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WASHINGTON, DC (AgapePress) -- The new U.S. Senate minority leader is optimistic his party can work together with Democrats on major issues facing the nation. However, other Republicans in the Legislature have doubts about whether the GOP will be able to find common ground with Democrats as extreme leftist liberals take the reins of leadership in Congress.

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell was chosen unanimously by his colleagues in the Senate Republican Conference to be their minority leader in Congress. He says he will seek bipartisan progress together with the Democrats rather than work to obstruct their agenda.

"We had an extraordinarily productive first session of this current Congress," McConnell notes. "It slowed down considerably in the last six months because the minority does have the ability to block and blame," he says.

The new Senate minority leader says he does not blame the Democrats for this since the GOP has done the same thing "from time to time as we were in the minority." But now that the election is over, he adds, "the American people have a right to expect us to put that behind us and grapple with some of the serious issues that are confronting us."

An example of something that is "ripe for bipartisan accomplishment," McConnell notes, is the immigration bill. And two other issues, he contends, need to be at the top of Congress's list of priorities.

"I have said before and will say again that everyone in the Senate and many people in America know that the two mega-issues confronting the next generation of Americans, if we don't act, are saving Social Security and saving Medicare," the Kentucky Republican remarks. "There's always a good reason to kick that can down the road," he says, but "I don't think we ought to do that. I think we ought to step up to the plate."

According to McConnell, sometimes good things come out of divided government. For instance, the senator notes, the "Social Security Fix" of 1983 was orchestrated by Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Tip O'Neill. But, while he is all for bipartisan compromise, McConnell stresses that "leftish" solutions will not pass the Senate, and they are not what the American people want either.

But another Republican in the U.S. Senate is expecting to see many leftish solutions proposed as the Democrat majority takes over in Congress.

Brownback: 'Conservative' Democrats Will Follow Radical Liberal Leaders

Republican Senator Sam Brownback is among those GOP members in Congress expressing concern that, even though a number of the Democrats elected to the House and Senate claim to espouse moderate or conservative values, the radical liberalism of the Democratic leadership will chart the party's direction.

Although the November 7 midterm elections brought about several Democrat victories, Brownback insists the vote was by no means a rejection of conservative values by the electorate. He says there are plenty of values voters who remain concerned about protecting life and traditional marriage, but who were simply "overwhelmed" by the issues of Iraq and corruption charges against the Republicans.

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