Here & Now

Reid Ribble and Mark Pocan on "Problem Solvers‰"

Frederica Freyberg:

First, yesterday nearly 80 members of the US Senate and House gathered in a show of bipartisanship. Nearly evenly split between Republican and Democrats, they call themselves the Problem Solvers. And they came with a “put your money where your mouth is” package of reform bills, nine in all. There are four Wisconsin congressional members in the Problem Solvers group. Republicans Tom Petri and Sean Duffy are two. Our state’s two other members, Democrat Mark Pocan and Republican Reid Ribble, join us now in Washington, and thanks very much for doing so, congressmen.

Reid Ribble:

Thanks for having us.

Mark Pocan:

Absolutely. Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

First to you, Congressman Ribble. What do the 78-plus members of the so-called No Labels Problem Solvers represent and what is your mission?

Reid Ribble:

Well, I think ultimately what we represent is a group of members of congress, both in House and Senate, from both parties, that want to stop fighting and start fixing things. Now, listen, there’s going to be a lot of places where there’s disagreement. Mark and I have plenty of places we disagree. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t find places where we do agree, and when we don't agree, actually work on those things. And that’s what we’re hoping to do.

Frederica Freyberg:

Congressman Pocan, what is your mission in being a part of this group?

Mark Pocan:

Well, it’s very similar. You know, we have to quit talking at each other and start talking to each other. And if you have that dialogue, just like when I was in the legislature, you can get something done. And I think for too long in Washington people don’t do that, nothing gets done. I think people are really tired of it, but I think people like Reid and I and others who are trying to be part of this group really want to see Washington change, and we’re trying to be an active part of that.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so there was a package of bills put forward. Congressman Pocan, staying with you, describe for me, and then I’ll ask Representative Ribble to do the same, what these bills are about and how you are coming together on those.

Mark Pocan:

Sure, well, I think one common denominator should be how can we try to save the taxpayers money, how can we make government more efficient? And I think a lot of these proposals fall in that area. For example, Reid has a bill that I'm a proud co-sponsor of to change our budgeting process to every two years rather than every year, something like we do in Wisconsin and a lot of legislatures. Instead of fighting every year and getting nothing done, why don’t we try to work on something get it done in a bigger, broader way. I think that’s just one example of what we’re trying to look at doing.

Frederica Freyberg:

Congressman Ribble, what are some other examples in this package of bills?

Reid Ribble:

You know, one of the things that we started last year, I was working with Democrat Jim Cooper from Nashville to pass into law, No Budget, No Pay. We kind of got a mini version of that passed in January. What happened is the senate resulted in a budget for the first time in four years. What we want to do is complete that work and make sure that there’s a conference report, that we have a concurrent budget resolution, and that we get all of our appropriations bills on time. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask the congress to get their work done. Another bill that we’re working on is trying to merge the veterans service records from the DOD and veterans health records at VA to speed up the time in which our veterans who have returned from war can get their medical help. It takes a long time for veterans to get approval for health care. We want to fix that. These are common sense things that both Republicans and Democrats agree. Rather than fighting on where we disagree, let’s work toward the areas where we do agree and do that and make life a little bit better for the American people.

Frederica Freyberg:

Staying with you, Congressman Ribble, it just comes to mind, after all of the polarization in Washington does it ever feel awkward to work together?

Reid Ribble:

Well, no, it doesn’t feel awkward. I think it depends on your mind set. If your mind set is you’re coming here either to obstruct or to basically pick a fight and argue, well, in that case it could be awkward. The interesting thing about my work with Mark is, before he even got here in Washington in January, I had several members of the state of Wisconsin Tea Party group from the state assembly call me and they were telling me, listen, Mark’s a good guy. You’re not always going to agree with him, but at least you can work with him.

Frederica Freyberg:

How do you like that, Congressman Pocan, the Tea Party giving you a forward reference out there to Washington?

Mark Pocan:

Well, that’s one of the things, you know, I’m proud of my time in the legislature. When I first got elected, I’d throw a grenade. People would say what did you hit? I'd say, I don’t know, it blew up. And then from being on the finance committee, especially when we had a committee that was an 8-8 committee, you learn to work with other people to get something thing done. You have to. I think one of the things around here is, you've seen Washington, there was a poll last December, people would rather have a cockroach at their dinner table than a member of congress. That should be a wake-up call. And I think the fact that Reid and myself and others are really trying to just get together, get to know each other, find out what we have in common, what we can actually get done, the fact that that’s a new concept here I find pretty amazing. But I’m glad it’s here and the fact that the group is growing. And Reid has taken a real leadership role in this organization. I’m just proud that people from Wisconsin are very active with it.

