WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn, deputy leader of the Senate’s newly empowered Republicans, laid out a vision Wednesday for an era of cooperation — a chance “to restore faith in our democratic institutions” after years of partisan strife.
He promised Democrats a fair shot at putting their ideas to a vote — a departure from the heavy-handed approach their own leaders took toward Republicans in recent years. He also warned that the new majority won’t tolerate unilateral action by the White House on immigration.
“We don't have to choose between complete paralysis and actually functioning. Dysfunction is not the only choice we have, and now that that’s been rejected by the voters, resoundingly, we know a change is in order,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor as lawmakers ended a two-month hiatus. “After a six-year experiment in unfettered liberalism and big-government policies, the American people are asking for a new direction.”
Republicans picked up nine new seats in last week’s elections, more than enough to shift the balance of power. Most of the victors — other than an Alaskan whose win wasn’t affirmed until late Tuesday — were at the Capitol to begin settling in.
Cornyn has said he sees a chance for incremental progress on overhauling the nation’s immigration system. But he warned Wednesday that executive action by President Barack Obama would “poison the well” on not only immigration but also a host of other issues.
Republicans have long complained that outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., quashed ideas from the minority party.
Reid, speaking on the floor before Cornyn, poked at Republicans for the gridlock but said he stands ready to work with them “in good faith to make this institution function again for the American people. I saw firsthand how a strategy of destruction was debilitating to our system.”
Senators in both parties will vote Thursday to formally install leadership teams for the session of Congress that opens in January. Cornyn and GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky face no challengers.
While offering olive branches, the Texan didn’t shy from blasting the outgoing regime’s way of doing business. In particular, he criticized Reid’s refusal to allow votes on bills passed by the GOP-led House or on amendments offered by GOP senators.
“It's got to end, and it will end next year,” Cornyn said. “Republicans and Democrats will continue to have policy disagreements. … But this is the place where those get debated, where they get voted on.”
He called it “malpractice” that Congress has failed to enact an annual budget since 2009.
And he ticked off a number of issues that could attract bipartisan majorities. They included approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which Congress moved swiftly toward doing on Wednesday, and boosting natural gas exports — in part to blunt Russia’s ability to bully Ukraine and other neighbors that rely on its energy imports.
He also sees consensus on curbing bureaucracy, improving workforce training, making infrastructure investments and overhauling the patent system.
Even when it comes to Obamacare, certain tweaks would enjoy broad support, such as ending the tax on medical devices, Cornyn said. And such items, he argued, would help “establish the trust and cooperation necessary to do the harder stuff.”
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