No Labels

No Labels is an American political organization whose proclaimed mission is to combat partisan dysfunction in politics and build a bi-partisan governing coalition.[1][2][3]

No Labels
FormationDecember 13, 2010 (2010-12-13) (public launch)
TypePolitical
Legal status501(c)(4)
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Region served
United States
Founders
Nancy Jacobson
Tom Davis (R)
National Leaders
Joe Lieberman (I/D)
Larry Hogan (R)
Websitewww.nolabels.org

No Labels promoted the creation of the House Problem Solvers Caucus which has 50 members, evenly divided between Republican and Democrats to forge bipartisan cooperation on key issues.[4] It is also working on building a similar bi-partisan working group in the Senate.[5]

Critics of the organization have suggested that No Labels exists primarily to advance the financial interests of the wealthy, pointing in particular to the organization offering large "dark money" campaign donations to members of Congress without disclosing the source of the funds.[6][7][8]

History and policy proposals

No Labels was launched in 2010, with the stated goal of developing bipartisan solutions to America's problems.[9][10] Billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Andrew Tisch were among the prominent supporters.[11][12][13][9][10]

Among its proposals that been adopted and/or incorporated into legislation:

Fast-track presidential appointments

In his 2012 State of the Union Address, Barack Obama endorsed No Labels' proposal of a rule requiring a simple yes or no vote within 90 days of all presidential judicial and public service nominations.[14][15]

Bipartisan seating

In January 2012, No Labels proposed that Congress have bipartisan seating at the State of The Union.[16] By the time of the address, 208 members agreed to sit with a member of the opposite party.[15]

No Budget, No Pay

On February 4, 2013, Obama signed H.R. 325 "No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013" into law mandating the pay for lawmakers be held in escrow starting April 16 until their chamber has passed a 2014 budget resolution. This was a modified version of No Labels' original proposal, which had called for member pay to be lost permanently during any period in which they had failed to meet the budget deadline.[17]

Healthcare for Heroes

In 2013, No Labels created a bill to help streamline electronic health-records and make the system more easily accessible for military service members and veterans. Language from the bill entitled 21st Century Healthcare for Heroes bill was adopted into the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) that was passed and signed by Obama in December 2013.[18]

National Strategic Agenda

In 2015, a Senate Hearing on the No Labels framework for bi-partisan problem solving, The National Strategic Agenda, took place in front of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. A number of Senators agreed to work towards solving the Agenda's four goals which polling had identified as important to majorities across the political spectrum: creating 25 million net new jobs in the next decade, securing Medicare and Social Security for 75 years, balancing the federal budget by 2030 and achieving energy security by 2024.[19]

The Speaker Project

On June 21, 2018 No Labels announced an initiative entitled The Speaker Project, which proposed using the election of a new House speaker as leverage to make rule changes to give bipartisan ideas a fair hearing and "a fighting chance in the next Congress".[20]

Some of the rules changes proposed included:

  • Vacate the Motion to Vacate: The next Congress should revise the "Motion to Vacate" rule which enables any House member to demand a no-confidence vote of the speaker enabling a majority of those "present" to oust the speaker. The motion should be allowed only when one-third of the House publicly signs a petition to force such a vote.[21]
  • An Opening for Amendments: Reduce the number of "closed rules" on proposed legislation. (A closed rule denies the minority party a chance to offer amendments on the House floor).[22]
  • Return to Regular Order: Have major legislation debated and crafted in appropriate committees, not leaders' offices.[23]

In January 2019, the new Democratic majority in the House led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a comprehensive reform package that included House rules changes which No Labels had supported through The Speaker Project. As part of the package, Speaker Pelosi created a "consensus calendar" that reserves time for bills with wide bipartisan support to be heard on the House floor.[24]

Other reforms included easing consideration of bipartisan amendments, and making it harder for extremists on the House's wings to threaten to oust the speaker. The hoped-for effect is to promote legislation through compromise and limit the kind of showboating that blocked achievement during the recent Republican rule.[25]

Respect the Vote

In November 2020, following the 2020 election, as ballots were continuing to be counted and there were concerns about disinformation, No Labels launched a $1 million dollar national ad campaign called Respect the Vote, urging Americans to respect the electoral process.[26]

