May 23, 2017Op-ed

The Hill: Bipartisanship doesn’t have to be boring

by Michael Nutter and John Bridgeland

Federal/Local/ Economic/What Works Cities/ 2017/

In an era of gridlock and hyper-partisanship — when avoiding a federal government shutdown is cause for celebration — it’s easy to be pessimistic about government’s ability to change people’s lives for the better.
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Count us among the optimists. As a Democrat who served two terms as Mayor of Philadelphia and a Republican who served as White House Domestic Policy Director under President George W. Bush, we know that progress is possible. We see it happening all around us.
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While Washington lurches from one manufactured crisis to the next, committed public servants in red states and blue states — from the coasts to the heartland — are quietly transforming the way government works with a relentless focus on data, evidence and results.