AURORA | The bipartisan Congressional Civility and Respect Caucus gained two new members this week, Aurora Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat, and Ohio Congressman Troy Balderson, a Republican.
The caucus is open to all members of Congress, but members who join have to do so with a fellow congressional member from across the aisle.
“In the Army, I learned to find common ground with people from different backgrounds and with different views. It’s the same perspective I bring to Congress because you don’t need to agree on everything to get things done,” Crow said in a statement about joining the caucus. “It’s an approach I share with Troy Balderson. We share the same goal of working together to end the gridlock in Washington and put the wellbeing of our communities over politics.”
Crow is so far the only Congress member from the Colorado delegation to join the caucus, which was formed in 2018 by Congressman Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH).
“Joyce and I don’t always agree on how to solve the issues facing our nation, but we find common ground where we can. More importantly, when we do disagree, we don’t vilify one another,” Stivers said after announcing the creation of the caucus. “I am proud to call her both a colleague and a friend, and I believe that we have an excellent model of bipartisanship, civility, and respect that Congress and the rest of the country could learn from. This is about more than just a Caucus, this about creating a movement to show you can disagree without being disagreeable in government.”
Crow and Balderson have worked together to hold multiple Innovation and Workforce Development Subcommittee hearings in Colorado and Ohio.
— KARA MASON, Staff Writer