[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15957-S15958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 108TH CONGRESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as the first session of the 108th 
Congress draws to a close, the score of accomplishments of this Senate 
comes into clearer view. By any historical comparison, this Senate's 
record of accomplishments is remarkable. But when one considers the 
slender majority that this party holds in the Senate, and the numerous 
unforeseen challenges that have risen, the record of accomplishments is 
truly extraordinary.
  Our efforts, the efforts of this Senate in the first session of the 
108th Congress, have improved the security of America and the lives of 
all Americans in significant ways.
  While the homeland and national security of America has been 
strengthened, the economic and retirement security of all Americans has 
also dramatically improved.
  America's security has benefited from the first funding of the 
Department of Homeland Security, the confirmation of the first 
Secretary of Homeland Security, full funding of the war on terrorism, 
passage of a modern-day Marshall plan for Iraq, and passage of both the 
Defense authorization and appropriations bills.
  The security of the American people in their work and their 
retirement has dramatically improved as well. The economic growth 
package passed earlier this year has pushed the economy to the highest 
quarterly growth rate in almost 20 years, while the promise of 
prescription drugs for our seniors on Medicare, thwarted for 38 long 
years, is just hours--just hours--away from becoming the law of the 
land with the stroke of the President's pen.
  These major legislative victories have been as demanding as they have 
been time consuming. Yet that did not stop the majority leader from 
getting the work of the people done.
  In an extraordinarily tenacious manner that should make all 
Tennesseans proud, our leader, Bill Frist, confronted not just the 
challenges of last year's business but also the present demands of the 
war on terrorism.
  As I think back on the first year of Senator Frist's position as our 
leader, I think we can all feel extraordinarily proud of his many 
accomplishments in holding this somewhat fractious body together in 
order to advance the agenda.
  The Senate, as we all know from working here, and as many Americans 
know from studying the history books, was basically constructed not to 
function very well or certainly not very quickly. At one time or 
another, virtually every Senator takes advantage of that opportunity. 
Then you add on top of that the fact that the American people dealt a 
very narrow majority to the majority party.
  Many thought at the beginning of the year the prospect of very much 
success was quite limited indeed. But as you look back over the year, 
under Senator Frist's extraordinary leadership, we have been able to 
make enormous progress for the American people.
  It all began back in January, when we had to pass 11 appropriations 
bills, uncompleted from the previous year. Under Senator Frist's 
leadership, we completed the emergency wartime supplemental 
appropriations bill. He brought to a successful conclusion the fires 
and NASA disaster supplemental appropriation. Then he pulled together 
the conference to pass a very tough Iraq reconstruction supplemental 
appropriations bill--all of this in the past year.
  Even though, as of today, it is not exactly clear when our remaining 
appropriations bills will be approved, what we can say is this: That 
under Senator Frist's leadership, all but 1 of the 13 appropriations 
bills have gone through the Senate. Six bills are the law of the land 
and the remaining seven could be just hours away from being 
successfully concluded, or might be concluded in a couple of weeks. 
But, in any event, they are largely completed and are awaiting the 
desire of the Senate to pass this omnibus report and move it along.
  When that happens, the Senate will have passed 27 normal and 
supplemental appropriations bills into law--not a bad year's work.
  With this record on appropriations, with passage of the economic 
growth package, and with passage of the Medicare prescription drug 
bill, expecting anything more from this Senate would not be reasonable. 
But in fact much more has been delivered to the American people by this 
Senate under the leadership of Senator Bill Frist. We have banned the 
horrific practice of partial-birth abortion. We have passed the Do Not 
Call Registry at the Federal Trade Commission. We provided tax relief 
to military families. We passed the Healthy Forests Act to stop the 
catastrophic wildfires we have witnessed raging across the western 
lands. I might say, the occupant of the chair, the Senator from Idaho, 
was right in the middle of that debate from the beginning to the end, 
helping steer it to a successful conclusion. I commend him for his 
extraordinary work on the Healthy Forests proposal.
  We have enacted free trade agreements with Chile and with Singapore. 
The Senate has passed the Federal Aviation Administration 
reauthorization to revitalize an air transport industry suffering from 
the effects of the terrorist attack of 9/11. We pushed a comprehensive 
Energy bill to within two votes of breaking a filibuster.
  One thing we can say today: This is only the end of the first 
session. We have a second session of the 108th to go. We have not given 
up on the prospect of getting an Energy bill. We are going to have a 
very cold winter. We have the potential for blackouts, all kinds of 
problems that could be dealt with substantially by the passage of this 
Energy bill. I believe there will be two additional Senators who will 
see their way to supporting an Energy bill something like the one we 
currently have before us in order to prevent America from having 
another experience like we had last summer with the blackout.
  After more than a decade of repression, the Senate has passed the 
Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act. In addition, we secured resources to 
improve our Nation's elections systems and, hopefully, we will finish 
the job through the omnibus appropriations bill currently being 
negotiated. We made a commitment to our States to be a partner in this 
endeavor, and we took the first step to honor that commitment.
  I want to linger a moment on this whole election reform issue. 
Senator

