Panetta presents plan to break ‘partisan gridlock’ in Congress

TO GET more bipartisan legislative bills considered on Capitol Hill, Democratic Rep. Jimmy Panetta and other members of the Problem Solvers Caucus are proposing a shake-up of rules in the U.S. House of Representatives.

At the Capitol Wednesday, Panetta was joined by others in the caucus, which includes Democrat and Republican House members who seek to find common ground on a variety of difficult issues. They unveiled a proposal outlining a set of rule changes they say they say would help "break the gridlock" on the Hill.

"It takes a lot of work in order to bring both sides to the table," Panetta said Tuesday at a press conference.

For two years, the 48 members of the caucus — divided equally by party — have proposed compromises on topics including health care, immigration, gun safety, and a bipartisan infrastructure package, only to find their efforts hamstrung when the ideas weren't even considered by other members, much less enacted.

The House rules "enable a few members to prevent bipartisan ideas from being brought to the House floor," the group said.

The group's changes include — among other things — proposals to give fast-track priority to bipartisan legislation. One change would ensure that any bill with majority support among the membership wouldn't be blocked by House leadership from a coming to a vote.

Other changes include requiring that any amendment to a bill that has at least 20 Republican and 20 Democrat supporters be allowed for consideration on the House floor, and the establishment of an annual bipartisan meeting at the beginning of each Congress "to discuss the term's legislative agenda and help encourage bipartisan cooperation."