2021 Infrastructure Coalition

In 2021, the Problem Solvers Caucus released a "Building Bridges" blueprint for a bipartisan infrastructure deal. It was the first deal to be endorsed by Republicans and Democrats during that budget cycle.[27][28][29] The push for a bipartisan deal was supported by a campaign in Delaware.[30] A poll found a majority of Delaware voters supporting a bipartisan deal.[31] Email to donors in September 2021 showed efforts by the group to undercut progressive Democrats' attempt to pair a larger reconciliation bill with the bipartisan legislation.[32]

Media

No Labels has received both support and criticism for its efforts from both the political right and left, including from writers from Bloomberg News, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe.[33][34][35][36][37][38]

Nancy Pelosi as speaker

On November 26, 2018, The Daily Beast reported that "No Labels leadership contemplated a campaign to attack Pelosi aggressively after the primary campaign of centrist Rep. Dan Lipinski," even though Pelosi had supported Lipinski in his primary campaign that year.[39] In the same article, the group countered that "No Labels is not against Nancy Pelosi or any other speaker candidate. We are FOR rules changes that empower members in both parties who want to work across the aisle to find solutions and prevent the fringes–in both parties–from perpetuating endless gridlock." On November 28, 2018, the Problem Solvers Caucus reached an agreement with Leader Pelosi on house rules changes that would foster more bipartisan legislating.[40] In January 2019, the new Democratic majority in the House led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a comprehensive reform package that included House rules changes which No Labels had supported through The Speaker Project.[24]

Funding

As a registered 501(c)(4) organization, No Labels is not required to disclose the identities of its donors.[41]

No Labels' early donors include Andrew Tisch, co-chairman of Loews Corporation; Ron Shaich, founder of Panera Bread; and Dave Morin, a former Facebook executive.[42] Writing in The New York Times, Frank Rich said: "This is exactly the kind of revolving-door synergy between corporate power and governance that turns off Americans left, right and, yes, center. Oblivious to this taint, No Labels named a few fat-cat donors who have ponied up $1 million-plus. ... What America needs is not another political organization with a toothless agenda and less-than-transparent finances."[41]

No Labels raised approximately $12 million from 2010 to mid-2014. According to a Yahoo! News report based on its internal documents, "much of the group's budget goes toward sustaining or promoting itself". In May 2014, No Labels employed twenty-two paid staffers and eight consultants. Its projected yearly budget for 2014 was $4.5 million, of which 30% was for "digital growth and press", 14% for fundraising, 5% for travel, and 4% for "Congressional relations". Its donors during that period included former Enron executive John Arnold and his wife Laura Arnold; American investor Alfred Taubman, who was convicted in 2002 for antitrust violations, and his wife Judith Rounick; and private equity investor and Republican Party donor John Canning Jr.[43]

According to The Daily Beast, by the end of the 2018 cycle, No Labels' super-PACs received more than $11 million from fifty-three donors, most of whom come from the financial industry.[8]

A Chicago Sun-Times investigation reported that super PACs related to No Labels include: United for Progress Inc.; Citizens for a Strong America Inc.; United Together; Govern or Go Home; and Forward, Not Back.[44][45][46]

