John Yarmuth: “This week at the University of Louisville's McConnell Center, the Speaker of the House gave a speech on the need to find…”

“This week at the University of Louisville's McConnell Center, the Speaker of the House gave a speech on the need to find common ground, but without compromise. We've been testing the wisdom of this approach all this year. Here's what we've gotten: stalemate, manufactured crises, and an inability to act on behalf of the American people. In a government as polarized as this, insisting on common ground while refusing to compromise is maybe the best way to guarantee that 90 percent of our Nation's problems go unsolved. Not coincidentally, that's the same percentage of Americans who disapprove of this Congress and its ongoing search for a hidden, preexisting common ground. I encourage the Speaker to hear the people out on this. They know the solutions which we've already agreed are the easy ones, and they didn't elect us to make easy decisions. They elected us to solve difficult problems. In other words, to lead. Real leaders don't just look for common ground. They create it. Our country was formed through compromise and has been strengthened by it for more than 200 years. Until Republicans provide leadership that values results over ideology and economic progress over antitax pledges, this Congress will continue to fail America. ____________________”