On the recordFebruary 9, 2011
This evening I want to take some time to talk about how business gets done here in Washington. Now, I guess you can call this the lessons of a rookie. I'm starting my third year here, my second term; and during my first two years in the 111th Congress, frankly, it was like it was politics as usual, and I think the American people have had enough of that. The American people are at a point where it's not about Republicans, it's not about Democrats. What they're looking for are problem solvers; and, fundamentally, I think that is what's most important as we go forward as problem solvers because we know this country is facing some tremendous issues. We are at record unemployment, the highest sustained level of unemployment since the Great Depression. We have a national debt that has amassed to over $14 trillion, impacting our children and our grandchildren's future. We have all kinds of significant issues facing this Nation, and we need solutions; but the solutions, they have to be solutions, I believe, that are not politics as usual. They need to be solutions that are, frankly, based on what I call the principle of leadership.
