Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate adjourns today, it stand in adjournment until 10:30 a.m., Friday, January 5; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date; that the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later; and that there then be a period of morning business until 11 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I would be happy to yield to the assistant Democratic leader.

Mr. DASCHLE. That is correct. The possibility exists that a request for a rollcall vote could occur on the organizing resolution. And were that to take place, of course, we would set a time certain for that matter to be voted upon, which would include, of course, some time for debate.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 1, which is at the desk.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I want to give a report on the progress Senator Lott and I have been making throughout the day. We have been discussing matters relating to the organizational resolution throughout the day and have just, again, had the last of our meetings for the day. While we are closer than we were at the beginning of the day, there are still some matters to be resolved. However, it is my hope that we could resolve the outstanding issues some time tomorrow, and then it would be my hope that the Senate will proceed to a vote on the organizing resolution. Senators should be aware that it may require a rollcall vote. It is my hope we can avoid that, but that is yet a possibility. So for purposes of the schedule, I think Senators should be prepared to be here to vote. It is my intention to call the Senate back into session at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow. We will have further reports about our progress and about the schedule for the day after we convene.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, on behalf of the entire Senate, but especially this Senator, I welcome you back to the Senate. This is a historic day. Never before in the history of our Nation have we had a 50-50 Senate. I welcome and congratulate all 11 of our newly elected Senators and the family members and friends who are here to share this important day with them. Years after he left the White House, Harry Truman wrote that the decade he spent in the Senate were the happiest years of his life. As our new colleagues begin their Senate careers, we hope that they, too, are beginning what will be the happiest years of their lives. Several of our departing colleagues are also here with us today. To them we say thank you: Thank you for sharing with us and with our Nation some of the best years of your lives, thank you for the contributions you have made to our Nation during your years of public life, and thank you for the important contributions you will continue to make in the coming years. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with each of you. The writer Thomas Wolfe said that America is a place where miracles not only happen, they happen all the time. Today we are experiencing one of those miracles: The peaceful transition of power from one Congress to the other. Some people say it will take another miracle for this Congress and administration to find a way to work together. As we begin this historic Congress, let us resolve that we will work in good faith with each other to do the people's business. That is our pledge from this side of the aisle. We know our colleagues on the other side of the aisle feel as we do. Finally, on a personal note, it is a high honor to have the privilege of officially opening this Senate. When I first ran for Democratic leader 6 years ago, I thought if I won, I would be majority leader. I must confess that in 6 years as minority leader, I had a moment or two when I wondered if that day would ever arrive, but I assure you, I intend to savor every one of the next 17 days. I know we are all looking forward to a bipartisan and a productive 107th Congress that will serve our country well. It is an honor to be a part of this Congress and to be able to work, once again, with my friend and my colleague, Senator Lott. I now ask unanimous consent that the Republican leader be permitted to speak.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I thank my colleagues.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that there be a period of morning business for statements only, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the exception of the majority and minority leaders.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I send a resolution to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I send a final resolution to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I send a second concurrent resolution to the desk and now ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we officially congratulate you on the ascendancy to your new position.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I send a resolution to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I send a resolution to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me thank the distinguished assistant Democratic leader, the now assistant majority leader, for his kind remarks and for all he has done for the Senate and for our caucus. As we closed out the 106th Congress, many called attention to the remarkable work done by the assistant majority leader--then assistant Democratic leader--in the last Congress. He has become an invaluable asset. His leadership, and the strength of his day-to-day involvement on the Senate floor, in concert with our Republican colleagues, is so deeply appreciated. I share his optimism and his determination to make this a productive Congress. I look forward, in the most heartfelt way, to working with him as we face the challenges of the new Congress. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I send a resolution to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, 213 years ago, the Framers of the Constitution created the United States Senate. In all the years since then, only 1,864 Americans have been granted the privilege of serving in this extraordinary body; and that includes the new Senators we welcome today. For every Senator, whether serving in the 18th Century or the 21st, whether beginning one's first term, or--like Senator Byrd--one's eighth, the opening of a new Congress has always been a time of great hope. This Congress is no exception. We have important work ahead of us. We also have--within us-- everything we need to do that work wisely and well--if we choose to do so. Never before has America had a 50/50 Senate. Thirty-one State legislatures have dealt creatively with this challenge in the last 30 years, but no U.S. Senate has ever been divided exactly in half. An even split does not necessitate political gridlock--as these States have demonstrated--but does require bipartisanship. Senate Lott and I have had a number of discussions over the past weeks about how to organize this