[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 89 (Thursday, June 24, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7413-S7415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       POLITICS OF COMMON GROUND

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I want to talk, if I can, about another 
matter to which I have given a great deal of thought. I would like to 
share some thoughts with my colleagues on it this afternoon.
  I would like to begin by referencing a trip I took last weekend. I 
traveled to Kuwait, Jordan, and Iraq with Senators Biden and Graham. We 
went to Baghdad to talk with coalition and Iraqi leaders as they 
prepare for the historic transfer of sovereignty to Iraq 6 days from 
today. We went to thank our troops who are making enormous sacrifices, 
braving extraordinary risks every minute of the day. We wanted to 
assure them they have the support and respect of every Member of the 
Senate and all Americans.
  Our trip was especially productive because of the experiences and 
insights of the Senators with whom I traveled. Senator Joe Biden, the 
ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been a 
leading voice in the Senate on foreign policy issues for now almost a 
quarter century.
  Senator Lindsey Graham has quickly established himself as one of the 
most authoritative and independent voices on the Senate Armed Services 
Committee. Senator Graham, as we all know, is a colonel and a Reserve 
judge in the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. He and I have been 
working together for more than a year to improve health care benefits 
to National Guard members and their families. I know from working with 
him on the TRICARE bill that he is fiercely committed to American 
troops and American veterans.
  Lindsey Graham is a proud Republican. Joe Biden and I are proud 
Democrats. But we are all, first and foremost, proud Americans. We are 
all committed to the safety of our troops. We all want the Iraqi people 
to succeed in building a stable, free, and pluralistic Iraq. It is in 
their interest, but it is also in America's interest and, I would 
argue, the world's interest.
  Our trip to Iraq reminded me again how much this Senate and the 
American people benefit when we are able to focus on the problems that 
unite us.
  No one who saw it will ever forget the cloudless, deep blue sky on 
the morning of September 11. Pilots have a term for visibility 
conditions on days like that--they call it ``severe clear.''
  We all saw it clearly that day. We saw horrific acts of inhumanity, 
but we also saw, with equal clarity, countless acts of nobility and 
compassion. We saw beyond the labels of race, income, gender, and the 
other distinctions that too often divide us.
  We are more alike than we are different. All Americans want to live 
in a world that is safe and secure and just. Whether we're Republicans 
or Democrats, or don't care one whit about politics, all Americans want 
to be able to earn enough to care for our families' basic needs. After 
a lifetime of working hard, all Americans want to be able to retire 
with dignity and security. All Americans need affordable health care. 
All Americans want to be able to send their children to good schools; 
that is not simply a Democratic or Republican aspiration, it is a 
necessity for our children's future and the economic, political, and 
social well-being of our Nation.
  These are dangerous and challenging times, but Americans have faced 
danger and challenges before, and we must always remember that we have 
emerged stronger when we have faced those challenges together. We are 
stronger together than separately.
  This afternoon, I want to talk about how I believe the Members of the 
Senate can work together more constructively to solve the big 
challenges facing our country today.
  The result of all-or-nothing politics is too often nothing. We owe 
the American people better than that.
  I believe in what I like to call the Politics of Common Ground. 
Practicing the Politics of Common Ground does not mean betraying one's 
principles. We can bend on details without abandoning our basic 
beliefs. The Politics of Common Ground is pragmatic, not dogmatic. It 
recognizes there can be different ways to reach the same goal. It puts 
our common interests ahead of personal or partisan interests. Instead 
of narrow ideological victories, the politics of common ground seeks 
broad, principled compromise.

  I recognize some people may think this timing is strange, to talk 
about searching for common ground now in the midst of campaign season. 
But I actually believe it is exactly the right time.
  The truth is, no one knows which party will control the Senate next 
year, or the House, or the White House, so neither party can be accused 
of embracing these ideas for partisan advantage.
  The Politics of Common Ground rests on four fundamental commitments. 
Obviously it takes at least two to seek common ground. Neither party 
can make these principles work alone. If Democrats hold the majority in 
the next Senate, these are the four fundamental principles by which we 
would seek to govern:
  First, deal in good faith with the executive branch, regardless of 
which party holds the majority.
  Second, preserve and fulfill the historical role of the Senate 
regarding budgetary responsibilities, oversight, and advice and consent 
on nominees, regardless of which party holds the majority.
  Third, respect the rights of the minority and seek to work in good 
faith with them.
  Fourth, end the cycle of partisan retaliation.
  This week marks the 40th anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Civil 
Rights Act, one of the greatest common ground victories in our Nation's 
history.
  It was a Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson, who signed the Civil

