Quotes About Bipartisanship

My concern about Barack Obama is he ran a campaign in 2008 where he said we're going to bring people together and solve big problems. And he specifically talked about the need to reach across the aisle and deal with issues like the economy, which was obviously the top issue in 2008. It has not happened.

I know the President [Barack Obama]. I like him and respect him. That does not mean I agree with all of our government's policies, whether they come from Democrats or Republicans.

both Republicans and Democrats should occasionally take a break from their heated quarrels to remind themselves that they all agree on fundamentals, such as free elections, an independent judiciary, and human rights.

You can disagree with someone on issues, but you should never get personal. Joe Biden has never gotten personal, to my knowledge, with a fellow senator.

Bipartisanship isn't an option anymore; it is a requirement. The American people have divided responsibility for leadership right down the middle.

In a less polarized environment, the president and Congress would have responded to these findings with bipartisan outrage,

I'm a moderate. I hang out in the middle. I vote against my party with some regularity and try to compromise. It doesn't appear right now that the Republican Party is welcoming moderates any more.

I felt that what you should do is really take the best from each party's agenda and come to a solution somewhere above the positions of each party. So from the Left, take the idea that we need day care and food supplements for people on welfare. From the Right, take the idea that they have to work for a living and that there are time limits.

What is required from members of Congress and the public alike is a new spirit of devotion to the national welfare beyond party or self-interest.

Welfare reform happened with reconciliation; half the Democrats voted for it. The Bush tax cuts happened with reconciliation; twelve Democratic Senators voted for it. You didn't have a real partisan issue on those times that it was used.

Reagan was president and had Democrats control the House and Senate, and they reformed the tax code. Clinton was president, and he had Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole; they reformed welfare and balanced the budget.

Bill Clinton worked with a Republican Congress. They certainly had their differences on many issues, but look at what they also accomplished. Welfare reform - that was maybe the most significant social policy achievement in two generations.

Our platform is crafted by Democrats but it is not about partisanship, its about pragmatism.

President Johnson offered the middle of the road.

From the Medicare prescription drug plan to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of No Child Left Behind, President Bush presided over a major expansion of the reach of government.

Rhetorically, President Obama is a champion of bipartisanship. In practice, though, he is almost always its enemy.

I worked for President Bush and President Obama. I had Democratic bosses and Republican bosses. I believe in order to actually get things done, we do need to buckle down and often reach across the aisle.

If President Trump has good ideas, I'll be for them.

I look forward to working with President Trump. I've worked with him many times in the past, but we disagree.

I have worked with Presidents since Eisenhower. We serve together.

Presidents should do whatever possible and practical to encourage an environment of cooperation and bipartisanship. And they should maintain a certain level of decorum, diplomacy and decency. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change.

I sure tried to help deliver compromise, consensus, bipartisanship.

I'm going to continue doing what I do, which is trying to make a personal connection with as many people as I humanly can to let them know that you may be a Republican and I'm a Democrat, but I've got your back.

My policy is I will help any policymaker who asks, whether they be a Republican or a Democrat.