On the recordDecember 16, 2015
I wanted to come to the floor and talk about what we have been able to accomplish this year because sometimes I think people, when they hear us talk, think we are somehow claiming credit where credit is not entirely due or whether we are trying to make this purely a partisan matter. It is not, but it does require good leadership. As the Presiding Officer knows, having been speaker of the house in North Carolina, the people who set the agenda--that is a pretty important power. All of the legislation that has passed this year would not have passed if it weren't for the majority leader, Senator McConnell, under the new majority scheduling it for a vote in the Senate and chairmen in the relevant committees processing that legislation at the committee level and making it available for floor consideration. It is not just the Republican majority. Time after time, we have seen Republicans and Democrats working together hand in glove to try to pass legislation that is good for the American people. We saw that on the Education reform bill, where Senator Murray and Senator Alexander worked so closely together. We saw it on the highway bill--the first multiyear highway bill in a decade--where the Senator from California, Mrs.…
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