Cornyn: A Year of Bipartisan Accomplishments in the Senate

Statement

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) spoke on the Senate floor today about the bipartisan legislative accomplishments of 2015 under the Republican-led Senate.

Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn's remarks are below, and video of his speech can be found here.

"I know the Democratic Leader the other day actually, he claimed that this was one of the most unproductive Senates in recent memory, only to be given "Three Pinocchio's' by the fact-checker at the Washington Post. So I'd like to just remind the Democratic Leader about some of the things that we've actually done, working in a bipartisan fashion, to get legislation through the Senate, through the House, and to the President's desk."

"After the House of Representatives passed the Every Child Succeeds Act with a strong bipartisan vote last week, yesterday the United States Senate followed suit, passing that legislation with 85 votes."

"Of course it took the leadership of Chairman Alexander of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. But the fact is - and I know he would say this if he were standing here on the floor - he could not have done it if it weren't for the partnership of the Senior Senator from Washington, Senator Murray, a member of the other political party."

"The passage of this bill serves as just one example of a Senate that's been back to work under new leadership since the last election about a year ago. And we appreciate the willingness of our friends on the other side of the aisle, on a number of areas, to work with us to try to make those accomplishments a reality."

"Another example is in the area of transportation funding. Last week and for the first time in more than a decade, Congress passed a multi-year transportation bill. In that case, it was the hard work of the Senior Senator from Oklahoma, Senator Inhofe, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, as well as the Junior Senator from California, Senator Boxer, working together as a team."

"It's not like Democrats and Republicans can never find anything that we agree on."

"While there are some who want to distract or misconstrue or deny the fact, the fact is there has been bipartisan accomplishment this year. But it takes leadership and frankly, it appeared to take a new Majority and a new Majority Leader after this last election to get the Senate back on track."

"Even many of our Democratic friends who served in the majority previously, they couldn't even get votes on amendments, on legislation that they wanted to offer because the Senate was basically shut down."

"But now we're back to work and the Senate's functioning the way it should, and I just wanted to say a few words to note these accomplishments but also to say thank you to those who have worked together to make it possible, who put the American people ahead of party to deliver real results in the Senate this year."

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