Senators: We Can Still Find Common Ground in Principled Debate
Senators: We Can Still Find Common Ground in Principled Debate
By Senators Sheldon Whitehouse & Bill Cassidy | Thursday, August 1, 2024
America was founded by extraordinary individuals who engaged in spirited debate and then came together to build a more perfect union. That was true 248 years ago, and it is still our ideal today. Solution-oriented leaders who are willing to work across the aisle can work through differences through respectful, robust debate.
Too often, what passes for debate in politics today is bitter yelling and talking points. Worse, opposing views are often canceled without debate even taking place. Improving public discourse can begin with each of us.
We join all Americans in condemning the horrific, tragic violence directed towards former president Donald Trump and his rallygoers last month. The Founders created our democracy to solve problems peacefully through reason and debate. In America, we determine the course of our country via free and fair elections, not through political violence. Americans deserve an election and campaign finance system they can trust. It is the duty of every American to find common ground with our neighbors, and to seek peaceful solutions to the challenges confronting our nation.
That's why last month, in the Senate Project series, we debated issues Americans care about heading into this year's election. We discussed climate and energy, immigration, and health care policy before a national audience.
The goal was to remind Americans that finding common ground does not require compromising our values. The forum, which respects Americans' desire for compromise and solutions, was hosted by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Like us, Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) worked across the political divide to find common ground. Their legacy of firmly holding principles while bridging differences allowed them to forge legislation to ensure prosperous, healthy, and safe communities.
At its best, this is what the Senate does. Yet today's Senate has not risen to meet the challenge. Before Sen. Hatch retired in 2019 and even before Sen. Kennedy passed away in 2009, polarization in the Senate was on the rise. A fractured media environment has made it worse. It incentivizes some to focus more on internet stagecraft than on finding common ground to deliver real solutions.
Sen. Hatch loved to share the story of Sen. Kennedy lambasting Republicans on the Senate floor, then rushing over to him to ask with a big smile, "How'd I do?" Relationships survived diatribe, but more importantly, landmark bills that benefited our country were passed and signed into law.
While we don't always agree on issues, we strive to recall the examples of Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Hatch and deliver results for the American people. We have done that by sponsoring bills together like the Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act, which would invest offshore wind revenue in projects that protect our coastline and address sea level rise and coastal erosion. We also introduced the Customs Modernization Act to combat the flow of illegal and counterfeit goods into the U.S., and our Pay PCPs Act to improve access to high-quality primary care. It doesn't always make headlines, but we are working together to enact policies that benefit Louisianans and Rhode Islanders alike, even on many contested issues.
There is a lot more bipartisan work to be done in service to our nation. As moderator Chuck Todd of NBC News said at the end of our Senate Project forum, "I think we showed you can debate, disagree, and do so in a way that accepts the premise of the entire point of the world's greatest deliberative body which is, the last time I checked, the U.S. Senate."
While the Senate may not be quite as collegial as when Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Hatch walked the halls of Congress, their spirit lingers, and we—along with previous Senate Project participants—are proof of that. We believe that Congress can and must do better as an institution to find common ground through spirited debate. We are committed to this to benefit Louisianans and Rhode Islanders, particularly on contested issues
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Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, is the junior U.S. senator from Rhode Island. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, is the senior U.S. senator from Louisiana.
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