Accomplishments

 
No Labels has come a long way since its launch in December of 2010. Read on to learn about some of our biggest accomplishments to date.

2012

March 14: Senate committee holds hearing on Make Congress Work! action plan and Mark McKinnon talks with Stephen Colbert

"This proposal is like a legislative scream," said Sen. Joe Lieberman as he opened a historic hearing on the No Budget, No Pay Act and other proposals in No Labels’ Make Congress Work! action plan in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Jim Cooper, the bill sponsors, testified before the committee calling on Congress to fix itself.

Five other senators on the committee attended including Sens. Susan Collins, Ron Johnson, Scott Brown, Mark Pryor and Tom Coburn. No Labels Co-Founders Rep. Tom Davis and Bill Galston also testified, and Galston noted that “It’s very rare for the institution to hold a hearing on ways to fix itself.”

That night, No Labels Co-Founder Mark McKinnon went on The Colbert Report to share the successes of the No Labels movement with Colbert Nation.

Click here to get a full recap of the press coverage surrounding the hearing.

Jan. 24: President Obama endorses reform no. 2 in our Make Congress Work! action plan  

It was a No Labels kind of night when President Obama gave his 2012 State of the Union address. First, Obama took a page right out of our Make Congress Work! action plan. “I ask the Senate to pass a rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days,” Obama said.
 
In addition, more than 200 members of Congress bucked decades of tradition and sat with lawmakers from the opposite party during the address. Bipartisan seating was point no. 10 in the plan. Click here to read more about our plan to change the rules and fix what’s broken in Washington.
 
Jan. 23: No Labels holds town hall teleconference with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, business leader and more than 200,000 citizens
More than 200,000 Americans joined a No Labels town hall teleconference with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Reps. Robert Dold (R-IL) and Tim Griffin (R-AR), and Panera Bread Founder & Executive Chairman Ron Shaich, moderated by Kiki McLean, to talk about how to Make Congress Work!

“When you talk about common sense ideas, I know that you'll find a lot of Democrats, Republicans and Independents who have so much in common - and No Labels is bringing us together,” Sen. Manchin said on the call. Click here to listen to the call recording.

Jan. 23: iTunes releases and features the No Labels Anthem in its music store
When Grammy award-winning R&B artist Akon heard about No Labels, he was so inspired by the movement that he stayed up all night to write a song. The result, the "No Labels Anthem,” performed by Broadway superstar Deborah Cox, went live in the iTunes music store in January 2012 and was featured on the R&B page. Click here to buy your copy of the song now for just 99 cents or set it as a ringtone on your iPhone for a $1.29.

 

2011

Dec. 13: No Labels launches Make Congress Work! action plan on Capitol Hill
On Dec. 13, No Labels launched its campaign to change the rules and fix what's broken. Click here to learn more about Make Congress Work!.

Sept. 6: No Labels Town Hall with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz
More than 100,000 citizens joined Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, No Labels Co-Founders John Avlon, Lisa Borders and Robert S. Kaplan, and President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Maya MacGuineas, in a virtual town hall to talk solutions to the problems plaguing America. 88 percent of the callers agreed that political gridlock is a problem in Washington and 79 percent stated that they would feel better if a bipartisan debt reduction package was passed.

August: Town Hall Research
In August, No Labels surveyed every member’s office of the House of Representatives to compile detailed information about town hall meetings. Through this research, we found that only 44 percent of representatives were holding public town hall meetings over their August recess. Our research was featured in publications across the country from The Drudge Report to United Press International and Yahoo News. Soon after, a number of members of Congress announced plans to host additional town hall meetings.

July 18: Citizen Leaders Meeting
A total of 250 No Labels leaders from across the country attended our second Citizen Leaders Meeting to meet each other and share best practices. After the discussion, they rallied at the Capitol to demand sensible solutions to the debt-ceiling crisis. Our gathering attracted national media attention in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and many other news outlets.

June 1: No Deal, No Break
No Labels launched the “No Deal, No Break” campaign to demand that Congress delay its recess until it reached a solution on the debt crisis. The campaign was wildly successful. No Labels was the first group to call for Congress to stay in session, and President Obama and Republican leadership adopted the No Labels language, including the popular phrase “everyone at the table, everything on the table.” The press acknowledged our role in keeping Congress in session: Gail Russell Chaddock of the Christian Science Monitor stated on NPR that No Labels’ messaging “had a huge impact in getting the Senate to come back.”

March 1: Citizen Leaders Meeting
No Labels hosted a training sessions for its citizen leaders. Training included tools for organizing, hearing from prominent leaders, and updates from Capitol Hill.

Later that day No Labels hosted a press event on the East Side of the U.S. Capitol calling for a timely and constructive approach to solve the nation’s fiscal challenges. More than 200 state leaders from more than 40 states - representing tens of thousands of No Labels members across the country - joined together with a clear message: “Everyone at the table, everything on the table.”

Jan. 25: State of the Unity
No Labels supporters organized 500 bipartisan watch parties for President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union Address. During the speech, No Labels posted a “unity meter,” tracking how many times the President received a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle. This measure was then compared to instances of bipartisan applause for presidents during each State of the Union since 1978. The day after the speech, 11 senators met with No Labels live on Capitol Hill to offer their comments on the State of the Union.

 

2010

Dec. 13: No Labels Launch
More than 1,000 No Labels supporters from all 50 states gathered at Columbia University to mark the official launch of the movement. Including such prominent figures as Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the event featured a lineup of speakers, from journalists to elected officials to business leaders, and captured 52 million media impressions.

Speakers like former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), David Brooks, David Gergen, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, all gathered in one room to share common ideas and sentiments about the need for constructive civility. No Labels supporters had an open debate over how to solve problems practically and find common sense solutions.