Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009--Motion to Proceed--Continued

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is perfectly clear our friends on the other side are more interested in pleasing special interest groups than in addressing our Nation's job crisis. Once again, they are insisting the Senate spend its last remaining days before the end of the session voting on a liberal grab bag of proposals that are designed to fail. They don't even intend to pass these items. They just want to show they care enough to hold these show votes, which raises a question: Are we here to perform or are we here to legislate?

Our friends have focused on partisan votes for 4 years now. Meanwhile, millions of Americans have lost jobs and homes and in many cases hope. The Nation's debt has skyrocketed through misguided programs Americans did not want. It is time to put them aside and actually accomplish something the American people support. It is time to give back the legislative process to the people who sent us here.

That means preventing a tax hike that is about to slam every working American. It means doing something to address the jobs crisis, to give families and small businesses the tools they need to revive this economy and get people back to work. It is time to end the posturing and to work together to accomplish something, not for the liberal base, for the vast middle of America that needs us.

The White House has signaled its concern over the economy, that its policies are not helping, and that it is time to work with Republicans on forging a new path. We have reached a bipartisan agreement. It is time Democrats in Congress reach a similar conclusion and enable us to act for the good of the whole country. Americans are counting on us. They have waited long enough.

I yield the floor.

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