On the recordMay 2, 2017
first, I wish to respond to the President's latest tweets about the bipartisan, bicameral deal we just reached to fund the government through September. Members of both parties worked very hard to come to this agreement. There was a real spirit of cooperation. I thank Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan and Leader Pelosi, as well as Senators Cochran and Leahy and Congress Members Frelinghuysen and Lowey, all who worked together often until the wee hours of the morning to make this happen. We all spent a lot of time working on it, and I think we got a very good outcome. So when the President threw cold water on this deal and actually recommended a government shutdown, I was deeply disappointed. Here we saw Democrats and Republicans working together in the best traditions of the Senate, and the President disparages it in a way that is destructive, essentially saying: Let's have a shutdown. The President has been complaining about the lack of bipartisanship in Washington. Well, this deal is exactly how Washington should work when it is bipartisan. Both parties negotiated and came to an agreement on a piece of legislation we each can support. It is truly a shame that the President is degrading it because he didn't get 100 percent of what he wanted. Bipartisanship is best summed up by the Rolling Stones: You can't always get what you want--or at least everything you want. ____________________
