[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 172 (Monday, November 30, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8181-S8182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE NEW CONGRESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Now, Madam President, on another matter, in the last 
election the American people chose a new direction with a new 
Republican majority in Congress. We have been working hard ever since 
to get Congress back on their side and back to work. Over the past 
year, Americans have seen committees up and running again. Americans 
have seen bills passed again. Americans have seen meaningful bipartisan 
bills being signed into law again. Americans have also seen Members of 
opposing parties working together to make progress on important issues, 
from trade to Medicare to cyber security. We have seen examples of it 
this year on some of Washington's stickiest issues.
  We saw the Senate pass a bipartisan multiyear highway bill this 
summer, 65 to 34. The Republican chairman and

[[Page S8182]]

the Democratic ranking member worked closely to bring this about. We 
also saw the Senate pass a bipartisan replacement for the broken No 
Child Left Behind law last summer, 81 to 17. I would like to thank 
Senator Alexander and Senator Murray for working closely across the 
aisle on that achievement. These represent significant accomplishments 
for the new Congress and significant wins for the American people. 
After all, some pundits said Washington could never take these issues 
on at all. But we did, and we now expect to finish Congress's work on 
all of those matters in the coming days.

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