PROBLEM SOLVERS CAUCUS CALLS FOR LONG-TERM, FISCALLY-RESPONSIBLE, BIPARTISAN BUDGET DEAL

November 30, 2017

Washington, D.C. – Today, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus wrote to Congressional leadership to call for action on a long-term, fiscally-responsible, bipartisan budget deal. Earlier this year, without policy riders, the Caucus successfully pushed for an FY17 funding bill, and used its bipartisan influence to avoid a government shutdown.

The Problem Solvers Caucus members noted, “We believe that Congress should act quickly toward passing a long-term, bipartisan budget deal that would eliminate sequestration cuts for at least two years. We also support efforts to fully pay for any increase of the discretionary budget caps, so that defense and non-defense discretionary spending can be funded at more adequate levels, responsibly. We stand ready to work with you to accomplish this goal.”

The Text of the letter can be found below and here:

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan and Minority Leader Pelosi,

The Problem Solvers Caucus is a group premised around the notion that Congress works best when Members engage with one another on a bipartisan basis in order to advance solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems. So far this year, the Problem Solvers Caucus has come together to advocate for a reasonable and responsible spending bill and to develop a better approach to reforming our nation’s health care system. We believe that durable and sustainable solutions can be reached through bipartisan cooperation and leadership.

We write to you now as Congress is once again facing an imminent deadline with government funding expected to expire on December 8and no clear path forward for resolving both the policy and funding level debates. One of the main drivers of uncertainty around passage of spending bills for Fiscal Year 2018 is the unrealistic constraints for producing Appropriations bills that comply with the caps put in place by the Budget Control Act. Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns that the cuts required by sequestration would simply not meet the commitments made to our constituents or to those who serve our nation in the armed forces.

In prior years, bipartisan budget deals have removed the threat of sequestration and paved the way for fiscally responsible spending bills that have passed with Republican and Democratic support. We believe that Congress should act quickly towards passing a long-term, bipartisan budget deal that would eliminate sequestration cuts for at least two years. We also support efforts to fully pay for any increase of the discretionary budget caps, so that defense and non-defense discretionary spending can be funded at more adequate levels, responsibly. We stand ready to work with you to accomplish this goal.

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The Problem Solvers Caucus is a bipartisan group in Congress comprising of 46 members – equally divided between Democrats and Republicans – who are committed to forging bipartisan cooperation on key issues. It is co-chaired by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY).

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