[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 7 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S80-S81]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             NEW DIRECTIONS

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, it is a good day to begin a new session. 
It is a good day to begin, of course, the new year with many challenges 
before Members. I think all Members have enjoyed the last several days 
with many folks visiting from home, particularly from Wyoming, because 
of the new Vice President. We had a great turnout. We were very pleased 
and are all very proud of our new Vice President.
  We have a great deal to do, as is always the case. I think 
particularly this year we are faced with seeking to accomplish many 
things. We talked about many of them last year but did not in every 
case succeed in getting them finished, so we are back at it again. 
Hopefully, we will see some new directions; we will see some new 
directions from the White House certainly. I was pleased with the 
President's talk on Inauguration Day and his defining the goals that he 
has set forth. Certainly during the next couple of weeks we will see a 
great deal more defining of that. Our first obligation, obviously, is 
to finish the nominations so this administration can be in place.
  We will see some new directions, and hopefully they will be the kinds 
of things upon which we can agree. I believe we will see more emphasis 
in the private sector, trying to encourage and cause things to happen 
that need to be done for the country in terms of individuals doing 
them, in terms of local governments doing them, as well as the 
contribution of the Federal Government.
  I think we will be inclined to move toward reduction in taxes. I 
certainly hope so. We have the highest tax rates now being paid of 
anytime since World War II. This is a time, of course, when there are 
lots of things we need to do. One of them is paying off the debt; 
another is certainly to be able to fund and finance those things that 
we want to strengthen, such as education, such as health care.
  On the other hand, the fact that we have a very healthy economy which 
has produced a surplus doesn't mean we necessarily need to grow the 
role of the Federal Government. On the contrary, I think each time we 
do something in the Federal Government, we ought to analyze the extent 
to which we are able to do that at the State or local level, or that it 
is more efficient to do it here simply because we have more money.
  That does not mean we need to increase the role of government. We 
will allow States and local governments to have more of a role in the 
decisionmaking process. We have talked about it already in education, 
certainly strength in education. We will look for more flexibility so 
local schools can use the dollars as they need them. There is a great 
deal of difference, often, in the needs between Wheatland, WY, and 
Philadelphia. We should have the flexibility to use those dollars 
locally as is appropriate.
  We will certainly be seeking to balance resource development. I live 
in a State that is 50 percent owned by the

[[Page S81]]

Federal Government. We are very heavy in resources--oil, gas, coal. We 
are the largest producer of coal in the United States. We need to be 
able to increase our efforts in the area of energy, at the same time 
protecting the environment. We can do that. We have to increase the 
opportunity for access to things such as Yellowstone Park and at the 
same time keep the principle of the parks there, to protect the 
resource. We can do those things with some more flexibility, I believe.
  Obviously, we need to strengthen the military. We have had a time, a 
peaceful time, with a tendency to not emphasize the military as much as 
I think we should. Our best opportunity for peace in the future is to 
have a strong military and to keep it that way, to have national 
preparedness. Certainly we need to do that.

  We need more emphasis on opportunity for everyone to do well in this 
country. Opportunity is what we need to seek.
  We need to strengthen the economy. Hopefully in some of our tax 
activities we can leave more dollars in the private sector, to be 
invested to create jobs. These are the things I think will be paramount 
for us.
  Will there be differences in view? Of course. I hope we have moved to 
a situation where we will be less partisan in our approaches, where we 
recognize there finally has to be a solution. But will we agree on 
everything? Of course not. We have different ideas. We represent 
different areas of the country. But in large we represent the United 
States and we need to understand that there are things we need to 
accomplish.
  I think there will be agreement on general topics such as education, 
health care, and military. At the same time, of course, there will be 
disagreements on the details of how those things are implemented--but 
that is OK. That is the system. We all have different views. We all 
have different reasons to be putting forward our views. They are 
legitimate. And the system does work.
  I suspect we will certainly be looking at education, we will be 
looking at strengthening the military, we will be looking at Social 
Security to ensure young people paying into their first job will have 
the opportunity to reap benefits 40 years from now. I think that is our 
obligation.
  Energy has been a problem for some time, but it was not recognized, 
of course, until we started having blackouts in California and started 
having increases in gasoline and natural gas prices. Now, it is a 
problem that more people recognize as a problem.
  I hope in our tax relief efforts we also have some tax simplification 
so we do not have to go through all these things with every little tax 
reduction being oriented at affecting behavior. That really is not the 
purpose of taxes. Taxes are to raise the amount of revenues necessary 
to conduct the Government, not necessarily to direct everyone's 
behavior.
  Education is a legitimate concern. The first responsibility, of 
course, for education is that of the States and local governments. We 
want to keep it that way. The Federal Government's contribution is 
about 7 percent of the total expenditures. So we need to assist and to 
make sure there are opportunities available for all children 
everywhere, but we need to have local control and we need to have 
flexibility. And, of course, we need accountability, not only for the 
Federal Government's contribution but to all taxpayers to ensure those 
dollars are being used to produce the kind of product each of us wants.
  Sometimes we find ourselves with an excessive amount of paperwork. I 
hear about it quite often since my wife is a special education teacher 
and spends a good deal of her time on paperwork, which detracts a 
little from her other work.
  I believe a powerful military is our best hope for the future. We 
need modern equipment. We also need to reorganize the military. As 
times change, things are different than they were 50 years ago. Of 
course when you have no draft in place, it is voluntarily, we need to 
make it attractive, not only for people to come but hopefully for 
people to stay. What we have now is people come to the military, they 
are trained to fly airplanes or be mechanics or whatever but then leave 
to go to more attractive places in the private sector. We will need to 
go to that. I think one of the alternatives is to allow young people to 
have individual accounts that can be invested in the private sector to 
create a much higher return to ensure there will be benefits. I 
understand that is not something everybody agrees to. Certainly we all 
agree we should be setting aside those dollars that come in for Social 
Security for Social Security and not spend them on other things. So I 
am sure we can do a great deal there.
  In energy, we have gone a long time without a real energy policy, a 
policy that will direct where the resources go, how we encourage 
production of domestic resources and not allow ourselves to become a 
total captive of OPEC and foreign nations. That is not only oil and 
gas, but we have various ways of producing energy, of course, hydro, 
wind, and nuclear--things that can be used. With a policy of that kind, 
certainly we can do some things.
  We are also now looking at some short-term problems. California has a 
real problem. Regardless of how they got there, they have one, and 
there is some peeling off of that in other places. So hopefully we will 
have a longer term policy in addition to that and certainly be able to 
do something on the short term.
  So I think we have a great opportunity as always to serve this 
country. That is why we are here. I hope we can agree upon the role of 
the Federal Government and how we strengthen that and how we finance 
that and how we will be able to leave people's money in their hands. 
How we do that will turn a lot on how we work together here and work 
with the administration during these next at least 2 years.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, let me congratulate the Presiding Officer, 
my new colleague from the State of Nebraska, for his eloquence and 
leadership and his direction as he presides over this body. I want him 
to know--and I think I speak on behalf of all of us--we appreciate his 
being here and presiding.
  (The remarks of Mr. Hagel pertaining to introduction of S. 22 are 
located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and 
Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence 
of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. The Senate is in morning business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Senators have 10 minutes.

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