Dying art of compromise in Washington – here's how we revive it

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It has become a cliché to say Congress is broken. But the fact is Capitol Hill today often resembles more of a colosseum where gladiators do battle than a place where lawmakers gather to solve the country’s problems. Indeed, partisan fighting seems to be a goal in and of itself, meaning compromise is the ultimate form of weakness.

The American people see what’s happening and are fed up. When their representatives prioritize politics over governance, hardworking Americans suffer – while elites in Washington go on living their lives.

We see this happening today with the Build Back Better Act, a $1.75 trillion social spending package backed by President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress. The bill is a far-left wish list, addressing a wide range of issues from taxes, to health care, to the environment. Democrats are also trying to include immigration provisions that would not only provide a form of amnesty to millions of people here illegally but also potentially displace countless American workers.

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The point of the Build Back Better Act is to impose a radical agenda on the country without Republican support, not to help the American people.

When I observe the situation on Capitol Hill today, I think back to my time as speaker of the House in the 1990s. After Republicans retook the House in 1994, many people foresaw a time of deep division and chaos with Democratic President Bill Clinton in the White House. Instead, we got welfare reform and a balanced budget, which led to surpluses and a stimulated economy, among other agreements.

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In fact, I spent 35 days negotiating a balanced budget with Clinton face-to-face. You need to take your time with people to get things done. There’s no replacement for patience and listening – while standing by your principles.

It helped that Clinton had a natural instinct to recognize he was president to serve the country, not to serve the left wing of the Democratic Party. More broadly, we recognized the need to compromise.

There’s no replacement for patience and listening – while standing by your principles.

This doesn’t need to be difficult – as long as people are willing to put in the work and negotiate in good faith. What is it you must have? What is it you can’t have? And then what’s in the middle, where we can find a deal? Clinton and I asked and answered these three questions honestly and passed consequential legislation as a result.

One man who understands these lessons more than anyone is former Sen. Joe Lieberman, a dear friend who I’ve known for more than 30 years. When we were in Congress together, Lieberman was a Democrat from Connecticut, and I was a Republican from Georgia. But we still managed to find common ground to work together on key issues.

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Reaching across the aisle to get things done for the good of the country is the subject of Lieberman’s new and important book, "The Centrist Solution: How We Made Government Work and Can Make It Work Again." We discuss the book and the importance of bipartisan compromise on a recent episode of my podcast, "Newt’s World."

In his book, Lieberman includes a quote from John Adams that all Americans need to read and digest to understand what’s really at stake here. 

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"There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader and concerting measures in opposition to each other," Adams wrote in 1780. "This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."

What Adams described is precisely what Clinton, Lieberman, and I tried to avoid in the 1990s. It’s also what too many lawmakers are embracing today.

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To read, hear, and watch more of Newt’s commentary, visit Gingrich360.com.