[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6-S8]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WORKING TOGETHER FOR AMERICAN SECURITY

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Daschle for his 
opening statement. I see a lot in his remarks that should give us 
encouragement and hope that we can come together and achieve things 
that need to be done this year in the Congress for the American people. 
Regardless of party, regardless of past difficulties, we should try to 
find a way to work together.
  There's a common word between what Senator Daschle said and what I 
will be saying, if you look at what we have in our remarks and the 
thrust of those remarks. That word is ``security.'' We need to pay 
close attention this year more than ever to that issue, that word. We 
need strong national security. We need to make sure that our men and 
women have the tools, the weapons, whatever they need to deal with the 
threat of terrorism and with threatened democracy wherever we may find 
it in the world. We also need to have personal security for our people 
here at home.
  Last year brought so many startling things to our attention. Never 
before had we been attacked here at home like we were last year. And 
so, this year working on homeland security, working on personal 
security, we have to find a way to protect American people. Surely 
that's one of the obligations that we have as a Congress, to at least 
be safe and secure here at home.
  The only way we can look after our national security and personal 
security is to have economic security. We've got to make sure that 
America is strong, that our economy is growing, that jobs are being 
created, that Americans have the opportunity to get a job, a good 
paying job, and to keep that job. And when they have a problem, on a 
temporary basis, that there's something there for them, that there will 
be unemployment compensation. But we don't want them just to have a 
check for tomorrow.
  We want a job for the future. Both of them are important. But we've 
got to look at economic security this year. We've got to take some 
actions in the Congress, by restraint, perhaps, by encouragement in 
other ways, so that we can have a stimulus to the economy, so there is 
some commonality in the themes of what's been said here today.
  I think we've gotten off to a good start this morning. The President 
called the bipartisan, bicameral congressional leadership to the White 
house, and we met for 35 minutes, started right on time, ended right on 
time. He talked to us about what's happening around the world, our 
threats abroad and at home and what we needed to do with the economy. 
He listened to us. He extended a hand of cooperation. I believe that 
this President has changed the tone in Washington. He has tried to work 
with the Congress. We have produced a bipartisan vote, House and 
Senate, for major tax reform and tax relief for the American people 
last year. We did come together on the most fundamental education 
reform in 35 years. A lot of people thought the Thursday before we got 
the conference agreement it couldn't happen, but it did happen. And we 
came together--Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, 
President Bush. We got an agreement the America people liked.
  I think that President Bush is going to be persistent in calling on 
us to do our work, to work through the procedure, the process. But to 
do our work, to produce the things we need for our country.

  Last year we had a tremendous period of cooperation and 
bipartisanship. And then we kind of lost it there at the end. Maybe--
maybe we were tired. The issues were different. Maybe we got to 
thinking about politics again. We kind of lost our ability to come 
together on an economic stimulus package. We didn't produce an energy 
bill. We didn't do trade. We didn't do agriculture. And we left a lot 
of nominations on the calendar. That was last year.
  Now let's do it. Let's get this job done. And each one of those--
those issues--were mentioned by Senator Daschle in his remarks, today.
  Right now we're working to see if we can come up with some substance 
and a process and a procedure so that we can, in fact, consider and 
hopefully get a result on the economic security package, and we're 
working on what the substance might be and what the procedures may be. 
Right now we're working in a bipartisan way with three Senators, 
McConnell, Dodd, Bond, and others--Senator Dodd as chairman of the 
Rules Committee. They've come together on election reform.
  Now, is it perfect? Would we all like it just like it is? Not 
necessarily. Will some amendments be offered? Surely. But there's a 
case where when it looked like it was going to be a partisan shootout, 
they've come together. And so this afternoon we're working to see if we 
can identify amendments and come up with a procedure to do this bill, 
perhaps in short order. Boy, wouldn't that stun people? The House has 
acted. Let's act in the Senate. Let's do it in a bipartisan way.
  So, I'm encouraged. It is a new year. We have a window of 
opportunity. The President is doing his part. We're working to see if 
we can move some of these things that have stalled out. We should do 
that, and I will do all I can to try to encourage that and foster that. 
It'll take, again, working together and a little trust here and there, 
but there is a period here when we can accomplish, I think, a good deal 
for the country.
  As we look back on last year and the horrors of September, we've been 
doing a lot. We've come together. I think we've changed. We changed for 
a while last year. Could we build on that attitude this year?
  You know, the American people's attitude toward the Congress in terms 
of a favorable rating went up to the highest its ever been. Why was 
that?
  It's because the American people saw us working together and doing 
what ought to be done. Rising above party. Now, over the last couple of 
months, those numbers have started coming back down. I would like to 
drive them back up. When you talk pure politics I've been on both 
sides. I've been in the majority and the minority. I've been in 
situations where we gained seats, held our own, lost seats. But I've 
figured out something. When we do our work, when we produce results, if 
you're in a leadership position, it pays positive dividends. People 
like it when they see us doing what we ought to be doing.
  So we should look at the courage and the sacrifice of those who gave 
their lives last year, the families that have endured a terrible time 
here over the past four months--the courage of the firefighters, the 
policemen, the calm of Mayor Giuliani. Now there's a guy who rose above 
politics. I saw people cheering for him, chanting his name when they 
could have been chanting Senator Daschle's and mine. No, they were 
chanting Giuliani when we went to see Ground Zero. He rose to the 
occasion. When we look at the loyal support from overseas, the 
leadership of the President, when we look at how we did come together, 
then I think we can and should be able to learn from that and rise 
above just the normal things we get into here.

