U.S. Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Charlie Dent (R-PA) held a press conference Oct. 3 with a bipartisan group of 11 House Republicans and 8 House Democrats to announce that they would work together on a solution to the government shutdown.

“We need to walk before we run, by having constructive conversations to build trust,” said Kind. “Working with my friend Congressman Dent, and a coalition of members from both sides of the aisle, our focus right now is to start moving the ball forward by having a constructive dialogue about ending this shutdown and getting the government working again.”

Members of the group believe that this type of effort will bring members of both parties together to reach an agreement on ending the government shutdown. Kind and Dent reiterated that they would continue to move forward with discussions in the coming days.

“Bipartisan momentum is growing,” concluded Kind. “People across the country look at Washington, DC right now and they are not impressed with what they see. But we didn’t come together today to assign blame; we came together to start a constructive dialogue and seize opportunities where we can agree on a course of action. The American people want and deserve a government that functions, and elected representatives who are willing to put their differences aside for the sake of the greater good. ”