Opportunities for Bipartisan Progress if Biden Administration Seeks Common Ground
‘This morning, I’ll be joining the three other Congressional leaders to meet with President Biden at the White House. There’s no shortage of important business to discuss… I hope we can begin to come together on pressing issues that should unite us.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding today’s meeting at the White House:
“This morning, I’ll be joining the three other Congressional leaders to meet with President Biden at the White House. There’s no shortage of important business to discuss.
“The President campaigned on a promise that his agenda would unite a divided nation. And he inherited a favorable situation. Vaccines were flooding America. Science had proven schools can reopen. Job openings were beginning to pile up.
“Republicans sought to continue 2020’s bipartisan streak on COVID relief.
“But our new President and our Democratic colleagues preferred a one-party approach. They used the end of the pandemic to pass what the President’s own staff admitted was ‘the most progressive bill in American history.’ Not exactly shopping for consensus.
“Republicans were upfront with our concerns. We said these old liberal ideas would slow re-hiring, slow down the reopening, and stoke inflation.
“Of course, just a few minutes ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published the most dramatic monthly inflation report in more than a decade.
“Many of the things American families buy have grown more expensive at a dizzying rate. And last week’s incredibly disappointing jobs report showed what happens when Washington D.C. taxes working people to pay other people more to stay home.
“I’m going to discuss these and other concerns with the President today. But I also hope we can begin to come together on pressing issues that should unite us.
“The last time Congress took comprehensive action on surface transportation infrastructure, 83 Senators signed on.
“The last time we drilled down on water resources development, the margin was 92-6.
“Infrastructure can and should be a bipartisan issue. The same for supporting working families. The same for supporting our national defense.
“If the President can remember that he promised to govern for all Americans, not just the far left… if my Democratic friends can remember that they have a 50-50 Senate and a closely-divided House, not a sweeping socialist mandate…
“Then there is so much that we could deliver together for the country.
“I hope today marks the start of a new course-correction from this White House and a more successful dialogue across party lines.
“That’s what Americans need and deserve.”
Related Issues: Jobs, COVID-19, Infrastructure
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