‘The lesson that has emerged is clear: politics yields headlines, cooperation yields results’



Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor Friday regarding the first seven months of the 110th Congress.  The following are his remarks:



“Seven months ago I opened this session by reminding myself and my colleagues that the work we do and the way we do it will be judged not only by the voters but by history. Future generations aren’t likely to remember our names, but they will inherit the laws we pass, the problems we ignore, and the institution we leave behind. So I rise today to take stock of how we’ve done. To offer an honest assessment of our work and to propose a course correction.



 “When the gavel fell in January, a new party had taken over. It had a simple six-point plan of action involving a list of items that were thought to have popular support. As the Majority Whip put it last fall, Democrats didn’t want to overpromise, so they came up with a list that was ‘concise, understandable, and attainable.’ He added that if the Democrats were fortunate enough to win the majority, they’d be ‘judged’ primarily on their ability to deliver on these six legislative goals.



“So, by the Majority’s own standards, our report card should begin with the so-called ‘Six for ’06.’ They’ve had more than half a year to enact them. It’s fair to ask: How have they done?



“We started with Lobby reform. As an early gesture of the bipartisanship that I had hoped would mark this session, I co-sponsored this bill with the Majority Leader. But then, less than two weeks into the session, the Majority decided to cut off debate. It forced an early vote on an unfinished bill, and it failed. After Republicans were allowed to add a vital amendment that protected grass roots organizations from burdensome oversight, we voted again, and the bill passed easily, 96-2.



“Minimum wage was next. Republicans supported an increase that included tax relief for the business owners who would have to pay for it. At first, the Majority balked. They wanted a bill without any tax relief, without any Republican input. It failed. But when they finally agreed to cooperate by including tax relief for small businesses, the bill sailed through by a vote of 94-3.



“Four weeks, two accomplishments. Good start.



“Then we turned to the 9/11 bill. And here the tide began to turn. Republicans supported this bill from the start. We saw it as a welcome opportunity to strengthen security. But the majority rejected our efforts to improve it with amendments, and then weakened the bill by inserting a dangerous provision at the insistence of their labor union supporters. They wanted to give airport security workers at U.S. airports veto power over the government’s rapid response plan to a terrorist attack.



“It was an absurd request: Congress rejected a similar provision five years earlier on the grounds that it threatened national security, and the President promised to veto it this time around. The bill ended up passing the Senate, and the provision was ultimately stripped in conference.



“But by refusing Republican input at the start, both parties would have to wait until just last week to finish this important bill. And the centerpiece of the Democrats’ plan for improving national security would sit on the shelf for months.



“There’s a pattern here: When the Majority has agreed to let Republicans participate and shape legislation, we’ve achieved good, bipartisan results. When they’ve blocked that cooperation, they’ve failed. But just like a fly that keeps slamming its head into the same windowpane trying get outside, the Democratic Majority has spent most of the year since those small, early gestures at cooperation trying and failing to advance its agenda by insisting on the path of political advantage.



“The problem took root early on. Soon after the 9/11 Bill came the first attempt to set a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. The Democrats knew it had no chance of passing the Senate, let alone being signed into law. Two weeks earlier they had forced a vote on the Petraeus Plan for securing Baghdad, and lost. The President had made clear his opposition to timelines. And Republicans insisted that Congress should not be in the business of micromanaging a war.



“Yet they persisted anyway. The first timeline vote failed. It was followed by fourteen more political messaging votes on the war, votes that promised to have no practical impact on our military conduct. The Senate would spend two months debating legislation that in every case was bound to fail. For the entire spring and summer, the Majority insisted on political votes, culminating in the theatrical crescendo of an all-night debate that even Democrats admitted was a stunt.



“What seems to have happened here is that at some point in February, after the minimum wage vote, the political left put a hand on the steering wheel. And the unfortunate result was that nearly five months would pass before a single item on the ‘Six for ’06’ agenda would become law — and even that had to be tacked onto a must-pass emergency war spending bill that the Democrats had been slow-rolling for months.



“It was during those early months that an alternative, harder-edged, ‘Six for 06’ agenda seemed to emerge. Indeed, the biggest Senate fights this year haven’t been over the original ‘Six for ’06’ at all. They’ve revolved around the policy proposals of the far left. Fortunately, Republicans have held together to keep these bad ideas from becoming law.



“They wanted to eliminate secret-ballot elections from union drives.



“They wanted to spend valuable floor time on a non-binding resolution about the Attorney General, despite weeks of print and television interviews on the topic already.



“They wanted to revive the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” a kind of federal speech code that was abolished more than two decades ago because it violates the First Amendment.



“They even proposed closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and sending the inmates to the states.



“Then there were the politically-motivated investigations which, between the House and Senate, break down to about six hearings a day since the first day of the session.



“Some seemed to see a plot being hatched behind every filing cabinet in Washington. Others seem ready to hold a White House sofa in contempt for bad fabric.



“And, of course, there was the endless political grandstanding on Iraq that I’ve mentioned.



“Predictably, this alternative agenda went nowhere. In the effort to get both, they ended up with neither. Editorial writers started to grumble about the lack of achievement. The public took note too, sending the new Congress’ approval rating to new subterranean lows. The lesson that emerged was clear: politics yields headlines; cooperation yields results.



 “Republicans warned the other side about the consequences of unilateralism early on. We argued for months that the Majority had been engaged in a months-long power play by invoking cloture with astonishing frequency. My staff commissioned a CRS study on the issue and found that the Majority was on pace to shatter the record for cloture filings in a single Congress.



“Yet the cloture stories that started to appear argued that the record cloture filings were somehow our fault — as if we had forced the Majority to cut off debate. This was classic spin, as anyone who’s been in the Senate for more than a week will tell you. The Majority knows that more than 40 cloture votes in six months isn’t a sign of minority obstruction; it’s the sign of a majority that doesn’t like the rules.



“The opportunity costs of this failed strategy have been immense. Because it’s refused to cooperate with the other side, the Majority hasn’t brought a single piece of legislation to the floor that would reduce the income tax burden on working Americans. The Senate hasn’t done a thing to address entitlements, despite a looming financial catastrophe. It’s done nothing to address the rising cost of healthcare. Only one appropriations bill out of 12 has passed the Senate. And none have been signed into law.



“On the first day of the session, the Majority Whip said that the American people had put Democrats in the majority to “find solutions, not to play to a draw with nothing to show for it.” Yet at times over the last seven months those words have seemed quaint. The Democratic Majority had the right idea early on. It made an early mistake in my opinion by succumbing to a round-the-clock political campaign. And, as any sailor knows, a small deviation at the start takes you far off course over time.



“Over the last week we’ve seen some conspicuous acts of bipartisan cooperation, including tonight, when the Majority chose the road of cooperation to fix a gap in our national intelligence before we left for recess.



“Americans are grateful to the Majority for joining us on this critical issue. Under the Leadership of my friend the Majority Leader Congress has just acted on the sound principle that cooperation is a better recipe for success than confrontation and political theater. And all of us should be glad about that.



“We’ve seen that we can accomplish good things by working together and cooperating on legislation that Americans support. Politics has its place. But it doesn’t steer this ship. At least it shouldn’t. There’s simply too much to be done, and we’ve seen the results when it does.



“I won’t offer a grade for this Congress. Others have already done that. But I will say that at the beginning of this session, I staked my party to a pledge: when faced with an urgent issue, we would act; and when faced with a problem, we’d seek solutions, not mere political advantage.



“That pledge still stands. We’ve seen what we can do. We’ve seen it tonight. And we have reason to hope we will see it still.



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