{"id":42579,"date":"2017-07-25T19:26:15","date_gmt":"2017-07-26T02:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=42579"},"modified":"2017-07-25T19:26:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T02:26:15","slug":"senator-mccain-floor-statement-on-need-for-bipartisanship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=42579","title":{"rendered":"Senator McCain Floor Statement on Need for Bipartisanship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C&#8230;.U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate:  \u201cMr. President:  \u201cI\u2019ve stood in this place many times and addressed as president many presiding officers. I have been so addressed when I have sat in that chair, as close as I will ever be to a presidency.  It is an honorific we\u2019re almost indifferent to, isn\u2019t it. In truth, presiding over the Senate can be a nuisance, a bit of a ceremonial bore, and it is usually relegated to the more junior members of the majority.<\/p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen src='http:\/\/americanherald.us\/?attachment_id=1502&#038;kgvid_video_embed[enable]=true' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' width='640' height='360'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut as I stand here today \u2013 looking a little worse for wear I\u2019m sure \u2013 I have a refreshed appreciation for the protocols and customs of this body, and for the other ninety-nine privileged souls who have been elected to this Senate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have been a member of the United States Senate for thirty years.  I had another long, if not as long, career before I arrived here, another profession that was profoundly rewarding, and in which I had experiences and friendships that I revere. But make no mistake, my service here is the most important job I have had in my life. And I am so grateful to the people of Arizona for the privilege \u2013 for the honor \u2013 of serving here and the opportunities it gives me to play a small role in the history of the country I love.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve known and admired men and women in the Senate who played much more than a small role in our history, true statesmen, giants of American politics. They came from both parties, and from various backgrounds. Their ambitions were frequently in conflict. They held different views on the issues of the day. And they often had very serious disagreements about how best to serve the national interest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut they knew that however sharp and heartfelt their disputes, however keen their ambitions, they had an obligation to work collaboratively to ensure the Senate discharged its constitutional responsibilities effectively. Our responsibilities are important, vitally important, to the continued success of our Republic. And our arcane rules and customs are deliberately intended to require broad cooperation to function well at all. The most revered members of this institution accepted the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving America\u2019s problems and to defend her from her adversaries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat principled mindset, and the service of our predecessors who possessed it, come to mind when I hear the Senate referred to as the world\u2019s greatest deliberative body. I\u2019m not sure we can claim that distinction with a straight face today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure it wasn\u2019t always deserved in previous eras either. But I\u2019m sure there have been times when it was, and I was privileged to witness some of those occasions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur deliberations today \u2013 not just our debates, but the exercise of all our responsibilities \u2013 authorizing government policies, appropriating the funds to implement them, exercising our advice and consent role \u2013 are often lively and interesting. They can be sincere and principled. But they are more partisan, more tribal more of the time than any other time I remember. Our deliberations can still be important and useful, but I think we\u2019d all agree they haven\u2019t been overburdened by greatness lately. And right now they aren\u2019t producing much for the American people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth sides have let this happen. Let\u2019s leave the history of who shot first to the historians. I suspect they\u2019ll find we all conspired in our decline \u2013 either by deliberate actions or neglect. We\u2019ve all played some role in it. Certainly I have. Sometimes, I\u2019ve let my passion rule my reason. Sometimes, I made it harder to find common ground because of something harsh I said to a colleague. Sometimes, I wanted to win more for the sake of winning than to achieve a contested policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIncremental progress, compromises that each side criticize but also accept, just plain muddling through to chip away at problems and keep our enemies from doing their worst isn\u2019t glamorous or exciting. It doesn\u2019t feel like a political triumph. But it\u2019s usually the most we can expect from our system of government, operating in a country as diverse and quarrelsome and free as ours. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsidering the injustice and cruelties inflicted by autocratic governments, and how corruptible human nature can be, the problem solving our system does make possible, the fitful progress it produces, and the liberty and justice it preserves, is a magnificent achievement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur system doesn\u2019t depend on our nobility. It accounts for our imperfections, and gives an order to our individual strivings that has helped make ours the most powerful and prosperous society on earth.  It is our responsibility to preserve that, even when it requires us to do something less satisfying than \u2018winning.\u2019 Even when we must give a little to get a little. Even when our efforts manage just three yards and a cloud of dust, while critics on both sides denounce us for timidity, for our failure to \u2018triumph.\u2019 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other to learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them. They don\u2019t want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s trust each other. Let\u2019s return to regular order. We\u2019ve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle. That\u2019s an approach that\u2019s been employed by both sides, mandating legislation from the top down, without any support from the other side, with all the parliamentary maneuvers that requires.