Mitch McConnell Quotes

You can't have your own way in Congress.

The interests of the assembly are best subserved by allowing the floor to alternate between the friends and enemies of a measure.

Democracy involves that old-fashioned thing called working it out.

The danger of what's happening right now in terms of using reconciliation is, the purpose of the Senate is going to be defeated. And that is to bring consensus to big issues in this country so that we have a reasoned and thoughtful approach and that the American public buys into it.

Consensus is the essence of the legislative process.

You'll find individuals agreeing on this, but when they get into collective societies and larger groups they find it difficult to achieve group agreement.

When you work in the United States Senate, and you are around people of all different ideas and beliefs, you realize that what our Founding Fathers did that was so genius, is that they made the Senate the place where compromises are supposed to happen because of the makeup of the Senate.

You can never solve a problem without talking to people with whom you disagree. The United States Senate is predicated and based on consensus building. That was certainly the vision of the founding fathers.

The reason it takes so long to pass legislation is to give each and every one of you an opportunity to be heard.

You can't write laws in America if you don't compromise.

In government, consensus is more important than command; persuasion not only works better than arrogance, it's vital to the democratic process.

The Senate was designed not to be efficient. If was designed to slow things down, And it does a pretty good job of it.

It typically takes bipartisan work to build enough consensus to get things through our legislative process.

Dialogue is the essence of parliamentary politics.

When you have 435 people who are opinionated... sometimes agreeing on things is difficult.

That's what the Senate is about. It's the last bastion of minority rights, where a minority can be heard, where a minority can stand on its feet, one individual if necessary, and speak until he falls into the dust.

You've got to work things out in the cloakroom, and when you've got them worked out, you can debate a little before you vote.

Our history is that we can very aggressively, if necessary, and openly and democratically discuss our differences. We have a democratic history in which we come together and vote on these things.

Though the views of members of the House and Senate are as divergent as the people we represent, we bear the responsibility to work through our political differences and get things done. That's our job.

If everybody is happy, then something is wrong with the democratic process.

Politics is about a lot more than winning and losing. I think politics at its best is about compromise, shades of grey and about issues.

I think if you're going to get anything done in the Senate, you have to be on the same sheet of music. If you don't get people on the same sheet of music it comes out pretty horrible.

It is idle to await unanimity.

Majority rule is not the norm for solving issues or problems.

If someone agrees with you they're a statesman. If someone disagrees with you, they're a politician.