[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12358]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          WORKING WITH OTHERS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, like the President, I appreciate a good 
literary reference every now and then. Placed in the proper context, a 
citation from some great writer or thinker can sum up a vision and 
inspire people.
  When Douglas MacArthur bade farewell to West Point, he echoed an 
ancient thinker's ominous warning that ``only the dead have seen the 
end of war.'' And the biblical references in JFK's famous inaugural 
address represent another classic use of the well-placed quote.
  But I think a lot of people are still scratching their heads about 
President Obama's promise yesterday to bring Americans an ``ocean of 
tomorrows.'' Frankly, I don't even think that Carl Sandburg fans out 
there would get it. I wonder: Does he? Because the President himself 
said his speech probably wouldn't change any minds.
  Even the advisers who endlessly hyped this thing more or less 
conceded there wouldn't be any there there--no groundbreaking 
proposals, no tack to the center, no promise to finally start working 
collaboratively with Congress. Well, they were right. So you have to 
ask, what was the point?
  Look, this President is a terrific campaigner. We all recognize that. 
He has a way with words too. But at some point campaign season has to 
end and the working with others season has to begin. At some point you 
have to stop promising an ocean of tomorrows and start actually working 
with the representatives of the people. Because, let's be perfectly 
clear, Americans aren't worried about how many tomorrows there are to 
come. They are worried about what those tomorrows will actually bring: 
the bills in tomorrow's mail, the cuts in tomorrow's paycheck, the 
affordability of tomorrow's health costs. These are the things that 
can't be addressed with reheated speeches or clever quotes. They 
require actually working with people, including those you might not 
always agree with.
  For instance, going around telling people ObamaCare is working the 
way it is supposed to or that it is fabulous or wonderful, as several 
of our Democratic friends have done, doesn't change reality. It is just 
words. It doesn't change the fact that recent surveys show only 13 
percent of Americans now believe the law will help them or that about 
half believe it will make things worse for the middle class or that 
actuaries are now predicting cost increases of 30 percent or more in my 
home State of Kentucky.
  I know the President likes to point to the few places, as he did 
yesterday, where premiums might actually drop under ObamaCare, but he 
is basically silent on the places where it has been announced that 
premiums will go up under ObamaCare, and he will not say a word about 
all the people who have lost their jobs or seen their pay cut.
  For instance, the Washington Post recently profiled a part-time 
college professor from Virginia who, like many in his situation, will 
see his hours slashed as a result of this law. As the Post put it:

       For [this man], the President's health care law could have 
     meant better health insurance. Instead, it produced a pay 
     cut.

  And, many would agree, not for the better, especially for the growing 
number of Americans forced into part-time work with fewer hours and 
smaller paychecks as a result.
  One part-time waitress interviewed in another paper said:

       I can't believe I voted for this. This is not the change I 
     wanted, and it feels like there's no hope.

  So if the President is ready to pivot from campaign mode to governing 
mode, he can start by dropping the misleading claims and admitting what 
pretty much everybody knows: that a lot of Americans are going to feel 
the pain once this ocean-full of tomorrows finally crashes ashore. 
Americans are worried, and I don't blame them.
  Just last week, as I often do, I met with employers from around 
Kentucky who expressed continued concerns about the impact this law 
will have on their operations. They want the Democrats who run the 
Senate to follow the lead of the House in delaying ObamaCare for 
everyone, both businesses and individuals, and they know it makes sense 
to do so. I know they want the President to sign the bill when it 
passes, and I agree he should. It would be a great first step toward 
implementing the permanent delay our country needs--a delay that would 
give Republicans and Democrats the chance to start over and work 
together, this time on a bipartisan step-by-step set of health reforms 
that would actually lower costs.
  But we cannot get there until the President changes his mindset, 
until he puts the poetry down for a moment, flips the campaign switch 
off and the governing switch on. When he does, I think he will be 
surprised to find just how many Republicans want to do exactly what we 
have said all along--to work with him on solutions to get our economy 
moving, our jobs growing, and our health care more affordable. We are 
waiting. Americans are waiting. I hope he will finally be ready soon.
  I yield the floor.

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