WASHINGTON -
Vermont Congressman Peter Welch is joining a bipartisan effort to break the gridlock in Congress.
Congress has become so polarized in recent years that they've become unable to act on many pieces of legislation. Voters increasingly view government as bitter and paralyzed. Monday a group operating under the "No Labels" alliance is promising to change that. Twenty-six lawmakers have signed on, calling themselves the Problem Solvers, and are looking to foster more compromise and collaboration.
"If we just stay on our respective sides of the aisle and we hurl talking points back and forth and then we have these billion dollar elections where there's 30 second ads, it's gonna get worse. And in fact, this institution has to function on behalf of the American people for our Democracy and our economy to be strong," Rep. Welch said.
Welch said the group will start with smaller issues where there is already some consensus and hope to grow their ranks with success and take on bigger, more divisive issues.
