Senator John Cornyn

Remarks at Texas GOP Convention

Friday, June 11, 2010

Thank you all very much.

I’ve come with some good news:
Congress is not in session!
So at the moment, Washington Democrats can’t make things even worse!

Sometimes people ask me:
what’s the best way to see of Washington?
I tell them: the best way to see Washington is in your rear-view mirror ...
when you are leaving behind the Beltway Bubble;
when you are turning your back on the secret deals and the deficit spending;
when you are coming home – to the people that you love,
to the land that made you who you are, to the best place on God’s green earth: the State of Texas!

It’s my profound honor to represent the 24 million people who call Texas home
– and to fight every day for every thing that helps keep us free.
I know that when I speak, I speak with your voice.
I know that when I vote, I do so in your name.
There is no higher honor than to be your Senator –
and I will never forget who sent me to our nation’s capital.

These days, you’ve sent me into occupied territory:
Our swords are drawn.
Our backs are against the wall.
The barbarians have breached the gate they have occupied
Our government today is occupied by big spenders and social planners
– who want to use every crisis to grow the federal bureaucracy,
and take away our fundamental liberties.
Our government today is occupied by naive know-it-alls
– who insult our allies,
flatter our enemies,
and apologize for the United States of America. the castle and they are taking no prisoners.

Almost every week I get another opportunity to tell Washington Democrats what Texans think of their agenda.
When Washington Democrats wanted to add trillions of dollars to our national debt ...
I told them: Texas votes NO.

When they wanted to create Cash for Clunkers,
extend Wall Street bailouts
and keep the TARP program going ...
I said: Texas votes NO.

When they wanted to give liberal judges lifetime appointments to rewrite our constitution ...
I said: Texas votes NO.

And when they wanted a two-thousand page ...
2.6 trillion dollar ...
Taxing, spending, and job-killing health care bill ...
I told Harry Reid and the other Washington Democrats: Texas votes NO.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of us have acquired a reputation for being the “Party of NO.”
Imagine that!
I’ll tell you what: You ask me a simple question and like most Texans I’ll give you a simple answer.
And if the question is: “Should we spend more money we don’t have ...
should we burden our children and grandchildren with more and more debt ...
And should we grow government bigger than ever ...
Count me in with the “Party of NO.”

Still, folks in Washington ask me all the time:
what’s the Republican alternative?
Where’s your positive agenda?
I say: the positive Republican agenda is everywhere I look – when I’m back home ... here in Texas.
What do we see when we look across our great state?
We see more jobs for one thing.
We’ve got an unemployment rate that’s consistently lower than the national average by about a point and a half. We’ve got cities – large and small – that are consistently rated as the best in America to find a job.

Simply put, the positive Republican agenda is to deliver the policies that create more jobs ...
And which in our case have welcomed more Texans!
Hundreds of thousands of Americans from other states have voted with their feet and relocated to Texas over the last few years.
We are seeing once again that when the going gets tough – the tough become Texans.

Today’s Texans show the same spirit of self-reliance and determination that have defined our state for generations.
Despite the global financial crisis ...
despite all the headwinds coming from Washington ...
the people of Texas are starting businesses ...
they are starting families ...
and they are showing the world that once again when faced with adversity –
Texans do not retreat, we reload!

That’s the choice we face this November: Do we retreat? Or do we reload?
I say: let’s reload!
Let’s start by re-electing our Governor: Rick Perry.
Governor Perry is my friend – and I’d like to brag on my friend for a little bit.
Under his leadership:
Texas has lowered taxes on job creators and property owners.
Texas has cut wasteful spending,
funded the state’s priorities,
and shown the type of fiscal discipline that should put Washington to shame.
Texas has improved public education – by setting high standards and helping more Texans get an advanced degree.
Texas has become a leader in renewable energy, like wind and solar power, without forgetting that oil and gas have made our state the energy capital of America.
Texas has improved access to health care – through lawsuit reforms that brought thousands of doctors back to our state.
And Texas remains a state that values the sanctity of human life – and honors traditional marriage.

Texas is a better place because Rick Perry is our Governor and because principled Republicans serve in the Texas Legislature.
I am a legislator myself.
I know that big reforms are not easy.
I know that every single Republican seat makes a difference.
And I know – believe me I know – what happens when Republicans lose the majority and find ourselves playing defense against a powerful arrogant and obnoxious crew of liberal Democrats.

This year liberal Democrats want to take over Texas just as they’ve taken over Washington.
Liberals wants to turn our state into a carbon copy of California.
Liberals want each of our cities to be run the “Chicago Way.”
Liberals want to turn our state over to the trial lawyers, the union bosses, and the ivory tower ideologues.
I say: that’s never going to happen in Texas.
And the way we make sure that’s never going to happen is by winning every single race we can this November.
That means re-electing Rick Perry as our Governor.
That means re-electing David Dewhurst as our Lt. Governor.
That means re-electing one of the best Attorneys General in America: Greg Abbott.
That means re-electing a strong fiscal conservative as our Comptroller: Susan Combs.

That means electing other leaders we can TRUST,
like Jerry Patterson, Todd Staples, and David Porter.

That means electing good judges to sit on the bench.
And that means electing the strongest and deepest team our Party has ever fielded for the Texas Legislature.

My friends, you elected me to a seat in the United States Senate that I consider to be a sacred trust – and which also has a bit of history attached to it.
That seat was first held by the great Sam Houston – when statehood was new and America was about to be torn in two during the Civil War.
Sam Houston loved Texas.
He loved America.
And he hated the sectional conflict that led to the civil war.
Sometimes I sit at Sam Houston’s desk and think about all the blessings of liberty that his generation helped to give us all.
I think about how proud he would be to see us today: defending our liberties;
fighting through adversity;
working to make our nation a more perfect union;
And loving the state that’s our home and our future.
God bless Texas.
God bless the United States of America.
Onward to victory in November!

Here's a snippet:

Republican Sen. John Cornyn on Tuesday stepped squarely into the partisan melee over health care reform, warning Texans and the Senate Finance Committee that a proposed compromise by Senate Democrats' would saddle the Lone Star State with billions of dollars in added costs.

The San Antonio lawyer, leading GOP efforts to regain control of the Senate in 2010, drew upon a study he requested from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to contend that the Democrats' proposal would add 2.5 million more poor people to Texas' Medicaid rolls and boost state taxpayers' projected Medicaid costs by $20.4 billion over 10 years.

Full story here