No Labels Interrupts Election Year Partisan Fighting with National Ideas Meeting in D.C.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, No Labels is holding an unprecedented gathering of leaders from across the United States to kick off a yearlong process to help shape the upcoming presidential election. Participating in the No Labels' National Ideas Meeting will be dozens of members of Congress, state and local officials, and business and community leaders.

"Washington has become too complacent and too accepting of gridlock as the natural order of things. It's not," said Gov. Jon Huntsman, Co-Chair of No Labels. "The National Strategic Agenda is a big idea, and it's simply the right idea at the right time. It directly involves citizens in the process and will help our nation's leaders rediscover the lost art of policymaking."

No Labels – a national movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents dedicated to a new politics of problem solving – is calling for America's leaders to support a new governing process to build a National Strategic Agenda. The Agenda includes four goals – chosen with input from a nationwide survey that No Labels conducted last fall:

• Create 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years; 
• Balance the federal budget by 2030;
• Secure Medicare and Social Security for another 75 years; and
• Make America energy secure by 2024.

The National Strategic Agenda will be created with input from people across America beginning with the National Ideas Meeting. Subsequent events in New Hampshire, Iowa and elsewhere will enable No Labels to take the pulse of people across America and to ultimately forge agreement on a full policy plan to achieve the goals of the National Strategic Agenda. More than 80 members of Congress have endorsed the process to create the National Strategic Agenda.

"We were sent to Washington to govern," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Penn. "Working toward a shared set of goals in the governing process is critical to helping us reach real solutions."

"No Labels has developed a novel and absolutely necessary approach to determine not only where we go as a nation, but the roadmap for how we can get there," added Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

The National Strategic Agenda is not just another policy plan, because the specifics of how its four signature goals are achieved will be filled in over the next year through a rigorous and deliberate process.

Deloitte Consulting LLP, a worldwide leader in strategy consulting, has agreed to facilitate and inform the National Strategic Agenda dialogue as the exclusive professional services provider to No Labels.  Deloitte will provide objective, tested approaches, as well as access to its leading industry and functional specialists in support of the National Strategic Agenda process.  

"Many of our leaders say they want to unite – not divide – our country, but no one ever says exactly how this can be accomplished," said No Labels Executive Director Margaret Kimbrell. "The creation of the National Strategic Agenda is precisely how we unite our leaders and move the country forward in support of common goals."

The completed National Strategic Agenda will be unveiled in New Hampshire and Iowa on October 5, 2015.

No Labels will work to inject the agenda into the presidential debate by activating its network of citizens, members of Congress, and state and local leaders across America. No Labels' goal is for the next president to call for a National Strategic Agenda and use No Labels' Agenda as the framework.

Although Washington, D.C. has been consumed by gridlock in recent years, various state leaders and legislatures have made notable progress in their respective states.

"These challenges we're discussing on the 17^th aren't just Washington's problem. This is a problem for my home state of Iowa as well as the other 49 states," said state Senator Jeff Danielson, D-Iowa. "Most state leaders are used to working across the aisle so they need to play a big role in pointing the way forward. Good jobs, a balanced budget, a strong social safety net and energy security … these are challenges we all need to pull together to solve. And there isn't a moment to waste."

No Labels is a national movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents dedicated to a new politics of problem solving. Ours is an organization unlike any other. While many political groups are working to push our leaders apart, No Labels is working to bring them together. No Labels has built a potent network featuring hundreds of thousands of citizens and local leaders across America and almost 100 bipartisan allies in the United States Congress. We have proposed reform ideas and had them turned into laws passed by Congress, including No Budget, No Pay. In 2014, No Labels called on America's leaders to commit to a new governing process to create a National Strategic Agenda, which will rely on input from people across America to develop policy solutions to create 25 million jobs, balance the budget, secure Medicare and Social Security and achieve American energy security. Find out more at www.nolabels.org.

For More Information:
Melanie Kaye
202-588-1990
[email protected]

SOURCE No Labels