[[Page S7414]]

Rights Act, but it was a courageous Republican leader, Senator Everett 
Dirksen, who provided the political leadership that finally ended the 
years of opposition and put the civil rights bill on the President's 
desk.
  There are some today who believe the only way to move America forward 
is to ignore or change the rules of the Senate. What their arguments 
fail to recognize is the Founding Fathers deliberately designed this 
Senate to protect the rights of the minority. They did so because they 
understood that the only way to make just and lasting change in a 
democracy is to first build broad support for it. They also understood, 
as Everett Dirksen said in calling for the vote on the Civil Rights 
Act, that nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.
  Finding common ground requires that we follow the rules of the 
Senate, not ignore or rewrite them.
  It requires that all Senators--whether they are in the majority or 
minority--be treated fairly. That means safeguarding the rights of 
every Senator. It means establishing fair representation on all Senate 
committees. And it means observing the traditional procedures for 
conference committees concerning the appointment of conferees, and the 
right of all conferees to participate fully in all meetings. A closed 
meeting that is a conference committee in name only is no place to look 
for common ground.

  Finding common ground also means listening to each other.
  Someone who was a good friend to many of us, Senator Pat Moynihan, 
used to blame television for what he saw as a decline in cross-party 
cooperation in the Senate. Before TV, he said, Senators from both 
parties used to spend their evenings talking to each other. It helped 
to see things from the other person's perspective.
  I would like to see the Senate create more opportunities to increase 
cross-party understanding.
  Next year, I would like to see the Senate hold bipartisan leadership 
meetings every 2 months at least, and bipartisan joint caucus meetings 
at least every quarter.
  I would like to see us hold periodic, bipartisan policy forums for 
all Senators in the Old Senate Chamber, where the Missouri Compromise 
and other historic agreements were reached.
  When Senator Lott was majority leader, he established the Leaders 
Lecture Series to draw on the wisdom of former Senate leaders, from 
Mike Mansfield and Senator Byrd to Robert Dole and George Herbert 
Walker Bush.
  The Leaders Lecture Series represents one of the most insightful 
seminars ever taught on common ground politics.
  I would like to see us build on that success next year by inviting 
former Senate leaders to a summit where they can share their ideas with 
us, and with each other.
  Senators Dorgan and Kyl had a good idea recently to hold occasional, 
thoughtful, Lincoln-Douglas style debates here on the Senate floor on 
the most important issues of the day. Let us build on those debates 
next year.
  President Reagan was as ideological a President as any of us have 
ever seen. But he understood that political adversaries don't have to 
be enemies.
  He and Tip O'Neill had a rule: after 6 o'clock, they were always 
friends.
  Something as simple as just getting our families together once in a 
while for a barbecue or a potluck supper--or even choosing an annual 
charity to which all Senators could contribute--could help Senators 
find common ground, I think, and may strengthen the bonds of friendship 
and trust between our two parties.
  In addition, I would like to see the Senate reward the search for 
common ground solutions by giving special consideration to bills with 
strong bipartisan co-sponsorship.
  There are questions of enormous consequence facing our Nation today--
questions that will define what kind of Nation we are, and what sort of 
future we will leave for our children.
  How de we balance freedom and security in a post-September 11 world?
  How do we keep the good jobs we have and create more of them in a 
global economy?
  How do we craft a national budget that reflects our national values?
  How can we reduce our over-reliance on imported oil so the fate of 
