Talking Politics with BPC’s Board Chair and President

BPC Board Chair Frank Keating and BPC President Jason Grumet sat down with Dialogue to reflect on the organization’s achievements over the past 12 months.

In a short Q&A, the duo addressed the tumultuous political environment and whether there is still room for bipartisanship in Washington.

Q. It feels like we can’t escape a news cycle without being inundated with partisan squabbles. Is bipartisanship still relevant in this political environment?

Keating: “Conflict and combat sell newspapers. But you have to have Republicans and Democrats at the state legislative level and the U.S. Congress come together and solve problems. Which is why you need a highly credible bipartisan organization like BPC.”

Grumet: “It’s understandable that many Americans have lost faith in our political process, but the answer to bad politics is good politics. The strength of this country has always been the capacity to reconcile legitimate differences. We need to acknowledge, respect, and engage the sources of our policy disagreements. Bipartisanship isn’t simply relevant, it is the only way to govern a free and diverse country.”

Q. If we agree that bipartisanship is necessary for our institutions to actually govern, how does BPC help bring these sides together?

Grumet: “What differentiates BPC from many ‘good government’ organizations is that we are aggressively bipartisan — we like the good fight. Our projects spend a lot of time creating a fact base upon which people can have a constructive disagreement and then we follow through. We actually take these hard-earned ideas and proposals and drive them into the political process.

“We pride ourselves on bringing together people with strong, visceral, and informed views who also have the mutual respect to sit down and listen to each other’s opinions. It’s the reconciliation of differences that has always given us resilient public policy.”

“What differentiates BPC from many ‘good government’ organizations is that we are aggressively bipartisan — we like the good fight.”

— BPC President Jason Grumet

Q. So how is bipartisan policy formed? Has there been any success lately?

Keating: “The legislative process is not making popcorn! It takes time, personal investment, and a lot of gray matter. For example, recently Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) introduced the Financial CHOICE Act which was an amalgam of reform ideas about what to do about Dodd-Frank. A number of things in there came from the debate and report of BPC’s Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative. So you won’t win everything, but that’s an example of leadership by this organization that will result in very good things.”

Grumet: “Despite the challenges of the last couple of years, Congress actually produced a couple dozen pieces of meaningful legislation and we were delighted to have a role in some of them.

“The 21st Century Cures Act was a bipartisan effort that combined resources for cutting-edge medical research and development with a streamlined Food and Drug Administration approval process so that new breakthroughs can be brought to market and save people’s lives. The act was one of the major achievements of last year and we were proud to work with Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to make that happen.”

“Conflict and combat sells newspapers. But you have to have Republicans and Democrats come together and solve problems.”

— BPC Board Chair Frank Keating

Q. That sounds promising! What bipartisan opportunities do you think there are under this administration and Congress?

Grumet: “We need Congress to step back and recognize if we want durable public policy we are going to have to take the best ideas from both parties. There are real places where many in Congress and the White House want to make progress: infrastructure investment, early child development, tax policy, and legislation that addresses the aging population and chronic care are just a few examples.”

Q. Are you optimistic about whether bipartisanship will thrive in the coming years?

Keating: “Yes, as a result of the tremendous leadership of those who have gone before us, we have an obligation to continue working together to solve our problems. It’s not supposed to be easy, but compared to the 19th century we are in pretty tall clover.”

This article originally appeared in BPC’s quarterly magazine Dialogue.

Read this and other issues at magazine.bipartisanpolicy.org