The Missing Element: Compromise

Floor Speech

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, at the center of our government is a bicameral legislative branch, two separate houses specifically designed to have a different perspective on issues.

Those two houses are supposed to disagree, and yet, ultimately, they have to pass the same legislation to the President to get anything done.

Well, how does that happen?

It is because, once the House and the Senate individually exercise their best judgment, they are supposed to meet to then resolve any differences. That is the only possible way that our bicameral system can function. Without this mechanism, it's doomed to gridlock.

And yet, the current leader of the Senate, and those in his thrall, have refused to do precisely that, to sit down and resolve the differences between the two houses through negotiation and compromise. Their refusal to do so is at the heart of this impasse that's now shut down the government.

It is time for Harry Reid to meet his constitutional responsibility, or for the Senate to find somebody who will.

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