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July 18, 2013--About 70 Members of Congress from both parties, belonging to the No Labels Congressional Problem Solvers Coalition, gathered in Upper Senate Park to announce a "Make Government Work!" packages of nine bills to reduce government waste and inefficiency.  The congressional coalition, which launched in January, has 81 Members (43D, 37R, 1I).  Former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) are honorary co-chairs of the group.

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Reprinted from the No Labels press release, here are the nine bills comprising the "Make Government Work!" package:

•   The No Budget, No Pay Act, introduced by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) and Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), would withhold congressional pay if both chambers of Congress fail to agree on a budget and all spending bills by the start of every federal fiscal year.

•   The Take the Time, Save the Dime Act, introduced by Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI), would establish a two-year "biennial" budgeting cycle for the U.S. government.

•   The Don't Duplicate, Consolidate Act, introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), would consolidate fragmented, overlapping and duplicative programs identified by the Government Accountability Office.

•   The Buy Smarter and Save Act, introduced by Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) and Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AR), would save taxpayers billions of dollars a year by encouraging more strategic sourcing and bulk purchasing across federal agencies.

•   The No Adding, No Padding Act, introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), would force federal agencies to justify increases in their budgets by removing inflation as a factor in automatically increasing agency budgets.

•   The 21st Century Healthcare for Heroes Act, introduced by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY), would improve the medical care our military veterans receive by combining the electronic health records of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

•   The Stay in Place, Cut the Waste Act, introduced by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), would cut federal agency travel by 50 percent and replace it with video conferencing.

•   The Wasted Energy, Wasted Dollars Act, introduced by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) would make federal buildings more efficient by partnering with companies that would then be paid out of the energy savings achieved by their work.

•   The Plan for Efficient and Effective Government Act, introduced by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), would create a new bipartisan commission to oversee and effect the transformation of various federal government programs and functions to be more economical, efficient and effective.