Legislative Negotiation Quotes

I have, year after year, been named the most bipartisan member of the whole United States Senate. I have proved my independence.

Texans don't want to sit back and watch Austin turn into Washington, D.C. State leaders in power keep forcing people to opposite corners to prepare for a fight instead of coming together to get things done.

I have learned how to take votes where I had to hold my nose because I had to compromise - something that you learn to do, especially when you have been in the minority.

God's greatest gift: the conference committee.

There's never a perfect bipartisan bill in the eyes of a partisan.

A politically astute president who understood deeply the economics and politics of corporate tax reform could conceivably muscle Congress toward a reform package that made sense. Trump is not that leader.

When I was elected governor of my state, I had a legislature 87 percent Democrat. It was not lost on me that to get anything done, I couldn't be attacking them. I had to find ways to reach out to them.

The President should have full opportunity ... of opposing whatever appropriations seemed to him objectionable without imperiling the success of others.

The conference committee, that wonderful wrestling ring of compromise where House and Senate versions of bill are wrenched into law ...

I'm not sure we will have every single Democrat ... but we want a large number of Republicans to be able to vote for this bill because we think that will encourage the House not only to move forward but to pass a bill.

Obama's ability to use his personality to push folks, whether on Capitol Hill or in Europe, means that he has to stay popular. What happens if he loses that popular mandate?

The role of the speaker of the House is to deliver enough votes by understanding and accommodating the individual bottom lines of enough members to pass the bill.

It's either the Amendment or this Confederate peace. You cannot have both.

If you go through the regular process of the House and Senate passing companion bills and then try and work out differences in the conference, maybe we can get something done.

The president is under no obligation to sign the spending bills that Congress gives to him. And once that happens, once he says no, then you're supposed to negotiate.

I will not negotiate the demise of the ACA with the Trump administration, but I would certainly be willing to work with responsible Republicans to fix some of the problems, particularly by strengthening the individual purchasers market to bring younger and healthier people into the risk pool.

All legislation of any consequence is a compromise. You have to recognize that.

I am perfectly happy to compromise whether it's with Democrats or anybody else, as long as we're reducing the size of government.

I liked working with Republicans. We had five pretty good years after we had that bad year in '95 that culminated in two government shutdowns. But then they really decided that they liked being in the majority for the first time in forty years, and they wanted to get some things done, and I agreed, to get things I wanted. It was all perfectly transparent. Everybody knew what they wanted and what I wanted.

We've seen, in Washington, both sides say they don't want to give up much of anything.

If you really want to get something done in Washington, it has to be done in a bi-Partisan way.

As much as we may have to battle against a Trump presidency, there's still good relationships within the Senate, bipartisan relationships where we can work together.

I've never had a confrontation with any other member of Congress that I've enjoyed. It's just a part of the job that has to be done.

My motto toward the Congress is communication, conciliation, compromise, and cooperation.

While one party may possess the levers of power, one party does not possess a monopoly on good ideas. Good lawmaking, after all, is about the ability to craft effective solutions.