SNOWE, LANDRIEU CREATE BIPARTISAN, CONSENSUS-BUILDING GROUP IN SENATE
Senators Want to Build on Success of “Gang of 14”
December 21, 2006
Washington D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) announced today that they want to build on the success of the “Gang of 14,” the bipartisan group that averted a Senate shutdown over judicial nominations in the Spring of 2005, by convening a group in the Senate to forge bipartisan consensus on key issues in the 110th Congress.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to join with Senator Mary Landrieu to build upon the success of the bipartisan Gang of 14 with a group committed to bringing comity, consensus and legislative achievements back to the halls of the Senate,” said Snowe. “The American people are tired of partisan attacks and intransigence from the Congress; they are rightly demanding results. And Senator Landrieu and I believe this group will serve as a productive catalyst to bring the Senate together across party lines.”
“Sen. Snowe and I are looking forward to gathering with our colleagues in the next Congress to discuss important policy issues facing the United States and build bipartisan consensus around the solutions at the center of the political spectrum,” Sen. Landrieu said. “’The Gang of 14,’ a group of Republicans and Democrats, was able to maintain the integrity of the United States Senate by preventing a serious rules change that would have shut down the process. It is important that this sensible force in the Senate continues to represent the moderate voices of so many Americans.”
Below is the letter that Snowe and Landrieu sent to their Senate colleagues:
December 18, 2006
Dear Colleague:
We are writing to invite you to a meeting to reconstitute a group or caucus to bring together members of the Senate - both Democrats and Republicans - who may wish to work together across party lines, to forge bipartisan consensus on key issues.
This kind of "coming together" proved successful with the efforts of the so-called "Gang of 14" on judicial nominations, for example. On many important issues, there is more common ground than is often realized. It is therefore critical that the Senate has a constructive, independent, bipartisan force that works to bring both sides together to solve America's pressing problems. That is what this group intends to do.
We fully understand that there will often be legitimate philosophical differences between us on many issues. We each have our own deeply-held principles we intend to honor and we each have a responsibility to represent the interests of our own states. But the American people want us to work together whenever possible to find reasonable solutions on serious issues. They are tired of the extremes on both sides pulling us apart, paralyzing effective action. That was a clear message of the 2006 elections.
It is our intention to meet regularly at lunch (and hopefully identify one consistent meeting room for that purpose) to discuss current and upcoming issues on which we may want to work together - and, at the first meeting, we propose discussing both the frequency of meetings and also the name for this group going forward. Additionally, we would have special meetings when needed. We would also welcome the participation of members of the Senate who may not regularly meet with us but who may join want to join us to work together on specific issues of mutual concern.
Our first meeting will be held on Thursday, January 11, at 4:00 pm. We will follow up with a location, which will be a meeting room. We hope you are able to attend.
We want to emphasize that while many of us may not always find ourselves in agreement with our party's caucus on some issues, it is not the intent of this group to undermine each party's leadership or the Senate committees. In fact, we hope that our work will actually strengthen the effectiveness of each party's caucus by providing an influence within each of them to facilitate action and bipartisan consensus on vital issues.
We also look forward to working with the new Bipartisan Members Group, which is being organized by Lamar Alexander, Joe Lieberman and others.
The Bipartisan Members Group intends to bring together in social settings members of both parties and every ideological persuasion to help build relationships. This, too, is a good idea. While different from the consensus-building, issue-oriented group we're planning, the aims of fostering civil discussion and creating new avenues of cooperation are all complementary.
As we look forward to working together in the new Congress, we are
Sincerely,
Olympia Snowe
Mary L. Landrieu
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