CHEYENNE -- Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., praised both houses of the Wyoming Legislature on Thursday for their brisk efficiency. He said that stands in sharp contrast to the glacial pace of the U.S. Senate.

Enzi told House members that he went to the White House a few months ago to watch President Bush sign a bill on the Head Start program.

Enzi said the president told him that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, on which Enzi is the ranking Republican member, was the only committee sending him any bills to sign.

The typical Senate committee approves only perhaps three bills every two years. Enzi said Bush signed 27 of his committee's bills in two years. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., is committee chairman.

While Enzi said he's considered among the most conservative members of the Senate, he said Kennedy is ranked among the most liberal. Yet Enzi said he's able to work with Kennedy and get legislation through by concentrating on the 80 percent of issues on which they can agree, not the 20 percent on which they don't.

"I established this 80 percent rule when I was chairman," Enzi said. "I discovered that everybody can agree on 80 percent of everything."

Enzi said the same rule applies to dealing with family members. "There's 20 percent that you don't bring up, unless you're expecting a bad day," he said.

Focusing on differences in Congress demands compromise, Enzi said. He drew laughs from legislators when he explained how congressional compromise actually works.

"We compromise on the budget," Enzi said. "The Senate will do something for $10 million, and the House will do something for $100 million, and we'll compromise on $150 million."

Enzi said that both he and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., have found their experience in the Wyoming Legislature to be good preparation for the U.S. Senate.

"You don't find us sitting in chairs like this and paying attention," Enzi said of U.S. senators. "That's part of the problem."