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The Fresno Bee: Costa, Valadao wear lapel pins supporting bipartisan group during SOTU address

January 20, 2015

During Tuesday's State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, central San Joaquin Valley Reps. Jim Costa and David Valadao wore lapel pins signifying they are part of a bipartisan congressional movement.

"No Labels," an organization founded in 2010, wants leaders to set aside political labels and work together on the nation's most pressing problems. The organization says its network already has hundreds of thousands of citizens and local leaders, as well as members of Congress — seven senators and 63 representatives — from both parties. Among them, Costa, the Fresno Democrat, and Valadao, the Hanford Republican, as well as Turlock Republican Jeff Denham and seven other California congressmen.

The lapel pins they will be wearing read "No Labels Problem Solver."

"In order to get things done, Congress must work on a bipartisan basis so that commonsense legislation can be passed to improve the lives of Valley residents and middle class families," Costa said. "No Labels strives to solve problems by putting party labels aside and working across the aisle. For my entire legislative career I have worked on a bipartisan basis with my colleagues, and as a No Label's Problem Solver I look forward to finding areas of compromise in the 114th Congress."

Valadao echoed Costa.

"No Labels is a bipartisan group of members who come together around a shared set of goals," he said. "I am proud to be a member of a group that is truly dedicated to finding real solutions and not sidetracked by political games. When Congress works together on behalf of their constituents, real change is brought about."

Each congressional member has agreed to work for four major goals — creating 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years, extending the life of Medicare and Social Security for 75 more years, balancing the federal budget by 2030 and making the nation energy-secure by 2024.

The movement also plans to be an active player in the 2016 presidential campaign.