Mr. President:
“I’ve stood in
this place many times and addressed as president many presiding officers. I
have been so addressed when I have sat in that chair, as close as I will ever
be to a presidency.
“It is an
honorific we’re almost indifferent to, isn’t it. In truth, presiding over the
Senate can be a nuisance, a bit of a ceremonial bore, and it is usually
relegated to the more junior members of the majority.
“But as I stand
here today – looking a little worse for wear I’m sure – I have a refreshed
appreciation for the protocols and customs of this body, and for the other
ninety-nine privileged souls who have been elected to this Senate.
“I have been a
member of the United States Senate for thirty years. I had another long,
if not as long, career before I arrived here, another profession that was
profoundly rewarding, and in which I had experiences and friendships that I
revere. But make no mistake, my service here is the most important job I have
had in my life. And I am so grateful to the people of Arizona for the privilege
– for the honor – of serving here and the opportunities it gives me to play a small
role in the history of the country I love.
“I’ve known and
admired men and women in the Senate who played much more than a small role in
our history, true statesmen, giants of American politics. They came from both
parties, and from various backgrounds. Their ambitions were frequently in
conflict. They held different views on the issues of the day. And they often
had very serious disagreements about how best to serve the national interest.
“But they knew
that however sharp and heartfelt their disputes, however keen their ambitions,
they had an obligation to work collaboratively to ensure the Senate discharged
its constitutional responsibilities effectively. Our responsibilities are
important, vitally important, to the continued success of our Republic. And our
arcane rules and customs are deliberately intended to require broad cooperation
to function well at all. The most revered members of this institution accepted
the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving
America’s problems and to defend her from her adversaries.
“That principled
mindset, and the service of our predecessors who possessed it, come to mind
when I hear the Senate referred to as the world’s greatest deliberative body.
I’m not sure we can claim that distinction with a straight face today.
“I’m sure it
wasn’t always deserved in previous eras either. But I’m sure there have been
times when it was, and I was privileged to witness some of those occasions.
“Our
deliberations today – not just our debates, but the exercise of all our
responsibilities – authorizing government policies, appropriating the funds to
implement them, exercising our advice and consent role – are often lively and
interesting. They can be sincere and principled. But they are more partisan, more
tribal more of the time than any other time I remember. Our deliberations can
still be important and useful, but I think we’d all agree they haven’t been
overburdened by greatness lately. And right now they aren’t producing much for
the American people.
“Both sides have
let this happen. Let’s leave the history of who shot first to the historians. I
suspect they’ll find we all conspired in our decline – either by deliberate
actions or neglect. We’ve all played some role in it. Certainly I have.
Sometimes, I’ve let my passion rule my reason. Sometimes, I made it harder to
find common ground because of something harsh I said to a colleague. Sometimes,
I wanted to win more for the sake of winning than to achieve a contested
policy.
“Incremental
progress, compromises that each side criticize but also accept, just plain
muddling through to chip away at problems and keep our enemies from doing their
worst isn’t glamorous or exciting. It doesn’t feel like a political triumph.
But it’s usually the most we can expect from our system of government,
operating in a country as diverse and quarrelsome and free as ours.
“Considering the
injustice and cruelties inflicted by autocratic governments, and how
corruptible human nature can be, the problem solving our system does make
possible, the fitful progress it produces, and the liberty and justice it
preserves, is a magnificent achievement.
“Our system
doesn’t depend on our nobility. It accounts for our imperfections, and gives an
order to our individual strivings that has helped make ours the most powerful
and prosperous society on earth. It is our responsibility to preserve
that, even when it requires us to do something less satisfying than ‘winning.’
Even when we must give a little to get a little. Even when our efforts manage
just three yards and a cloud of dust, while critics on both sides denounce us
for timidity, for our failure to ‘triumph.’
“I hope we can
again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each
other to learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the
people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio
and television and the Internet. To hell with them. They don’t want anything
done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.
“Let’s trust
each other. Let’s return to regular order. We’ve been spinning our wheels on
too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without
help from across the aisle. That’s an approach that’s been employed by both
sides, mandating legislation from the top down, without any support from the
other side, with all the parliamentary maneuvers that requires.
“We’re getting
nothing done. All we’ve really done this year is confirm Neil Gorsuch to the
Supreme Court. Our healthcare insurance system is a mess. We all know it, those
who support Obamacare and those who oppose it. Something has to be done. We
Republicans have looked for a way to end it and replace it with something else
without paying a terrible political price. We haven’t found it yet, and I’m not
sure we will. All we’ve managed to do is make more popular a policy that wasn’t
very popular when we started trying to get rid of it.
