Recently, our founder and CEO Sol Erdman wrote about why the Grand Bargain framework needed to be updated to include a 7th aspiration and 3 additional reforms. 

"The vision for the Center for Collaborative Democracy and the Grand Bargain Project was born out of my time at Harvard’s Program on Negotiation (PON), which I first arrived at in September of 1991. While there, I learned a valuable lesson that has guided my efforts ever since: 

Every conflict is an opportunity for all sides to gain. 

I learned that with the right tools and expertise, it was not only possible to negotiate solutions between deeply divided parties, but that it could also happen at a mass-scale. I wondered why Congress did not function this way. 

Five weeks into the program and I had my life's path: peacemaking and conflict-resolution, specifically helping to heal the country’s broken system that’s impeded the American people from realizing their aspirations for decades. 

I believed that the path forward could only be accomplished outside of Congress. The issues facing the nation are interconnected and I believed, then, that stakeholders outside Congress – think tank leaders, former policymakers, political activists and citizen groups – could collaborate on a solution, one that a majority of Americans could get behind, and with their overwhelming support could then be presented to Congress. 

With this goal in mind, I founded the Center for Collaborative Democracy and the Grand Bargain Project. 

Congressional reform has always been part of our framework, though has never been an explicit aspiration – until now. 

What changed my mind is speaking to members of Congress and realizing just how broken these individuals are.

Lawmakers hold enormous power to act in the best interests of their constituents. But right now, it is beyond apparent that nothing can happen unless the fundamental structures inside Congress are changed, regardless of the intention of the American people.

This is why we’ve amended the Grand Bargain Framework to include 3 new reforms reflecting a seventh aspiration: 

Congress refocused on tackling America's problems.

Our work at the Grand Bargain Project is and always will be shaped by the voices of the American people. The framework agreement is an evolving one – flexible to the unique needs of the nation as it happens in real time. 

It is a practical plan to put the country back on the right track that all Americans can get behind. 

To turn it into legislation, the gridlock in Congress must end and the congressional process must be restructured to promote negotiation between its members. These reforms are crucial for the entire Grand Bargain package to become a reality."

Rate the new reforms, along with all the others via the Grand Bargain WebApp link below!