See also

References
  1. "No Labels: Stop Fighting. Start Fixing". No Labels. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  2. Broadwater, Luke (2020-12-15). "No Labels, Planning Centrist Push in New Congress, Taps Larry Hogan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  3. Pearlstein, Steven (November 9, 2020). "Forget McConnell. Forget Pelosi. In a divided Congress, Biden needs to build his own coalition". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  4. "A Call to Revive America's Political Center | RealClearPolitics". Archived from the original on 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  5. Booker, Brakkton (15 December 2020). "Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Named Co-Chair Of Bipartisan Group No Labels". NPR. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  6. Grim, Ryan (September 23, 2021). "Dark-Money Group to Donors: Reconciliation Bill Can Still be Killed". The Intercept. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  7. Fang, Lee (August 26, 2021). "No Labels Offered Conservative Democrats Hundreds of Thousands to Spurn Nancy Pelosi Fundraiser". The Intercept. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  8. Stein, Sam; Markay, Lachlan (December 3, 2018). "How No Labels Went from Preaching Unity to Practicing the Dark Arts". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on October 15, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  9. Clift, Eleanor (2015-04-11). "The Only Bipartisan Game in Town". Retrieved 2019-02-02. ...the non-profit group that was founded in 2010 to advocate for that elusive middle way.
  10. "A No Labels solution to Washington gridlock?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2019-02-03. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  11. Halloran, Liz (2010-12-13). "New 'No Labels' Movement Seeks Bipartisanship". NPR. Archived from the original on 2020-08-18. Retrieved 2020-12-22. "Those on the far left who say that we don't need to reform Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social insurance programs are wrong and they don't have a credible plan to address our structural deficits. Those on the right who say that we can close our federal financial hole without additional revenues are also wrong."
  12. Siefert, Liz (2010-12-14). ""No Labels" Grassroots Group Determined to Push Back Against Hyper-Partisanship". CBS. Archived from the original on 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  13. Huck, Peter (2010-12-10). "America's search for a third option". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 2014-01-11. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  14. "Full transcript: Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address". USA TODAY. January 25, 2012. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  15. Berglund, Collin (January 25, 2012). "Daily Dose: Presidential Endorsement". No Labels. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  16. Leader, New Hampshire Union. "unionleader.com - Manchester, NH". www.unionleader.com. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  17. "Obama signs debt-ceiling bill". Politico. February 4, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  18. Yingling, Jennifer (25 February 2014). "Working together to take care of our service men, women and returning vets". TheHill. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  19. Davis, Tom (March 14, 2012). "Testimony of the Honorable Tom Davis: Hearing on "Raising the Bar for Congress: Reform Proposals for the 21st Century"". Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Washington, DC. Archived from the original on May 12, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  20. No Labels (June 8, 2018). "Change House Rules to Fix Our Broken Congress". RealClearPolicy. Archived from the original on 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  21. Hulse, Carl (2018-07-24). "Frustrated by Gridlock, House Members Propose Rules Overhaul". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  22. Galston, William A. (2018-02-27). "To Fix the House, Start With the Speaker". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  23. Hulse, Carl (2018-06-16). "Can the House Speakership Be Saved? These Lawmakers Have an Idea". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  24. "The Democratic House wants to reform democracy. It's not a panacea — but it's a start". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2019-01-08. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  25. "The Democratic House wants to reform democracy. It's not a panacea — but it's a start". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2019-01-08. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  26. Swan, Alayna Treene,Jonathan (4 November 2020). "Exclusive: Joe Manchin, Larry Hogan urge voters to be patient in new $1M ad". Axios. Archived from the original on 2020-11-23. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  27. Williams, Jordan (2021-08-11). "House moderates call for immediate vote on bipartisan infrastructure bill". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
  28. "Problem Solvers Caucus Unveils New Bipartisan Solutions to Rebuild America's Infrastructure". Problem Solvers Caucus. 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
  29. Clare Foran, Annie Grayer and Ryan Nobles (6 July 2021). "Problem Solvers Caucus backs bipartisan infrastructure deal, calls for 'expeditious, stand-alone vote in the House'". CNN. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
  30. Now, Delaware Business (2021-06-20). "No Labels launches Delaware campaign for bipartisan infrastructure bill". Delaware Business Now. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
  31. Now, Delaware Business (2021-06-20). "Delaware poll shows sizable majority favors Biden taking smaller infrastructure deal". Delaware Business Now. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
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  34. Hiatt, Fred (June 28, 2015). "No Labels stakes out a national agenda". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
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  36. Frank Rich, The Bipartisanship Racket Archived 2017-03-26 at the Wayback Machine, New York Times (December 18, 2010).
  37. Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington elites push for a consensus that ignores reality Archived 2016-07-30 at the Wayback Machine, Washington Post (April 16, 2012).
  38. Jennifer Rubin, No Labels, no relevance Archived 2015-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, Washington Post (January 14, 2013).
  39. Markay, Sam Stein|Lachlan (2018-11-26). "Centrist Group Behind Pelosi Holdouts Plotted to Make Her 'Bogeyman'". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
  40. McPherson, Lindsey; McPherson, Lindsey (2018-11-28). "Problem Solvers to Back Pelosi for Speaker After Reaching Agreement on Rules Changes". Roll Call. Archived from the original on 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  41. Rich, Frank (December 19, 2010). "The Bipartisanship Racket". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  42. Langley, Monica (November 24, 2010). "Aiming for the Political Middle". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  43. Shiner, Meredith (July 28, 2014). "No Labels? No results? No problem". Yahoo! News. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  44. Fang, Lee (2018-11-29). "Billionaire Republican Donors Helped Elect Rising Centrist Democrats". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  45. "Bipartisan 'No Labels' group's super PAC network revealed: mega Chicago donors". Chicago Sun-Times. 12 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  46. Stein, Sam (2018-12-03). "How No Labels Went From Preaching Unity to Practicing the Dark Arts". Archived from the original on 2020-12-16. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
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