  Our soldiers are fighting overseas right now. They're fighting for 
freedom. They're counting on us to give them the help they need. It 
would help if we could show this is a different time and a different 
place and we all learn something from September.
  Next Tuesday, President Bush is going to deliver his State of the 
Union Address. I think the Congress will be wanting to hear what his 
agenda is, will listen very carefully to it. I believe

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he'll call for the country and the American people to come together and 
support him and follow him. Yes, there's a legislative process and this 
very morning he said, I think we need a stimulus package. I understand 
the Senate has got a unique set of rules. You've got to deal with the 
process. You deal with the process but let's get this job done. He'll 
give us an agenda, and I believe the American people and the majority 
of the Senate of both parties, a large number in the Senate, will 
support what he wants to do in economic security, energy security, 
national security. I do think that we need to pay attention to the 
economy. There are signs that, well, yes, maybe it's improving but 
we're not quite sure exactly if it's improving enough. We see States 
struggling with their budgets.
  We had a recession coming on going back to last March. It was clearly 
exacerbated by September 11. Are there some things we could do to at 
least sort of fill the interim here to help those who are unemployed 
but also to give incentive to small businessmen and women to create 
some more jobs, to have the economy grow?
  We may not need it, but what if we do? What if we say let's wait and 
see and we wake up 6 months, 9 months, a year from now and say oh, my 
goodness this recession is not ending like it should? We can give some 
incentives that would be positive. I think we ought to try and find a 
way to do it. There are going to be people who try and find a way to do 
nothing. We can have gridlock. I don't want that. I think we ought to 
find a way to get a result to produce an economic stimulus package that 
is stimulative, not one that raises taxes, not one that's just more 
spending but one that actually will contribute to the creation of jobs.
  So I think that's something we should focus on here in the next few 
days. And I'm willing to work with Senator Daschle and see if we can do 
that.
  As a part of our economic security, we need a trade bill. I can 
understand that there will be features of the trade debate that need to 
be discussed. There will be amendments. But we passed a bill out of the 
Finance Committee 6 weeks ago or so on a large bipartisan vote. I voted 
for it. Senator Daschle voted for it. Let's get it up. Let's get it 
passed. Let's get to the President the authority he needs to expand the 
opportunity for trade. I think it will help our farmers. I think it 
will help out small businessmen and women. I think it will help our 
neighbors.
  When I look to Central and South America, I see millions upon 
millions of people that could benefit from the trade, the products, the 
commodities that we could provide them. Let's pursue that. That would 
help our farmers. We need a farm bill, no question about it.
  I was very unhappy with the way we ended on the farm bill. Maybe we 
had to do that. Maybe we had to wring out the politics a little bit so 
we can then really produce a farm bill. I would call upon Senator 
Harkin and the leaders on both sides of the aisle to see if we can find 
a way to improve the bill that's pending, get a bipartisan bill, but 
get it into conference and get something that hopefully won't take too 
long, that hopefully will not hurt agriculture in the future, that the 
President can sign so that our men and women in the businesses and all 
the people who depend on agriculture--including the consumer--some 
certainty as what they could expect. Again it won't be perfect but just 
the knowledge that it's coming and what they'll be able to do would be 
very positive.