“I voted for the
motion to proceed to allow debate to continue and amendments to be offered. I
will not vote for the bill as it is today. It’s a shell of a bill right now. We
all know that. I have changes urged by my state’s governor that will have to be
included to earn my support for final passage of any bill. I know many of you
will have to see the bill changed substantially for you to support it.
“We’ve tried to
do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with
the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince
them it’s better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it
past a unified opposition. I don’t think that is going to work in the end. And
it probably shouldn’t.
“The Obama
administration and congressional Democrats shouldn’t have forced through
Congress without any opposition support a social and economic change as massive
as Obamacare. And we shouldn’t do the same with ours.
“Why don’t we
try the old way of legislating in the Senate, the way our rules and customs
encourage us to act. If this process ends in failure, which seem likely, then
let’s return to regular order.
“Let the Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee under Chairman Alexander and Ranking
Member Murray hold hearings, try to report a bill out of committee with
contributions from both sides. Then bring it to the floor for amendment and
debate, and see if we can pass something that will be imperfect, full of
compromises, and not very pleasing to implacable partisans on either side, but
that might provide workable solutions to problems Americans are struggling with
today.
“What have we to
lose by trying to work together to find those solutions? We’re not getting much
done apart. I don’t think any of us feels very proud of our incapacity. Merely
preventing your political opponents from doing what they want isn’t the most
inspiring work. There’s greater satisfaction in respecting our differences, but
not letting them prevent agreements that don’t require abandonment of core
principles, agreements made in good faith that help improve lives and protect
the American people.
“The Senate is
capable of that. We know that. We’ve seen it before. I’ve seen it happen many
times. And the times when I was involved even in a modest way with working out
a bipartisan response to a national problem or threat are the proudest moments
of my career, and by far the most satisfying.
“This place is
important. The work we do is important. Our strange rules and seemingly
eccentric practices that slow our proceedings and insist on our cooperation are
important. Our founders envisioned the Senate as the more deliberative, careful
body that operates at a greater distance than the other body from the public
passions of the hour.
“We are an
important check on the powers of the Executive. Our consent is necessary for
the President to appoint jurists and powerful government officials and in many
respects to conduct foreign policy. Whether or not we are of the same party, we
are not the President’s subordinates. We are his equal!
“As his responsibilities
are onerous, many and powerful, so are ours. And we play a vital role in
shaping and directing the judiciary, the military, and the cabinet, in planning
and supporting foreign and domestic policies. Our success in meeting all these awesome
constitutional obligations depends on cooperation among ourselves.
“The success of
the Senate is important to the continued success of America. This country –
this big, boisterous, brawling, intemperate, restless, striving, daring,
beautiful, bountiful, brave, good and magnificent country – needs us to help it
thrive. That responsibility is more important than any of our personal
interests or political affiliations.
“We are the
servants of a great nation, ‘a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.’ More people have lived free and
prosperous lives here than in any other nation. We have acquired unprecedented
wealth and power because of our governing principles, and because our
government defended those principles.
“America has
made a greater contribution than any other nation to an international order
that has liberated more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in
history. We have been the greatest example, the greatest supporter and the
greatest defender of that order. We aren’t afraid. We don’t covet other
people’s land and wealth. We don’t hide behind walls. We breach them. We are a
blessing to humanity.
“What greater
cause could we hope to serve than helping keep America the strong, aspiring,
inspirational beacon of liberty and defender of the dignity of all human beings
and their right to freedom and equal justice? That is the cause that binds us
and is so much more powerful and worthy than the small differences that divide
us.
“What a great
honor and extraordinary opportunity it is to serve in this body.
“It’s a
privilege to serve with all of you. I mean it. Many of you have reached out in
the last few days with your concern and your prayers, and it means a lot to me.
It really does. I’ve had so many people say such nice things about me recently
that I think some of you must have me confused with someone else. I appreciate
it though, every word, even if much of it isn’t deserved.
“I’ll be here
for a few days, I hope managing the floor debate on the defense authorization
bill, which, I’m proud to say is again a product of bipartisan cooperation and
trust among the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“After that, I’m
going home for a while to treat my illness. I have every intention of returning
here and giving many of you cause to regret all the nice things you said about
me. And, I hope, to impress on you again that it is an honor to serve the
American people in your company.
“Thank you,
fellow senators."