our Nation is not tied so directly to the stability of some of the most 
dangerous and volatile places on Earth?
  Last year, I got a note from a father in South Dakota who had lost a 
good-paying job as a machinist 2 years earlier when his employer moved 
out of state. He was working as a handyman, earning a fraction of his 
old income. The only health insurance he and his wife could afford had 
such a high deductible that they tried never to use it. He hadn't seen 
a doctor in 15 years or a dentist in 10 years. He felt ashamed. The 
worst part, he said, was having to tell his children, when they got 
sick, that there was no money for a doctor.
  Because Republicans and Democrats in Congress had the courage to 
practice the Politics of Common Ground 7 years ago, I was able to tell 
that father about the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  Today, if his children are sick, he takes them to the doctor. As he 
puts it, ``I show the people in the doctor's office that card and I'm 
treated like a human being. It's the greatest thing in the world.''
  Across America today, the CHIP program is providing health insurance 
for nearly 4 million children from low-income families, and peace of 
mind for their parents. More than 9,300 children in South Dakota have 
health coverage through CHIP.
  How can we now build on this common ground success? How do we make 
health care more affordable so that exploding health care costs don't 
break family budgets and eat up corporate profits that could be better 
used to create new jobs and invest in new plants and equipment?
  We can chose to shrug our shoulders and say that the divisions in 
Congress simply reflect the increasing polarization in our society--and 
let it go at that. But I believe we have a higher responsibility. If 
society is divided, it is the responsibility of leaders to try to 
bridge the divide, not simply mirror or exploit it.
  The Politics of Common Ground is the Politics of Common Good. It is 
more than a political challenge; it is a moral imperative.
  Last weekend in Iraq, Senators Biden and Graham and I met with 
members of the new Iraqi government, with Paul Bremer, the head of the 
Coalition Provisional Authority, and with senior military leaders. They 
were all impressive.
  But the people who inspired me most were the soldiers.
  We were helped by National Guard members from Minnesota, Kansas, 
Illinois and Texas, and we met troops from Mississippi, South Carolina, 
Delaware and other states. In fact, we met extraordinary people from 
almost every state. Every one of them deserves our profound 
appreciation.
  I was especially moved by the dozens of South Dakotans I met.
  One of those South Dakotans is a member of the South Dakota National 
Guard's 153rd Engineer Battalion. Home for him is a small family farm 
in South Dakota. But these days, his unit is deployed to Baghdad 
International Airport. He and his unit provided security for our 
delegation in Baghdad. When we left, he handed me a letter that reads, 
in part, ``I am very proud to fight and to serve my country, like so 
many of my relatives before me.''
  He went on, in that letter, to talk about the challenges he and his 
family face today. He didn't want his wife and their teenage children 
to have to bear the burden of caring for the family's cattle while he 
was gone, so he sold the entire herd when he was deployed. When he 
returns--which may not be until sometime next year--he will buy the 
herd back. But he and his family will still be out 2 years' worth of 
income they would have earned from their cattle. He wasn't complaining. 
He just wanted us to know.
  I met another soldier from South Dakota who is with the Army's First 
Cavalry Division. They have a dangerous mission: securing Baghdad. But 
he and the other members of the First ``Cav'' aren't complaining, 
either.
  I met a family practice doctor who grew up in Rapid City. Today, she 
is healing the bodies and saving the lives of U.S. troops and Iraqi 
civilians at the Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad.
  Finally, I got to eat supper in Kuwait on Saturday with a group of 
men and women whose families I have been

[[Page S7415]]

