Mario Diaz-Balart Quotes

I think there's bipartisan support in the Senate to pass a good reform bill.

The goal with a big piece of social legislation is to have a bipartisan result, so the country will accept it.

I just want to work with legislative council members from across the political spectrum to get things done.

What happens in committee if the committee functions, more often than not, not every time but more often than not, a bill comes out with bipartisan support.

Above all else stands the burning question of bipartisanship. Whatever else the politicians might say they're about, our news analysts know that this is the true object of the nation's desire, the topic to which those slippery presidential spokesmen need always to be dragged back.

When John Kerry and Zell Miller and George Bush can agree on an issue, you know it's got legs.

I rise today to discuss the National Intelligence Reform bill. I commend my colleagues in both Houses for their hard work in coming to an agreement. As with any conference, each voice is heard, but none can dominate and compromise must be achieved.

Reforming public education, cutting property taxes, fixing adult and child protective services and funding our budget can all occur when Democrats and Republicans engage in consensus and cooperation - not cynicism and combat.

Our Keystone legislation received strong bipartisan support in the Senate. Although it didn't receive the 60 votes necessary for passage, 56 senators - a majority - voted in favor of the bill. Despite President Obama's actively lobbying against the bill, we still won the support of 11 Democrats.

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.

I'm a firm believer that if you put together a good product that is just good policy, that is embraced by both sides so that it is seen as politically advantageous to the Republicans or Democrats, that even in this very polarized partisan world that you can advance legislation. I have to believe that, or I wouldn't want to get up every morning.

I'm always looking for people on the other side of the aisle for any initiative I'm sponsoring - men and women - to move things forward.

I'm not a legislator. I've never been a lobbyist. I've never worked a session before, but based on my conversations with leadership in the Senate and the House, I get the general sense that people want to work together to make things happen.

I've been able to bridge divides in a very partisan time and get Republicans and Democrats to work with me to try to improve people's lives.

[on compromise immigration bill] This is fundamentally flawed in its current form, and I would oppose it. We need bipartisanship, but we also need legislation that is compassionate. I’m not sure this is.

I think on this issue more than any other we're going to see sort of a bipartisan longing to get something done, and hopefully you're not going to find the fisticuffs that you would find on lots of other issues. I think you'll be able to glean a sense of progress without us revealing the specifics.

The Democrats want infrastructure, they want a trillion-dollar bill, and I'm totally open to that. We are in agreement there.I think where I'm in most - best agreement with the Democrats are that and trade.

Nothing gets done (in Congress) unless it's bipartisan. And the reason that matters is that it's a function of reality.

There are many miles to go before we get this done ... But I have a feeling that ... we're going to have a big bipartisan vote for this in the end. My sense is that people are more optimistic than they've been in 20 years about addressing this problem.

We will face the challenges head on. We will work with both parties, across the aisle, to make our state better.

New Hampshire is moving in the right direction because we have shown time and time again that we can work across the aisle to solve problems.

The big legislative updates that we need to compete in the 21st century and to raise living standards have been blocked by a reluctance to seek common ground.

I will keep working with both parties in the House to get things done for people in our District.

When you have... bipartisan support, it shouldn't devolve into a bipartisan fight.

People who truly represent an extreme on either side have a very difficult time getting bipartisan support for what they're doing.