Frederica Freyberg:

We know that Congress people from other states have suggested that voters have given you all a clear mandate that you need to break this partisan gridlock in Washington and obviously you both agree. But does this bipartisan group kind of placate that mandate, but then fly out the window when substantive issues like immigration or entitlements or health care kind of gets back down into the partisan weeds? I guess I’ll give that one first to Congressman Ribble.

Reid Ribble:

I think it’s possible. I mean, the fact of the matter is there are big ideological differences in the American people. They disagree, and so it’s not uncommon that people that they send here are going to have disagreements. However, the American people don’t trust government, and in many cases Democrats don’t trust Republicans and Republicans don’t trust Democrats. The way you begin to build trust is by working together on the things that you do agree on. You find the common ground and you do that, which opens up a pathway toward working on the bigger issues. Mark and I, I’m sure if we sat down and started talking about Social Security, we’d find plenty of places that we disagree on how to reform that program. But during that conversation we may find four or five elements that we agree on. But we’re never going to know if we immediately start with our swords up. All I've been advocating since I got here is let’s have a civil, grownup conversation. Let’s actually get the grownups in the room and begin to work it that way. And I think we can get something done, and we can work on those big issues.

Frederica Freyberg:

Congressman Pocan, on those big issues, how far apart do you think you are from members on the other side of the aisle on these issues of things like Social Security or Medicare or immigration or health care?

Mark Pocan:

Well, you know, part of the problem is the rhetoric around here tells you there’s a huge divide, but when Reid and I and other people, especially in this group get together, there’s not that big of a divide. As Reid said, you find out what you actually have in common. I think one of the things that we all have in common, especially people involved in this group, is that we realize the public just wants us to get something done. It’s not that he’s always going to be right or I’m always going to be right, but ultimately we can compromise without compromising our values, and we get something done. I’m really looking forward to immigration reform as one of the big issues. If we can get that done, I think it leads a path for a lot of other things that we can do. But the fact that this group is there and the fact that we’re talking to each other. I’ve met people from New York and other states who are Republicans that were working together on bills, because we’re talking to each other. And I think that should be really positive and the public should look at this as a really great first step.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to this package of bills being forwarded, Congressman Pocan, I guess I’ll just stay with you, and then get Reid Ribble's temp on this as well. Which of these bills do you think actually has some hope of success being passed?

Mark Pocan:

Well, there’s a number of them that really, if you look at, aren’t Democratic or Republican-leaning. They’re just kind of common sense bills. When you’re in a city that doesn’t get a budget done for four years, we don’t do a lot of common sense things. I think what Reid and I and others are hopeful is that we can see a bill or two advance. I think there’s a pretty good slate of things out there. Maybe everyone doesn’t agree with every bill, but I think there’s some really good basis that if we can get something done, we can show this concept of talking with each other instead of at each other really does work. I think, again, it adds to everything else we have to get done this session.

Frederica Freyberg:

Congressman Ribble, is there one in particular that you can see has a good chance of moving forward?

Reid Ribble:

Yeah. Actually, the one that Mark and I have been working on, the Biannual Budgeting Bill, I think is probably the most likely to advance. Congressman Paul Ryan, Mark and I both sit on the Budget Committee and he’s the chairman. He’s told us that he is likely to bring that bill to a markup sometime in September or October. After that it will go to the floor of the House. And because it’s got already 83 co-sponsors, many Democrats, many Republicans, it’s likely to pass the House with a pretty strong vote, bipartisan. The US Senate has taken a sense of the senate vote where it passed with 69 votes, so it’s got enough votes over there to pass. I think it’s the most likely, and actually it's the most significant reform to the budgeting process that the US congress has had in its history. And that will happen because of what we’re doing.

Frederica Freyberg:

One quick last question to each of you. Of all of the House or Senate members of the opposite party now, who would you most like to invite to join this group? First to you, Mark Pocan.

Mark Pocan:

You know, I’ll tell you, a lot of them are already members. I’ve met Richard Hannah from New York, who is one of the nicest people. He’s like Reid. You can’t not like him, Republican, second term. He's on my hall in the –. So a lot of those folks are there and we’re really glad too. I think if we had some leadership maybe look at this group, we might stop some of the bickering that kind of goes on.

Frederica Freyberg:

Congressman Ribble, opposite party choice?

Reid Ribble:

I've been working on it from the beginning. Oh, opposite party choice? Mark was one of the first people I could– You know, obviously Mark Pocan is one of the first guys I went to to get in. I would like to see guys like John Yarmuth or Jim Clyburn from the Democratic party join, and then possibly Steve Scalise, chairman of the RSC join. That would give us a very broad and diverse group from the full Right to the full Left, and that’s exactly what we need if we’re going to forge forward with legislation that we all can agree on.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Well, congressmen Ribble and Pocan, thank you very much for joining us.

Both:

Thank you.