[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14960]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE MISSING ELEMENT: COMPROMISE

  (Mr. McCLINTOCK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, at the center of our government is a 
bicameral legislative branch, two separate houses specifically designed 
to have a different perspective on issues.
  Those two houses are supposed to disagree, and yet, ultimately, they 
have to pass the same legislation to the President to get anything 
done.
  Well, how does that happen?
  It is because, once the House and the Senate individually exercise 
their best judgment, they are supposed to meet to then resolve any 
differences. That is the only possible way that our bicameral system 
can function. Without this mechanism, it's doomed to gridlock.
  And yet, the current leader of the Senate, and those in his thrall, 
have refused to do precisely that, to sit down and resolve the 
differences between the two houses through negotiation and compromise. 
Their refusal to do so is at the heart of this impasse that's now shut 
down the government.
  It is time for Harry Reid to meet his constitutional responsibility, 
or for the Senate to find somebody who will.

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