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re getting nothing done. All we\u2019ve really done this year is confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Our healthcare insurance system is a mess. We all know it, those who support Obamacare and those who oppose it. Something has to be done. We Republicans have looked for a way to end it and replace it with something else without paying a terrible political price. We haven\u2019t found it yet, and I\u2019m not sure we will. All we\u2019ve managed to do is make more popular a policy that wasn\u2019t very popular when we started trying to get rid of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue and amendments to be offered. I will not vote for the bill as it is today. It\u2019s a shell of a bill right now. We all know that. I have changes urged by my state\u2019s governor that will have to be included to earn my support for final passage of any bill. I know many of you will have to see the bill changed substantially for you to support it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them it\u2019s better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition. I don\u2019t think that is going to work in the end. And it probably shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Obama administration and congressional Democrats shouldn\u2019t have forced through Congress without any opposition support a social and economic change as massive as Obamacare. And we shouldn\u2019t do the same with ours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy don\u2019t we try the old way of legislating in the Senate, the way our rules and customs encourage us to act. If this process ends in failure, which seem likely, then let\u2019s return to regular order. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee under Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray hold hearings, try to report a bill out of committee with contributions from both sides. Then bring it to the floor for amendment and debate, and see if we can pass something that will be imperfect, full of compromises, and not very pleasing to implacable partisans on either side, but that might provide workable solutions to problems Americans are struggling with today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat have we to lose by trying to work together to find those solutions? We\u2019re not getting much done apart. I don\u2019t think any of us feels very proud of our incapacity. Merely preventing your political opponents from doing what they want isn\u2019t the most inspiring work. There\u2019s greater satisfaction in respecting our differences, but not letting them prevent agreements that don\u2019t require abandonment of core principles, agreements made in good faith that help improve lives and protect the American people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Senate is capable of that. We know that. We\u2019ve seen it before. I\u2019ve seen it happen many times. And the times when I was involved even in a modest way with working out a bipartisan response to a national problem or threat are the proudest moments of my career, and by far the most satisfying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis place is important. The work we do is important. Our strange rules and seemingly eccentric practices that slow our proceedings and insist on our cooperation are important. Our founders envisioned the Senate as the more deliberative, careful body that operates at a greater distance than the other body from the public passions of the hour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are an important check on the powers of the Executive. Our consent is necessary for the President to appoint jurists and powerful government officials and in many respects to conduct foreign policy. Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the President\u2019s subordinates. We are his equal!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs his responsibilities are onerous, many and powerful, so are ours.  And we play a vital role in shaping and directing the judiciary, the military, and the cabinet, in planning and supporting foreign and domestic policies. Our success in meeting all these awesome constitutional obligations depends on cooperation among ourselves. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe success of the Senate is important to the continued success of America. This country \u2013 this big, boisterous, brawling, intemperate, restless, striving, daring, beautiful, bountiful, brave, good and magnificent country \u2013 needs us to help it thrive. That responsibility is more important than any of our personal interests or political affiliations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the servants of a great nation, \u2018a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\u2019 More people have lived free and prosperous lives here than in any other nation. We have acquired unprecedented wealth and power because of our governing principles, and because our government defended those principles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica has made a greater contribution than any other nation to an international order that has liberated more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have been the greatest example, the greatest supporter and the greatest defender of that order. We aren\u2019t afraid. We don\u2019t covet other people\u2019s land and wealth. We don\u2019t hide behind walls. We breach them. We are a blessing to humanity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat greater cause could we hope to serve than helping keep America the strong, aspiring, inspirational beacon of liberty and defender of the dignity of all human beings and their right to freedom and equal justice? That is the cause that binds us and is so much more powerful and worthy than the small differences that divide us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a great honor and extraordinary opportunity it is to serve in this body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to serve with all of you. I mean it. Many of you have reached out in the last few days with your concern and your prayers, and it means a lot to me. It really does. I\u2019ve had so many people say such nice things about me recently that I think some of you must have me confused with someone else. I appreciate it though, every word, even if much of it isn\u2019t deserved. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll be here for a few days, I hope managing the floor debate on the defense authorization bill, which, I\u2019m proud to say is again a product of bipartisan cooperation and trust among the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter that, I\u2019m going home for a while to treat my illness. I have every intention of returning here and giving many of you cause to regret all the nice things you said about me. And, I hope, to impress on you again that it is an honor to serve the American people in your company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you, fellow senators.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C&#8230;.U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate: \u201cMr. President: \u201cI\u2019ve stood in this place many times and addressed as president many presiding officers. I have been so addressed when I have sat in that chair, as close as I will ever be to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ngd-homefeatured.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}