On the recordFebruary 27, 2012
I am pleased to join this colloquy and to hear the Senator from Tennessee and the senior Senator from Arkansas work together on this issue. I think it is something of prime importance. Just as Senator Isakson went across Georgia this past week, I was in many cities and communities in North Carolina, and people are concerned, as he said, with such a low approval rating of the Congress. They are asking us: Why can't you work together? And, as the Senator from Tennessee said, when we have 47 Members in one party and 53 Members in the other party and today we need 60 votes in order to get something done, we are going to have to work together in this Chamber. That also means the Senate and the House are going to have to come together and have conferences that actually work so we can get legislation passed--in the case we are talking about right now, getting the 12 appropriations bills passed. When I was in the North Carolina Senate, I was one of the cochairs of the Budget Committee. We know how to do this. We know how to get things done. Obviously this is a much bigger piece of the pie up here, but it is important to the people throughout our country that we work together to get these bills passed. So I am very pleased to hear this debate and colloquy and the commitment we have standing here and talking about and pledging to work together.…
