Watch: Sen. McCain Calls For Compromise In Return To Senate Floor

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., returned to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday after a brain cancer diagnosis to help Republican leadership begin debate on health care. But after casting his vote in favor of debate, McCain took the floor and said he would not vote for the current health bill, the latest product of a controversial and contentious process in which Republicans have been at odds with one another as well as with Democrats.

McCain called for a return to "regular order" in the Senate, urging his colleagues to move toward compromise and an open legislative process.

"Our responsibilities are important, vitally important, to the continued success of our republic. And our arcane rules and customs are deliberately intended to require broad cooperation to function well at all," he said. "The most revered members of this institution accepted the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving America's problems and defend her from her adversaries."

Here is a video and his full remarks, as provided by the senator's office:

"Mr. President:

"I've stood in this place many times and addressed as president many presiding officers. I have been so addressed when I have sat in that chair, as close as I will ever be to a presidency.

"It is an honorific we're almost indifferent to, isn't it. In truth, presiding over the Senate can be