Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding the call for Senate Democrats and the President to work with Republicans on bipartisan proposals that can help create jobs:

“Over the past few weeks, I’ve highlighted some of the good work Republicans in the House are doing in identifying jobs legislation that members of both parties can agree on. And I’ve suggested that the Democrat Majority here in the Senate follow the lead of House Republicans, take up the bipartisan legislation that’s already passed in the House, and pass it here in the Senate. The American people want us to do something about jobs. They want us to work together. Here’s the formula. Let’s apply it.

“We made some progress late last week with the veterans bill and the three percent withholding bill. But there’s a lot more we could do. The House has now passed more than 20 pieces of jobs legislation, many of which have companion bills that are ready to go in the Senate. I outlined some of them last week. Let’s take them up. Let’s acknowledge the fact that we live in a two-party system, and that if we’re going to make progress we need to do it on a bipartisan basis. And that means doing precisely what Republicans in the House have been doing for the past year: finding areas where the two parties can agree, and passing bills that reflect those areas of agreement. This is how legislation works.

“It’s easy to push partisan legislation and then complain when it doesn’t go anywhere that the other party is intransigent. The more difficult job, and the one we were sent here to do, is to work together to find solutions, to accomplish more than fodder for campaign ads and bus tours.

“So this morning, I’d like to call on my Democratic colleagues, again, to take up these bipartisan House-passed bills.

“One of these bills, for example, makes it easier for businesses to raise the capital they need to expand and create jobs. Senators Tester and Toomey have companion legislation here in the Senate.

“Another one increases the number of shareholders that are allowed to invest in a community bank before that bank is required to shoulder costly new burdens from the SEC. Senators Hutchison and Pryor have companion legislation to this bill in the Senate. Senators Toomey and Carper have a bill that would expand it by applying it to businesses other than banks. Good idea. Let’s take them both up and pass them.

“Two other bipartisan House-passed bills give small businesses a new avenue to raise capital, and small investors a new opportunity to invest in them, by allowing small businesses to raise money over the Internet and through social media without having to shoulder the same kind of regulatory obstacles as big businesses. We all know that access to capital is one of the key ingredients to economic growth. Here’s a way to make it easier for folks to get that capital that also creates new avenues for the little guy to invest — and to start hiring. Senators Thune and Scott Brown have companion bills here in the Senate. Let’s take them up and pass them.

“This is the kind of approach we should be taking in the Senate — putting aside the big, partisan bills that Democrats know have bipartisan opposition and focusing on smaller proposals that can actually pass.

“On their own, these bills won’t solve the jobs crisis. No single piece of legislation can. But they’ll help, they’ll make it easier for businesses to start hiring.

“And they’ll show the American people something many of them believe we don’t do enough of around here, and that’s to work together on their behalf. This is how divided government works — through real cooperation and a search for common ground and solutions. This is what Republicans on the Joint Committee have been trying to do for the past several weeks. It’s what House Republicans have been doing all year.

“So I say let’s take these bills up, pass them, and then send them on down to the President for a signature.

“The administration supports many of these House-passed bills. Democrats in the House strongly support many of them. And Republicans support them overwhelmingly. So let’s do it. Let’s build on the momentum we have from last week after passing the three percent withholding and the veterans bill. And let’s show the American people we’ve hit upon a formula for legislative success around here.”