Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blasted House Republicans and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday for stalling the creation of a House-Senate conference committee on the budget.

Ryan said Tuesday he wants a “framework” in place before he will agree to form a conference, the next step under regular order in reconciling the wildly different House and Senate budget resolutions.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Mark Warner, D-Va., and U.S. Representatives Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Robert Andrews, D-N.J., today introduced bicameral, bipartisan legislation that would ensure that a wide range of accurate, comparative and easy to understand data about colleges would be readily available online for prospective students and their families.

The Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013 would streamline existing institutional rep...

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WASHINGTON -- Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) unveiled on Tuesday the first bipartisan campaign disclosure bill in the Senate since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling opened the door to unlimited electoral spending by groups that were not covered by any prior campaign disclosure regime.

The bill, known as the Follow the Money Act, would require any and all groups spending at least $10,000 on electoral activity to register and disclose contributions above $1,00...

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Reward those who fight for common ground, voice your opinion and
penalize those who ignore the voice of the people.

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The Internal Revenue Service, under pressure after admitting it targeted anti-tax Tea Party groups for scrutiny in recent years, also had its eye on at least three Democratic-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status.

One of those groups, Emerge America, saw its tax-exempt status denied, forcing it to disclose its donors and pay some taxes. None of the Republican groups have said their applications were rejected.

Progress Texas, another of the organizations, faced the same lines of questionin...

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WASHINGTON, May 21, 2013 — The Presidential Commission on Election Administration was officially launched today, following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union pledge to identify non-partisan ways to shorten lines at polling places, promote the efficient conduct of elections, and provide better access to the polls for all voters.

The 10-member Commission will submit a final report to the President within six months of its first public meeting, which is expected to be held in W...

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H.R. 41: Hurricane Sandy relief bill
Sponsor: Rep. Scott Garrett [R-NJ5]
Introduced: Jan 03, 2013
Signed by the President: Jan 06, 2013

H.R. 1765: Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013
Sponsor: Rep. Tom Latham [R-IA3]
Introduced: Apr 26, 2013
Signed by the President: May 01, 2013

H.R. 933: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013
Sponsor: Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers [R-KY5]
Introduced: Mar 04, 2013
Signed by the President: Mar 26, 2013

H.R. 152: Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013
Spon...

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Winning essays released..."The National Institute for Civil Discourse is now releasing the winners in its call for essays to address the challenges of conducting constructive conversations about gun violence in the United States. As part of its mission, NICD seeks to promote civil discourse on issues of public interest and does not take a position on gun violence or gun control but is committed to encouraging a civil discouse among our citizens."

From one of the winning essays written by Sarah J...

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Washington, D.C. - The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is pleased to announce the launch of its new Citizens for Political Reform effort. The effort, which is led by BPC Senior Fellows former Senator Olympia Snowe and former Secretary Dan Glickman, aims to connect with American citizens to find real solutions to help shape policy recommendations and support leaders who show the courage and the independence to work across the aisle to address the nation’s challenges. The new effort is part o...

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Washington, D.C. - The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is pleased to announce the launch of its new Citizens for Political Reform effort. The effort, which is led by BPC Senior Fellows former Senator Olympia Snowe and former Secretary Dan Glickman, aims to connect with American citizens to find real solutions to help shape policy recommendations and support leaders who show the courage and the independence to work across the aisle to address the nation’s challenges. The new effort is part of BP...

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The Congressional Budget Office released “good news” Tuesday with its “Updated Budget Projections: Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023.” A combination of increased revenues and lower spending will cut the federal deficit to about half the size it was in 2009 and as low as 2.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by FY 2015.

At first glance the CBO report seems to validate recent comments in the nation’s capital that the federal fiscal situation is not a crisis and doesn&rs...

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“If the game of government rewards intransigence and punishes compromise, we shouldn’t be surprised if we get a lot of intransigence and not much compromise"

"Incentives work: if the greatest incentives are to behave badly, we will get bad behavior. If our government continues to fail us—and it will—then we need to change the incentives, change the architecture of the field on which we play.”

Excerpt From: Edwards, Mickey. “The Parties Versus the People.&rdquo...

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Olympia Snowe has taken the lead with CITIZENS FOR POLITICAL REFORM thro the Bipartisan Policy Center.

I believe that her considerable experience in problem solving, along with the Bipartisan Policy Center's highly regarded issue reports, will result in substantive action and get us far beyond gimmicks and slogans.

For reform to be successful, the Serious Citizen needs to be central and transparency is essential. All else will fail. 

MISSION STATEMENT

Common ground: It is the critical n...

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