Mr. President, I want to spend a few minutes with the Senate and the American people to talk to them about this great body in which we serve. I know there are all kinds of pundits and commentators who talk about how the ``system is…
Mr. President, I want to spend a few minutes with the Senate and the American people to talk to them about this great body in which we serve. I know there are all kinds of pundits and commentators who talk about how the ``system is broken.'' They point to what has been going on in Washington in the last few months and say it shows that we need a complete change in the way we enact laws; that it just doesn't work anymore, and what is going on is terrible, awful.
I want to take a few minutes and historically review what our country is all about.
In the summer of 1787, the Founding Fathers were meeting in Philadelphia, and they were having a very difficult time. They had tried a number of ways in the past to keep the country together. They had the Articles of Confederation. They knew it wasn't appropriate; it wasn't working.
In June of 1787, a delegate from Connecticut came to a conclusion, and he had an idea that he would suggest to other members in the delegation--the Founding Fathers--about how they could come up with a constitution. That is why they were there.
His suggestion was full of merit because they had not been able to solve the problem of the great State of New York, a huge area with millions of people, and the little State of Connecticut, a very small area and a few people--how could those two States be together in the same Union? They had already decided they were going to have three separate branches of government. But the problems they had in Philadelphia those many years ago was how to handle the legislative branch.
The delegate from Connecticut came up with what was called the Great Compromise. His suggestion became part of our Constitution and allowed the Constitution to become real. His suggestion was that we would have one body of the legislature, the House of Representatives, that would be elected every 2 years. If someone died, there would have to be an election. No one in the history of our country has gotten to be a Member of the House without having been elected by their constituents.
The Senate, however, would not be representative of how many people were in the State. Each State would get the same number. That was the
breakthrough. It was an experiment--a noble experiment. It has worked so well over these many years, where we have the legislative branch consisting of two separate bodies. It is bicameral in nature.
There has been conflict. The Founding Fathers built conflict into the legislative government because they believed that would be enough to offset the power of the judicial and executive branches of government. Over the years, things have been much worse than they have been in Washington in the last 3 months. Our country has been so successful as a result of the Constitution's guidance.
I repeat, the Constitution has been so successful because of the Great Compromise of the legislative branch of government.
In the early days of our country, there was conflict that went on all the time. They were, from the very beginning, thinking: Can this great country survive? Then we had the conflict developing prior to the Civil War. One Congressman and Senator, Henry Clay from Kentucky, was known as the Great Compromiser. He worked for generations to see what he could do to stop the dissolution of the Republic. He was successful in a very difficult time.
One Member of the House was enraged because Charles Sumner was antislavery. He was a fine, extemporaneous speaker. He was so able to express himself, Congressman Brooks came to the Senate floor with his cane and beat Senator Sumner with it. Senator Sumner never really recovered. He was off work for a couple of years, and he had a permanent disability as a result of that beating he took on the Senate floor.
Historic battles have taken place in our country which were much more difficult than what we have just gone through. What we have just gone though has been extremely difficult, but there was never any consideration that the Republic would fall.
In more recent years, we had the civil rights disputes. Mr. President, years before that, the Congress reacted to slavery, and we had the dissolution of slavery. Many years later came the civil rights movement. The debate that took place on the Senate floor was very heated. Filibusters took place that lasted for weeks, not days. There was tremendous acrimony as a result of that issue dealing with civil rights. But we worked through that. It was hard, and people at that time thought Congress was broken.
Congress is not broken. Congress works the way it should. Does that mean it is always a very pleasant, happy place? No. Do I wish it weren't as difficult as it has been in the last few months? I wish it was much better than that. That is where we are.
Through all the years and conflicts we have had, we have been able to come together and reach reasonable conclusions. The great experiment that started in 1787 has been very successful. A number of people have identified our system of government, but I guess the best way to talk about it came from Winston Churchill who said about democracy:
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of
government except for all others that have been tried.
I am not proud of the conflict we have had these last many months, but I am satisfied we have been able to come together to find a solution. It is not over until both Houses of Congress pass the legislation dealing with the debt crisis. It is not over until the President signs the bill.
After weeks of facing off against each other, and this partisan divide we have in the Senate, we were finally able to break through with an agreement, which is typical for agreements that are difficult. No one got everything they wanted. Everyone had to give up something. People on the right are upset, people on the left are upset, and people in the middle are upset. It is a compromise. It is not always easy for two sides to reach a consensus, but that is what we did. We did it on a bipartisan basis.
So I believe reasonable Republicans and Democrats alike understood in this case that without compromise our country faced a very difficult situation. But we did send a message to the world and to the American people that our great democracy is working; as difficult and as hard as it is, it works.
I look forward to working with my colleagues in the next 2 days on both sides of the aisle to pass this remarkable agreement that will protect the long-term health of our economy and avert default on our Nation's debt. We still have a lot of problems dealing with the debt. Today, Congress has a unique opportunity and responsibility to show the world what we can achieve, not in spite of our divided government but because of it.