McConnell said that Sinema is the most effective first-term senator he has ever seen.
The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville was named after a senior Kentucky senator who introduced Sinema.
"I've only known her for four years, but she is the most effective first term senator I've seen in my time in the Senate," the Republican leader said. She is a real moderate and a dealmaker in the Democratic Party.
McConnell praised Sinema for opposing the end of the so-called filibuster, which requires 60 affirmative votes to advance legislation. The tool has been used by both the Democratic and Republican parties.
When Democrats won a majority in the Senate last year, they were joined by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sinema.
McConnell noted in his introductory remarks that they broke from their party when they voted against ending the filibuster.
He said that that was not fashionable in the last eighteen months. It took a lot of courage for Sinema to say that she was not going to break the institution in order to achieve a short term goal.
He said that breaking the institution would change the country. The institution may have been broken for our guest today.
During his presidency, McConnell faced pressure from Trump to end the filibuster.
He said that the former president would harangue him about trying to lower the threshold in the Senate from 60 to 51. The Senate should be turned into the house.
He praised Sinema for her involvement in a number of bipartisan initiatives over the last year, including bills to boost the country's infrastructure, improve gun safety, and strengthen the Semiconductor industry.
He said that she has been a leader and involved in every single thing they have worked on.
Sinema acknowledged that she has forged an unlikely friendship with McConnell since she joined the Senate.
It might shock some people that a Democrat would consider the Republican leader of the Senate her friend. Sinema said that life in Arizona is not viewed through a partisan lens.
In her speech, Sinema emphasized the importance of bipartisan dealmaking and defended her approach to maintaining the Senate filibuster.
To think more strategically and long-term, the Senate was designed to be a place that moves more slowly. Sinema said that it was designed to require people to compromise and work together so the legislation we pass represents the viewpoints of a broad spectrum of the country.
Some of Sinema's fellow Democrats have criticized her for her decision to uphold the filibuster.
They want to kick you out if you don't fit in. I don't want to fit in, not in Washington, and not anywhere else. I was not elected to be a political player. She said that she was elected to achieve lasting results and to solve the problems that matter most to the people of Arizona.
Democrats in Arizona disapprove of the job Sinema is doing, according to a recent poll. A majority of Arizona voters on both sides of the political aisle view Sinema in a bad light, according to a new poll.
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