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The Blue Dog Coalition formed following the 1994 election debacle for
Democrats. The founding Members chose the name Blue Dog Coalition
because they literally felt “choked blue by the extremes in both
parties." Over the past 15 years, the Blue Dog Coalition has grown
from a small organizing group to a powerful 54-member organization in
the 111th Congress.
I am a proud member of the fiscally conservative, Democratic Blue Dog Coalition and have been since I first came to Congress in 2001. Over the years, we as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, have built our reputation based on our commitment to bringing a moderate viewpoint to the U.S. Congress. In fact, since the Coalition’s inception in 1995, we have consistently promoted positions which bridge the gap between ideological extremes.
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Blue Dogs also share the fundamental belief that government should be
fiscally responsible and fully accountable to the people. This
requires that we make tough decisions, but that is precisely why we are
elected to Congress. Members of the Blue Dog Coalition are willing to
make the tough – and often politically unpopular – decisions. We do
not prescribe to a far left or far right political philosophy. We’re
in the middle, which is where we believe most Americans are.
The Coalition has built a reputation as a serious player in the policy
arena, particularly in the nation's health care debate. Many of the
group’s proposals have been praised as fair, responsible, and positive
additions to a Congressional environment too often marked as partisan
and antagonistic.
Members of the Blue Dog Coalition are dedicated to the financial
stability and national security of the United States and are united
behind a core set of beliefs that transcend partisan politics, which
include the following:
- The Blue Dogs represent the center of the House of Representatives;
- The Blue Dogs appeal to the mainstream values of the American public;
- The Coalition develops substantive proposals and positions distinct from those advocated by the extremes of both parties;
- Blue Dogs are independent of the leadership of either party;
- Blue Dogs influence the legislative process by forming a united voting bloc.
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From 2007 to 2008, I served as the Blue Dog Co-Chair of Communications and maintain a key leadership role today. In January 2009, the Blue Dog Coalition created three taskforces to ensure it had a voice in the new White House administration and the new Congress. They were on the budget, on energy and on health care. Because of my background and deep commitment to health care reform, my fellow Blue Dogs chose me to chair the Blue Dog Health Care Task Force. In this role, I direct the efforts of our group to gather expert opinions, to explore various courses of action and to ensure that any reforms to the system were in the best interests of working families and small businesses and were responsible to the American taxpayer. I take this role very seriously and it is another one of the many steps I am taking to help ensure this Congress legislates from the middle, which is where I believe most Americans are and want us to be.
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