Blue Dog Coalition released A Strong Rural America, an agenda that outlines the path to prosperity and restoring the American Dream in rural communities across the country. The agenda is intended to provide a roadmap for Congress to take a commonsense, bipartisan approach to revitalizing rural communities and addressing the level of inequality between rural and urban America. The effort was led by Rep.
Today, the Blue Dog Coalition released A Strong Rural America, an agenda that outlines the path to prosperity and restoring the American Dream in rural communities across the country.
Today, the co-chairs of the fiscally-responsible, Democratic Blue Dog Coalition—Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and Daniel Lipinski (D-IL)—released the following statement in response the release of Rep. Kevin Brady's (R-TX) listening session framework, "Tax Reform 2.0":
Yesterday, several members of the Blue Dog Special Task Force on Rural America were named as conferees for the 2018 Farm Bill Conference Committee, where Republican and Democratic members will come together in an effort to develop a bipartisan Farm Bill.
Yesterday, the Blue Dog Coalition's Special Task Force on Rural America held its third panel discussion on rural issues.
The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed H.R. 6165, the Combating Opioid Misuse Before Addiction for our Troops (COMBAT) Act. This bipartisan bill prevents the overprescription of opioids to active duty servicemembers, their families, and retirees who use TRICARE by requiring the Department of Defense to implement a seven day first-fill limit for opioid prescriptions.