bipartisan seating
Which lawmakers are sitting together at the State of the Union this year?
As you know, bipartisan seating is reform #10 of our Make Congress Work! action plan. It’s the reform that gets a “Duh” response from anyone who hears about it. As in, “Of course, they should sit together.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama endorsed No Labels' proposal for all presidential nominees to get an up-or-down vote within 90 days.
Join a town hall teleconference tonight with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Reps. Robert Dold (R-IL), Tim Griffin (R-AR) and John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Panera Bread Founder Ron Shaich, moderated by Kiki McLean
No Labels is high-fiving Sens. Mark Udall (D-CO) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for their role in sparking a bipartisan seating movement among members of Congress in advance of the State of the Union address.
Seating matters. "If you've ever sat next to a chain-smoking great aunt who smelled of eau de toilette at a family reunion, you know what I'm talking about."
Many lawmakers are taking a first step toward civility at this year's State of the Union by sitting with colleagues from the opposite party after No Labels' call to action.
Why all the trouble staffing the government? No Labels has a solution: The Senate should have an up-or-down vote on presidential nominations within 90 days.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) makes the case for No Labels. "No Labels seating may be a symbolic gesture, yet it's a welcome gesture by the public which has expressed growing dissatisfaction with the partisan divide in Congress and the inability to work together for the good of the country," Nelson says.
That's what page our full-page ad in The New York Times is on. In it, we say: Duh! Make Congress sit together. Not on opposite sides of the aisle, but actually together.
