John Cornyn: “the American people have spoken, and once again they have given us divided government. In that sense, we can say this…”

“the American people have spoken, and once again they have given us divided government. In that sense, we can say this was a status quo election. Before the election, just a week or so ago, we had President Obama in the White House, Democrats controlling the Senate, and Republicans controlling the House of Representatives. After the election, we have President Obama in the White House for another 4 years, Democrats controlling the Senate, and Republicans with the majority in the House. What that tells me is the American people do not completely trust either political party to come up with all the answers. They want those kinds of checks and balances that divided government brings; that is, conducive of consultation, deliberation, negotiation, and compromise, not the kind of compromise that violates one's most fundamental principles. That would be wrong. But as one of my colleagues had told me who actually--Senator Enzi, I will use his name, from Wyoming, one of the most conservative Members of the Senate on our side from Wyoming, he worked famously with that--I say this with all due respect--liberal lion of the Senate, Teddy Kennedy, worked very productively to produce a lot of legislation out of the HELP Committee. One time I asked Senator Enzi how was it that he and Teddy Kennedy-- in other words, one of the most conservative Republicans and one of the most liberal Democrats--how did they work together so productively to come together to pass legislation.…”