U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday honoring America's veterans.

The failure of his economic policies has forced even the president to admit that the American people are no better off today than they were when he took office. It's time for Congress to abandon the president's partisan proposals and focus on bipartisan legislation that will actually create jobs by getting government out of the way of job creators. The House has passed a number of jobs bills with bipartisan support: the Senate should act on them now.

In the Weekly Republican Address, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown discusses the bipartisan approach to job creation.

Sen. Brown says, "With millions of Americans looking for jobs -- it's no mystery what our priority should be here in Washington. We should be doing all that we can to help this economy start creating jobs again -- and we should be doing it right now. Working to create jobs is one of those challenges that tests us here in Congress."

"[U]nfortunately," he says, "too many Americans have spent months looking for a job and still can't find one. The reality is that we should make a difference here and now, with legislation that could be passed immediately. Now I know this can happen, because both parties have already found some common ground in economic policy for example. Just a few weeks ago, we passed free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. These agreements show what bipartisanship can accomplish. They were negotiated by President Bush ... passed by a Republican House and a Democratic Senate ... and signed into law by President Obama. Yes, it took us a lot longer than it should have, but after some give and take, we finally got it done. And just like that, we set in motion a big change that is going to create thousands of jobs in Massachusetts and all across America."

Now, Sen. Brown says, "another bipartisan opportunity is staring us right in the face. It's a jobs bill I introduced back in January. And far from being just my idea, it's the only jobs bill on the table that has the support of majorities in the House and the Senate, and also has been endorsed by the President. This bill would repeal the 3 percent withholding mandate -- it's a stealth tax that will hit small businesses and contractors starting in 2013. If this mandate is not repealed, then all levels of government will suddenly start withholding 3 percent of payments to contractors that provide any product or service to the government. Now, all the mandate will do is, is take more money out of our economy at a time when quite frankly we can least afford it. And as a result, businesses will have less money to hire and pay new workers. The costs of enforcing this unfunded mandate will actually be higher than the revenue it raises by almost eight to one; now only in Washington does this make sense; listen, it's a job killer."

Sen. Brown points out that this bipartisan bill "was passed by the House last week with an overwhelming 405 votes. Now it's come to the Senate. So the decision pretty much rests with Majority Leader Harry Reid. Are we going to do something for the American people, or are we going to let politics win out again?"

He concludes, "Leader Reid has come to me a few times and asked me to consider bills on their merits, and I'm always willing to do so. And now I'm asking the same of my colleague, the Majority Leader. This jobs bill comes at the right time, for the right reasons, and it deserves a prompt vote on the Senate floor, without any gimmicks that will delay or jeopardize passage, so the President can sign it into law right away. . . . This jobs bill, if we move it forward, can be followed by many more that can do even greater good. So hey, let's start here. Let's get this economy creating jobs once again, and show that we can come together when it's needed most."