Congressional Cooperation Quotes

I know well the coequal role of the Congress in our constitutional process. I love the House of Representatives. I revere the traditions of the Senate despite my too-short internship in that great body. As President, within the limits of basic principles, my motto toward the Congress is communication, conciliation, compromise, and cooperation.

The President has to persuade Congress to do what they do not want to do.

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.

A concrete agenda and landslide victory might not even guarantee a president his mandate in a capital as polarized as Washington.

Barack Obama won a second term but no mandate. Thanks in part to his own small-bore and brutish campaign, victory guarantees the president nothing more than the headache of building consensus in a gridlocked capital on behalf of a polarized public.

Getting members of Congress to do things they don’t want to do is a crucial part of being President.

I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country.

We'll look to the fall and if there is a new president and a new Senate that's part of a Congress willing to change, that's the next step.

The military taught me that teamwork is important, which is why I work with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to get things done. It also taught me that everyone brings a different perspective, whether I agree with it or not, which helps me bridge the divide in Congress.

The Russians and the Chinese have been making enormous investments in the military. We have the smallest Navy since 1916. We have the lowest number of troops since the end of the Second World War. We've got to work with Congress, and Donald Trump will, to rebuild our military and project American strength in the world.

The way you get anything done in the Congress is through coalitions.

Presidents are evaluated not by what they did by the stroke of their own pen; it's what they persuade Congress to do.

What a President says and thinks is not worth five cents unless he has the people and Congress behind him. Without the Congress I'm just a six-feet-four Texan. With the Congress I'm President of the United States in the fullest sense.

I've been around Congress long enough to know there are issues we may never see eye-to-eye from the opposite aisle, but we should all agree that our job is to move America forward and benefit the people.

I think what people are looking for right now is not the kind of pizzazz and pop that perhaps we thought we got in 2008. Certainly, President Obama offered that. What they want now is someone who can work closely with Congress and get things done.

In offering deals on immigration, infrastructure, and prison reform, President Trump has demonstrated that he is ready for compromise. But will Democrats take up his offer?

It is hard sometimes to get the Congress to do what you want to do and you have to keep working at it.

A president in his first year has a mandate and some political capital. When he picks an issue, he can practically roll any Congress.

Working with Republicans in Congress we've already signed 88 pieces of legislation. We get no credit. They always say, well, President Trump really needs this tax bill because he hasn't passed any legislation. Well, so far in 10 months we've passed more during this period of time than any other president in the history of our country and the second - let's call runner up - is Harry Truman, was second.

To reform Congress, you have to get Congress to play along.

You've got to have a theme if you're going to get Congress to do something difficult.