[[Page S15958]]

Chris Dodd of Connecticut deserves an enormous amount of credit, as 
does Senator Kit Bond of Missouri. The three of us worked long and hard 
to produce an election reform bill, the theme of which was to make it 
easier to vote and tougher to cheat. There is, in the context of 
passing the final omnibus, an additional billion dollars going out to 
the States to guarantee that we have the cleanest and the most 
efficient election in American history next November of 2004.
  That money must get out the door, and that is another reason we need 
to wrap up this omnibus appropriation at the earliest possible moment. 
States and localities all over America are waiting so they can 
implement this mandate, which is a funded mandate--not an unfunded 
mandate, a funded mandate--only when the money gets to the States. The 
sooner we pass the omnibus, the sooner that will happen, and the more 
likely it is that we will have the most honest, the most efficiently 
conducted election in American history next November of 2004.

  Numerous other legislative accomplishments have been reached during 
this session. Specifically, the Senate has passed the President's 
faith-based initiative. We have funded the efforts to eradicate the 
scourge of global AIDS. We acted to guard our children against 
abduction and exploitation by passing the PROTECT Act. We improved 
safeguards from foreign terrorists by enacting the FISA bill. We 
expanded NATO to include almost all of the former Warsaw Pact 
countries. We also passed a significant arms reduction treaty with our 
former enemy, turned ally, Russia. We took steps to bridge the digital 
divide by providing needed funds to historically Black colleges.
  We awarded a congressional gold medal to U.K. Prime Minister Tony 
Blair and affirmed the constitutionality of using the term ``under 
God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance.
  We have a solemn responsibility to the American people to improve 
their lives, to protect their homeland, and build a future filled with 
hope and opportunity. This year, we have made excellent progress in 
fulfilling our obligations to the American people. Next year, it is our 
hope and intention to do even more.
  Let me say in closing, again, how much I admire and how much all of 
us appreciate the extraordinary leadership of our majority leader, 
Senator Frist. He has been very skillful in advancing our legislative 
agenda in a body which is designed to thwart almost every initiative. 
He has done it with a very narrow majority. So as we wrap up the first 
session, plaudits to the leader, to all of our colleagues, not only on 
the Republican side but throughout the Senate, who have worked 
extraordinarily hard this year.
  We had 459 votes this year. We were doing a lot of voting on a lot of 
issues during the course of the year. In fact, we had more votes in the 
Senate this year than any time since 1995, the first year of the 
Contract with America. We had a lot of very close votes, a lot of 
dramatic experiences in the Senate.
  Back during the budget, we had three votes on which the Vice 
President had to break the tie in the chair. So for those who were 
interested in drama and who typically think of the Senate as a place 
where you to go watch paint peel, there was a good deal of excitement 
this year at various intervals in our legislative consideration.
  I hope all Members will enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas 
with their families and come back to Washington refreshed to tackle the 
agenda that remains in the second session of the 108th Congress.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chafee). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________