  I've been complaining about the energy situation for years. I really 
don't understand why in America we can't have a national energy policy. 
I don't understand why we are dependent for 59.6 percent of our energy 
needs on foreign oil.
  Some people say, oh, you guys, all you want is just more opportunity 
to drill. That's not so. I do think we could get more oil of our own. 
I'm from an area where there's a lot of natural gas--clean--and I think 
it can be made accessible to the American people if we can get it out 
of the ground or from under the gulf or wherever it may be and develop 
a transmission or grid system to get it where it needs to be. I think 
we need to use coal.
  I think we ought to pursue clean coal technology. I think we ought to 
promote conservation, encourage alternative fuels. I don't think we 
ought to believe that we're really going to conserve ourselves out of 
the need for energy. We're going to need it. And even though there may 
be tremendous opportunities technologically for the future and we 
should pursue those, I don't think that we're going to be able to 
produce 20 percent or 25 percent of our energy needs from alternative 
fuels or things that we don't now have for years. Let's be realistic 
but let's do it.
  We went through the fiasco in the late 1970s of gas lines. We passed 
legislation. We tried to use alternative and find alternative fuels. A 
lot of them didn't work out. I was willing to try some of them. As I 
recall, coal gasification was one. I don't know if that ever quite 
worked. Maybe we've learned more since then and we can go into that 
area. But let's just do it. The day is coming when our energy needs are 
going to be a huge problem. It's going to be a national security 
problem, an economic problem. If just one oil producing country had a 
problem and cut us off, 25 percent of the world's oil needs would 
disappear. I don't like that. I'm looking for alternatives.
  We've got a lot of products in Mississippi we could use, maybe in a 
different way like wood chips. We've got derivatives from cotton 
products. If there's some way we can burn that or convert it as a form 
of power, we ought to try it. I think we should go forwards.
  Senator Daschle has committed to me and to the American people that 
we're going to go to this bill in early February, and we should not let 
it be taken down by a filibuster one side or the other. Let's get it 
done. We'll find a way to do it, I believe.
  Nothing will be more important this year than what we do in national 
security defense. The President is going to ask for increased funds. I 
think he's going to be in a mood to introduce reform of our defense 
capabilities. I think that's needed. We need to continue to have 
multinational support.
  When I look at the support we have gotten from countries all around 
the world--Britain, Australia, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Russia, 
Canada, Turkey, Jordan, Poland, Japan, and countries we never before 
could have counted as allies. Look at what has happened with Russia. 
Who would have believed a year ago we would be doing the things we're 
doing with Russia today. Very few people.
  But we still have a lot of challenges there. And we see opportunities 
with other countries. Is there some hope in some of those countries 
that have harbored terrorists but now are saying maybe we don't want to 
do that anymore. The President has been willing to step up and say 
mutual assured destruction is a relic of the past. Europeans say, oh, 
my goodness, he can't say that. What will the Russians say. They say we 
don't agree but we understand. We will work with America. America is 
not our enemy anymore. That's an incredible development.

  So I think this is going to be an area that's going to take a lot of 
time and thought from all of us. And there will be nothing more 
important.
  I think we should build on what we did in education. We haven't yet 
succeeded in reaching a situation where we'll leave no child behind. We 
need to go back and look at other education reform.
  I think the Disabilities and Education Act will require reforming. I 
think the system is being abused by many people who should not be on 
the program and therefore is taking away from others who do need 
additional help. We can work through that.
  I call on Senator Daschle and the Democrats to work with us on these 
nominations. This President is entitled to his nominees unless there's 
a huge problem. We've got nominees on the calendar here that got held 
up for a variety of reasons. We had Senators who were concerned about 
certain bills, so they objected to moving nominations. But we don't 
have an Ambassador to the Philippines. We have a nominee on the 
calendar. It's been reported out of the committee. We've got troops 
going into the Philippines. We don't have an Ambassador.
  The position of the person who is in charge of nuclear safety is 
empty, yet the nominee is on the calendar. There's 50 such nominations 
on the Senate calendar. Let's try again. Let's move

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those nominees, particularly for the President's administration. It is 
his administration. Surely Assistant Secretary, Solicitor's General, 
Inspector's General, Ambassadors should be confirmed. And the judges, 
I'm not going to go through the litany here.
  The fact is we've got a lot of people who are not being treated 
fairly. I don't understand why Miguel Estrada has not been moved. He's 
an immigrant from Honduras. He's well educated and is an outstanding 
attorney but hasn't even had a hearing. We ought to move not only the 
district judges but the circuit judges. Let's move judicial nominees if 
there are not problems. Let's pick up the speed. I know the President 
would appreciate that. The President deserves that. We can do better.
  There will be those we want to fight over. We'll have a vote on them. 
We'll have a debate on them, but let's at least do it. My impression is 
we have about 50 on the calendar and about a hundred in committees--150 
judges and administration officials. I think we need to go back and 
take a deep breath and get that job done.
  From my discussions with this President, I can tell you: He is as 
determined to pull this country out of this economic recession as he 
has been to put an end to the terrorist threat.
  It was 100 years ago that President Teddy Roosevelt uttered that quip 
we all remember: ``Speak softly and carry a big stick.''
  One thing I have found out about President Bush is that he does speak 
softly, but he carries a heavy agenda because the needs of our country 
are great and the expectations of the American people are great. But 
our opportunities for accomplishment are great, too. And frankly, our 
chances as a government institution are great at showing the American 
people how men and women of good will can meet halfway and then when 
they disagree, take a fair vote to see whose argument will prevail, 
complete their work on that matter, and move on to the next priority. 
That's all we on the Republican side of the aisle can ask.
  Let's begin today. Let's get some agreements on how we'll proceed on 
these to important bills. Let's continue next week when we hear the 
President's State of the Union Address. Let's see how much we can do in 
the next 3 months. I believe that American people want that. And I know 
they would appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from 
Connecticut.

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