Fitzpatrick wants to forge 'bipartisan coalition to get things done' in Congress
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U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick knows that new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy will need all the help he can get to maintain control of his fellow Republicans while reaching across the aisle to Democrats to get legislation approved in the months ahead.
Fitzpatrick may be his man in the middle.
“Given the tight margins in both the House and Senate, the 60-Member Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which I lead, will play an instrumental role in forging a bipartisan coalition to get things done,” Fitzpatrick said in an email Tuesday.
Fitzpatrick, who long touted his role as one of the most bipartisan members of Congress, was also one of the key players in getting McCarthy the votes he needed to be elected Speaker, according to an ABC News report. And in an interview on Fox News, Fitzpatrick said he would have worked until July 4 to get McCarthy elected to the speaker’s post, if it took that long.
It didn’t. On the 15th vote, McCarthy was elected Speaker late Friday night, the same day Fitzpatrick was the only Republican to attend a ceremony with Democrats commemorating the Jan. 6, 2020, attacks on the Capitol that killed one security officer and led to four others committing suicide.
For Fitzpatrick, Jan. 6 is an especially poignant date. In a report in Business Insider, Fitzpatrick mentioned the passing of his late brother, former U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, on the same date the year before from cancer as one of the reasons the attack on the Capitol was so tragically memorable to him.
More:Fitzpatrick says win reflects 1st District voters' desire for unity, moderation
Now he says he wants to get Congress back to the work at hand. A former FBI agent, he is now in his fourth term in the House.
“I believe in two-party solutions because they result in the best legislative product that will also withstand the test of time. No one party has a monopoly on good ideas, and our Bipartisan Caucus believes firmly in diversity of thought and bringing the best and brightest ideas to the table — no matter who generates them.”
Among his main goals is to advance a constitutional amendment on term limits. He said he and other Term Limit Caucus members “are committed to staying in Congress until term limits become the law of the land and apply to all members of Congress from both parties and in both chambers.” Fitzpatrick wants to see limits set at 12 years — six two-year terms in the House or two six-year terms in the Senate.
“Since I was first elected to Congress, I’ve supported spending within our means, a balanced budget amendment, and full transparency and accountability in Congress," he said in an email.
Democrats have long taken aim at Fitzpatrick's seat as he has maintained control of the 1st District despite Democrats having a more than 7,000 voter plurality over Republicans in Bucks County. On Friday, Tommy Garcia, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman, said Republicans in voting for McCarthy "handed over power to some of the most extreme members of the Republican caucus" and that Fitzpatrick voted on some of those concessions.
Congress will face tough decisions this year as the country's spending is expected to reach the debt ceiling of $31.38 trillion imposed in 2021 and it is considering sending more military hardware to the Ukrainians fighting to keep their homeland from Russian control.
"I look forward to working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass fiscal legislation that both meets the financial needs of our nation, and also furthers our economic and national security interests,” Fitzpatrick said.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Fitzpatrick wants to forge 'bipartisan coalition to get things done'
