By Joe Lieberman, a former U.S. senator from Connecticut, Democrat VP candidate in 2000 and is a national co-chairman of No Labels.

True bipartisan work - wouldn't it be nice.

One of the greatest bonuses of my years in the Senate was getting to know Sen. John McCain. John has consistently served causes larger than himself, beginning with our country. The speech he gave on the Senate floor last week, followed by his “no” vote after midnight Thursday on a health-care bill nobody wanted to become law, was one of his finest hours. His message was eloquent and direct. As he put it: “This country—this big, boisterous, brawling, intemperate, restless, striving, daring, beautiful, bountiful, brave, good and magnificent country—needs [the Senate] to help it thrive. That responsibility is more important than any of our personal interests or political affiliations.” To live up to its promise, the world’s greatest deliberative body needs to return to the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that can lead to real legislative accomplishments. It reminded me of a message another great senator, Pat Moynihan of New York, delivered to another administration 25 years ago. In 1993 Moynihan, the new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, offered strategists at the Clinton White House a suggestion. He knew many Democrats were pressuring the president to pursue universal health care, but Moynihan believed nearly total Republican opposition would make it a divisive opening flop for the new administration. He argued that instead the president should focus on another promise he had made, to “end welfare as we know it,” because Republicans could be convinced to back welfare reform.

Pat believed the nation’s welfare system was in a more acute crisis than its health-care system. He also believed that major reforms rarely passed Congress with the support of only one party. “They pass 70-30,” he explained, “or they fail.” Moynihan’s wisdom fell on deaf ears. The White House vigorously pursued a broad-based health-care-reform agenda crafted by First Lady Hillary Clinton and her team. They presumed most Republicans would line up against them but figured the Democrats would back them. In the end, Democrats weren’t any more united than Republicans are today. Their disarray doomed the plan before it even came up for a vote. Republicans won resoundingly in the 1994 midterm elections, and President Clinton learned from the experience. The White House reverted to the approach Moynihan had initially suggested. While the senator himself ended up opposing the 1996 welfare reform, his political advice worked. Mr. Clinton’s embrace of bipartisan negotiation and compromise delivered a series of victories, including a balanced budget and the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. What can we learn from Mr. Clinton’s evolution? Maybe most important for President Trump, legislative strategies rarely succeed when they depend on a single party. If Mr. Trump were to extend a hand to Democrats, Washington might well prove capable of solving some of America’s problems and seizing some of its opportunities. For that to happen, Democrats in Congress will have to engage with Mr. Trump the way Newt Gingrich and his party worked with Mr. Clinton.

Rallying both parties to repair America’s infrastructure could be President Trump’s version of welfare reform. Tax reform could also gain bipartisan support. Then Congress can return to more divisive issues, considering them, as Mr. McCain suggested, through regular order. A good place to start would be with the bipartisan health-care reforms that the House No Labels Problem Solvers Caucus released yesterday.

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