Congress so that it is both representative and productive. Our conversations have been friendly and constructive, and they are continuing. It is my hope that we will have a plan soon that our fellow Senators, and our fellow Americans, will agree is workable and fair. Another reason this Senate is historic is because it includes--I'm happy to note--a record number of women. Of the 11 new Senators who join us today, 4 are women. In all, there are now 13 women in this Senate--the most women ever to serve in the Senate at the same time. I am especially proud that 10 of those women are Democrats. In fact, there are more women Senators in our caucus this year than there were in the entire Senate last year. That is good news, for women, for families, and for this institution. There is one more reason this Senate is historic and that is, the extraordinary events that occurred between the election and today. This last Presidential election tested the patience of our people and the strength of our institutions like no other election in our lifetime. It was a difficult time for all Americans. But throughout those 5 long weeks of uncertainty--from election night until the Supreme Court decision--the American people remained confident that our system of government was strong enough to withstand the test of a contested Presidential election. They continued to believe that we could resolve the uncertainty, and move on. The challenge for this Congress, and this Senate, is to prove worthy of that faith. I am hopeful we can. Now, we have a President-elect. His administration is taking shape. In just over 2 weeks, George W. Bush will become our President. I speak for all my colleagues on this side of the aisle when I say we are ready to work in good faith with our Republican friends and with President-elect Bush and his administration to find bipartisan solutions to the challenges facing our Nation. As I have said before: Bipartisanship is not an option. If we are going to do the work here in the appropriate way, as we have been sent here to do, it is now a requirement. Unfortunately, not everyone understands or accepts that fact. A couple of weeks ago, I read a column by a well-known syndicated political pundit. The headline read: ``Beware the bipartisanship.'' The next day, there was another column. It had a different author, but the sentiment was the same. The headline on that one read: ``Bipartisan blather.'' The writer of the first column said bipartisanship amounted to ``betrayal'' of one's principles and supporters. The author of the second column was even more succinct and scathing. He called it, bipartisanship, an ``instrument of emasculation.'' Both of these men are good writers. They are on talk shows all the time. But they are not--as Teddy Roosevelt put it--``in the arena.'' They have not answered a call to public service, as we have. They didn't look people in the eyes and tell them: ``If you'll vote for me, I promise you I will do my level best in the Senate, to pay down the national debt, or create an affordable prescription drug benefit'', or do any of the other things we told people back home we would try to do. They are clever writers, but they did not take an oath to serve their Nation. We have. We need to use our cleverness to find the bipartisan solutions that evaded the last Congress. We need to show the American people that their faith in our system of government was not misplaced. And I believe we can. After reading those negative views of bipartisanship, I decided I needed a different perspective, so I reread all seven of the speeches from the leader's lecture series. For those who may not be familiar with it, the leader's lecture series is the most extraordinary lecture series in the city. I commend my friend, Senator Lott, whose idea it was. Shortly after he became majority leader, he decided that we ought to take advantage of the unusual--perhaps unprecedented--fact that so many former Senate leaders were still alive. As he put it, we ought to find a way to share with the Nation ``the wisdom and insights that can be gained only by a lifetime of service to free people.'' The lectures all take place in the majestic Old Senate Chamber, where Clay and Webster debated the great issues of their day. Over nearly 3 years, we have heard candid recollections and sage advice from seven remarkable leaders. As we begin this new Congress, I thought it might be instructive to listen again to what they had to say about what works in the Senate and what this Senate is all about. Mike Mansfield was majority leader from 1959 to 1969. He was also Ambassador to Japan under both parties. In the end, he said, the Senate can only function ``if there is a high degree of accommodation, mutual restraint, and a measure of courage--in spite of our weaknesses--in all of us.'' Howard Baker is a friend to many of us. He was the Senate majority leader during the Reagan administration and later served as President Reagan's chief of staff. He said that our ability to settle matters of national importance peacefully and honorably in this Chamber is one of the things that sets this Nation apart from so many others. He offered what he called a ``Baker's Dozen Rules for Senate Leadership.'' Among his rules: ``Have a genuine respect for differing points of view. Remember that every Senator is an individual, with individual needs, ambitions and political conditions. Also remember that even members of the opposition party are susceptible to persuasion and redemption on a surprising number of issues.'' The third speaker in the series was Robert C. Byrd, the only one of the seven with whom we still have the good fortune to work and learn from nearly every day. In his more than 40 years in this body, Senator Byrd has served as both majority and minority leader, as President pro tempore, and as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. In his typically wise lecture, he reminded us that our founders ``were pragmatists, rather than idealists,'' and that this Senate is itself the result of a compromise, the Great Compromise of July 16, 1787. He went on to say: ``Political polarization . . . is not now, and never has been, a good thing for the Senate. ``I am talking about politics when it becomes gamesmanship or mean- spirited, or when it becomes overly manipulative, simply to gain advantage. I am not talking about honestly held views or differing political positions. Those things enrich our system. ``Americans,'' he said, ``have always loved a good debate. And that is what I believe they wish for now: more substantive and stimulating debate, and less pure politics and imagery.'' I couldn't agree more. President Bush--the first President Bush--said two of the most important legislative accomplishments during his Presidency were, first, the Clean Air Act, which passed as a result of the extraordinary combined efforts of President Bush and George Mitchell; and second, the Americans with Disabilities Act, whose two