McConnell Lauds Republican Senate for Successful Year

The Republican Senate majority has proven over the past year that "significant, long term reforms" and conservative policy goals can be passed, even with a president who is from a different party, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in Saturday's GOP address.

"Many issues languished in the old Senate for years," the Kentucky Republican said. "Some were assumed to be too difficult for any Senate majority to address. But the Republican Senate you elected, working with the men and women who stand up for you in the House of Representatives, tackled each of them — and the president signed most into law."

It took several steps to restore the Senate "to a place of high purpose again," McConnell said. Those included getting committees working again, opening the legislative process, and giving senators of both parties more of a say in legislation.

"We passed a balanced budget, for the first time since 2001," he said. "We reformed No Child Left Behind and its Common Core mandates — replacing a broken law with the most significant K-12 education reform in more than a dozen years."

Further, the Senate passed the first long-term transportation bill in a decade, passed permanent tax relief and empowered job creation through lifting a ban on energy exports. He continued that the Senate also acted to knock down foreign trade barriers.

"And when it came to some of Washington's artificial cliffs and manufactured dramas, we were able to pass real, permanent solutions instead of more temporary patches," McConnell said.

There are still bills President Barack Obama won't sign, McConnell commented, and "it's true that a new president will be required to notch wins like those for the middle class."

But overall, he said, he is proud of his party's achievements and what the majority has done this year.

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