[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2456-2457]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         REPUBLICAN COOPERATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Let me say to my good friend, the majority leader, I 
think we should be able to work our way through some negotiations on 
the Iraq matter that will allow us to consider a variety of proposals 
that may be forthcoming. With regard to the advisability of doing any 
resolution at all, I think the Washington Post basically had it right 
last week when they said they found it curious that we would confirm 
General Petraeus overwhelmingly, which we did Friday, 81 to nothing, 
and then turn around and pass a resolution saying his mission, in our 
judgment, has no chance of succeeding.
  I hope at the end of the day such a resolution will not be approved. 
Having said that, I do think this is the last opportunity for the 
Iraqis to get it right. They need to understand that even those of us 
who are strong supporters of the President believe this is it. This is 
their chance to demonstrate that they can function in this effort to 
quiet the capital city of Baghdad so it can become a place in which 
political compromise can in fact occur. It is very difficult for that 
to happen when there are daily car bombings.
  With regard to the minimum wage, let me indicate, Republicans made a 
pledge at the start of this session to cooperate and that is exactly 
what we have done. We passed one strong bill and we are about to pass 
another by keeping that pledge. Two weeks ago some of our colleagues on 
the other side started to dispute our commitment to cooperation over 
the ethics and lobbying bill. One of my good friends on the other side 
said Republicans hated the bill and decided to kill it. Another said 
our effort to make the bill better through the amendment process was 
``one of the worst stunts he had seen in 25 years as a legislator.'' 
What made those observations particularly absurd is that on that same 
day, the very same day those quotes were made, the bill passed 96 to 2.
  Last week, many of our colleagues on the other side were reviving 
their charges of noncooperation after we took up the minimum wage bill. 
One said Republicans don't tend to vote for a minimum wage increase. 
Another said we were putting up obstacles to the bill so we wouldn't 
have to act on it.
  We passed a good ethics and lobby reform bill and we are going to 
pass a good minimum wage increase bill because of Republican support 
and because Republicans insisted on a bipartisan package for both 
ethics and lobbying. That is the reason we saw an overwhelming vote at 
the end, support on both sides of the aisle. It is only because 
Republicans insisted on a bipartisan package for the minimum wage bill 
that I expect at some point in the near future we will see a similar 
vote on that. We pledged cooperation, and cooperation is exactly what 
we are offering in these early days of this Congress.
  I yield the floor.

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