strongest champions in this body were Bob Dole and Tom Harkin. He described both measures as ``landmark pieces of legislation that became a reality only after the White House and the Senate demonstrated bipartisanship and compromise.'' George Mitchell, my friend and immediate predecessor as Democratic leader, recalled the 3\1/2\ years he spent chairing the Northern Ireland peace negotiations after leaving the Senate. Frequently during those negotiations, he said, one party would plead with him to limit debate by the other parties. He never would, explaining: ``I got my training in the United States Senate.'' After 3\1/2\ years of talking, the parties reached an agreement to end a conflict that had gone on for hundreds of years. Senator Mitchell said he is often asked whether there are common lessons that can be drawn from his experience in this Senate and at the peace table in Belfast. Yes, he said. And among the most important is this: ``There is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended. Conflicts are created and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings.'' That is a lesson worth remembering as this new Congress begins. The sixth speaker in the leader's lecture series is also a friend to many of us--a man to whom I owe a personal debt of gratitude and for whom I have the greatest respect: Robert J. Dole. For 18 months, he and I served as leaders of our parties. That was 6 years ago. My party had just done the unthinkable. We had lost the majority in both the House and the Senate. Not only was Senator Dole now the majority leader--a position I had hoped to hold-- but it was also widely assumed that he would run against a Democratic President the next year. We could have had a terrible relationship. The fact that we did not was due to Senator Dole's love of this body and this Nation, and to his fundamental sense of fairness and decency. He served as Republican leader for 11 years--longer than any Republican in history. In all, he spent 10,000 days in this Senate. Of those 10,000 days, he said, a few stood out especially vividly. One day that stood out, he said, was when he invited former Senator George McGovern to join the congressional delegation attending the funeral of former First Lady Pat Nixon: (A) reporter asked George why he should honor the wife of a man with whom he had waged a bitter battle for the White House. Senator McGovern replied: ``You can't keep on campaigning forever.'' And George was right. It seems to me that is another lesson worth remembering as this Congress begins. The seventh speaker, former Vice President Dan Quayle, recalled as one of his proudest achievements in the Senate was working with Ted Kennedy to strengthen America's job-training programs in the early 1980s. He also said that people often ask him how being Vice President compares with being a Senator. He tells them: ``When you are Vice President, it is always impressed on you that you are No. 2 . . .'' But ``when you are a Senator, you are your own person. You have real autonomy. You make independent decisions . . . You are, in a way, an independent conscience in this institution. The best word to describe a Senator is: free. He or she is free to stand up and debate, free to speak his or her mind, free to act according to his or her best judgment. ``I believe you would concur that the Senate's best debates,'' he added, ``are bipartisan debates.'' These are seven remarkable leaders who achieved the highest positions in their parties--who know what it means to be in Teddy Roosevelt's ``arena.'' To them, bipartisanship is not emasculating. It is ennobling. It is not betraying the people who sent us here. It is the only hope we have of serving them. What is bipartisanship in the 107th Congress? We will need to find the right answer to that question if we are to serve our country well. We will not be able to quantify bipartisanship. Bipartisanship is not a mathematical formula. It is a spirit. It is a way of working together that tolerates open debate. It recognizes principled compromise. It means respecting the right of each Senator to speak his or her mind, and vote his or her conscience. And it means recognizing that we must do business differently after an election that gave us a 50-50 Senate and an almost evenly divided House. Above all, it means putting the national interest ahead of personal or party interests. This year, as I said, is a historic year for the Senate. This past year was also historic. it was the 200th anniversary of Congress' first meeting in this building. As part of the anniversary celebration, artists are restoring what are known as the Brumidi Corridors on the first floor of the Capitol's Senate wing. The Corridors were painted more than 150 years ago by an Italian immigrant named Constantino Brumidi, the same man who painted the ceiling in the Rotunda. He has been called ``America's Michelangelo''--and with good reason. He spent 25 years of his life painting scenes on the walls and ceilings of this Capitol. It was a labor of love for the country he chose as his home. I think I must have walked through those corridors 1,000 times over the years. Every time, I marvel at Brumidi's talents and their beauty. Over the years, Brumidi's original work was covered with layers of paint and varnish and dirt. Now, restorers are scraping those layers off. And what they are revealing beneath is an even more beautiful depiction of Brumidi's imagination over 100 years ago. I believe the same can be true of this Senate. Many times over the last several years, a layer of bitter partisanship has settled over this body. Even with that disadvantage, it has remained the greatest legislative body in the history of the world, and one in which I am proud to serve. But think how much more effective it could be if we could wash away the partisanship. At the first Leaders' Lecture, Senator Lott compared the Old Senate Chamber to this Chamber. He said that the Old Chamber was more intimate, and more beautiful. And he was right. But this Chamber has one profound distinction that makes all the difference. The Old Chamber celebrates our past. In this Chamber, it is our privilege--and our responsibility--to chart our Nation's future. I look forward to working with Senators on both sides of the aisle, and with our new President, to find honorable ways to do the work we have all been sent here to do. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I send a resolution to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I send to the desk en bloc 12 unanimous consent requests, and I ask for their immediate consideration en bloc, that the requests be agreed to en bloc, and the motion to reconsider the adoption of these requests be laid upon the table.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I send a resolution to the desk and again ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I send a concurrent resolution to the desk and now ask for its immediate consideration.