[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 52 (Thursday, March 26, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S3886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             BIPARTISANSHIP

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I was intending to walk through here on the 
way back to my office when I saw the sign blaming Republicans for 
everything--it blames us for the crisis, it blames us for--we keep 
talking about bipartisanship, but that is not the way you develop 
bipartisanship.
  We did have some bipartisan votes today in the Budget Committee. One 
of them was to have an investigation into what is happening. I bet you 
are not going to point the finger at just one party on that. I am 
betting there is plenty of blame to go around on the situation we are 
in. Congress has contributed, as well as business, as well as 
employees. We are going to find out the country has been on a path and 
is still on a path that is not sustainable. We maxed out our credit 
cards and that causes a lot of problems. Now we are still trying to 
figure out how to spend more money.
  I was disappointed that we went into a partisan speech right after 
such a bipartisan effort that happened in this Chamber. We passed a 
bill this afternoon that is going to provide 7 million volunteers 
across America, that is going to make a real difference for America.
  One of the problems I have with Washington is when something good 
like that happens, it kind of disappears overnight; when something 
nasty happens, it is talked about forever. We have to talk more about 
bipartisanship. We have to stop blaming each other and start working 
together.
  One of the ways that bill got done this afternoon is we have been 
following an 80-percent rule. We know we can agree on 80 percent of the 
stuff, and we did. Actually, we went a little further than that because 
we found some third ways in part of the other 20 percent. That made a 
bill that both sides could agree on that could get finished. There will 
be more work to do in that area.
  I am glad we got that done this afternoon. I hope it is not a little, 
tiny paragraph in the paper. It probably will not be because it was 
named after the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, because he has 
been such a leader in this effort and worked on this bill for years and 
certainly deserves to have the bill named after him.
  That should not be the only reason we get publicity on something such 
as this bill. There ought to be people looking at what we achieved and 
talking about what was achieved and talking about how, on a bipartisan 
basis, Democrats and Republicans sat down and said: This is what we 
need. We also said these are programs that are not working; let's 
replace them. We did that, and we did that in a very fiscally 
responsible way.
  That is what can happen when both sides work together. We need to do 
more of that. We need to do a little bit less blaming. We are not even 
close to an election right now. So the blame game does not need to be 
done.
  I certainly hope we can work for some common goals. I think we have 
some common goals. Next week, we will be talking about the budget, and 
there are even some common things on that. But I am willing to bet what 
we talk about on this floor will be the 20 percent we do not agree on, 
and that is the 20 percent that can ruin America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Begich). The Senator from Alabama is 
recognized.

                          ____________________