working with for months: the members of the South Dakota National 
Guard's 740th Transportation Unit.
  Two months ago, the members of the 740th had already packed their 
bags when they got word that their tour was being extended. It was 
their second extension.
  They have now been deployed for 14 months--2 months longer than they 
were told was the longest they would be gone when they left South 
Dakota.
  When I asked one soldier at super if they had been given a new date 
to return home, he told me ``the second.'' I thought he meant their 
tour was ending on July 2nd. Then he explained, they will know when 
they are coming home the second they get on the plane.
  Even these soldiers were not complaining--just trying to find a 
little humor in a tough situation.
  Pride in one's party and the principles for which it stands is 
admirable. But there are causes that matter more than political 
parties.
  There the values and hopes that transcend party labels and unite us 
all as Americans--so eloquently again related to me in conversations I 
had with those soldiers.
  During campaigns, candidates and parties should be clear about where 
we stand on the issues and how we differ with our opponents so that 
voters can make a choice. That is part of the campaign. That is an 
essential part of democracy.
  But we also have a responsibility to work together constructively, 
where we can, to find common ground.
  Making the principled compromises necessary to make democracy work 
takes effort. It takes patience and trust and, often, a little 
humility.
  It requires that we listen to others and admit that someone else just 
might have a better idea sometimes.
  It's not simple or easy. But if our troops can give the extra measure 
of devotion and risk their lives because our Nation asks them to, 
surely we can make the extra effort to find solutions to the problems 
facing these soldiers' families, and all Americans--both in times of 
peace and war.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Crapo). The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I echo the sentiment and the words of the 
minority leader today. I applaud him for bringing up this initiative, 
the politics of common ground. When I think about the term ``common 
ground,'' sometimes I think about the concept of compromise. When we 
think about compromise, we know that means finding common ground 
without sacrificing your principles.
  One thing the distinguished Senator from South Dakota is talking 
about is that we all have our differences. Lord knows, we have a lot of 
differences just on this side of the aisle. Trying to get on one page a 
lot of times is nearly impossible.
  Certainly we have our differences in this body. That is OK. If you 
think about it, that is exactly the way the Founding Fathers intended 
it to be. They wanted Members to come here and do battle in the Senate 
and talk about ideas and concepts and policies that we all believe are 
good for our Nation. We may have different approaches on different 
issues, but certainly at the end of the day we should all work 
together, shake hands, and move on to the next issue.
  When I was running for the Senate, one thing I heard from people all 
over my State, the State of Arkansas, was: There is too much partisan 
bickering in Washington. In fact, they would tell me when I traveled 
around the State, it looks a lot like trench warfare in Washington. The 
two sides are dug in, shooting at each other, but at the end of the 
process not a lot gets done, although there are a lot of casualties. 
People all over the country sense that. They know that.
  As a Democrat in this Senate, I felt aggrieved by some things the 
other side has done. I have no doubt they feel aggrieved about some of 
the things we have done. It is incumbent upon Senators to put the past 
behind us, put all that aside, move forward, do what is right and do 
what is best for this Nation.
  I hope this Senate will return to the best traditions of our 
democracy. I hope we will find it within ourselves to wipe the slate 
clean and accept today as a new day, with this initiative, the politics 
of common ground as our guiding principle.
  One thing I love about the statement by the minority leader, he used 
words such as ``good faith'' and ``respect,'' words that we need to 
take to heart as Senators. He talks about ending the cycle of partisan 
retaliation. Is there ever a time in our history more than today that 
we should do that? I don't think so. We need to end that cycle of 
partisan retaliation. We do not only owe it to our Founding Fathers who 
founded this democracy--and we occupy the seats they established--we 
not only owe it to the history of this Nation; we owe it to our 
children and our grandchildren. We also owe it to the people we work 
for, the people who sent us to Washington, to do their work for them.
  There are many core principles in our democracy, principles that are 
indispensable. One of those principles is the idea of representation. 
Like it or not, the people of Arkansas sent me to Washington to 
represent them in this great body. Like it or not, people sent all 100 
of us to represent them in this great body. I certainly hope each and 
every Senator will find it in their heart, find it in their mind to 
respect the will of the people from other States and respect the office 
each Senator has and the responsibility he or she has to represent his 
or her people to the best of his ability.
  To make things better in this Senate and in this Congress and in this 
Government, quite frankly, it has to start with the majority party. We 
do not know in 7 months which will be the majority party in the Senate 
or in the House. We do not know who will be in the White House. But it 
is incumbent upon us that whoever is in the majority party should lead 
by example. They should demonstrate their leadership by demonstrating 
forgiveness. We need to say no to the politics of revenge. We need to 
return to our first principles, turn back to the things that make this 
country great.
  We talk about respecting the rights of the minority in the politics 
of common ground. This body definitely, certainly, absolutely should 
respect majority rule but also we should respect minority rights. In 
fact, this body was created at the foundations of this country. This 
body was created to protect the minority. That is why small States such 
as Delaware and New Hampshire get equal representation in the Senate, 
as equal as much larger States such as New York and Virginia. We are 
all equal in this body, all 100 of us, all 50 States.
  I hope we will follow this politics of common ground. In essence, it 
can be summarized by one thing, and that is to do right. That is what 
we need to see more of around here.
  One thing I like about the minority leader's proposal is that we 
acknowledge we cannot change the world. We know that. We cannot raise a 
magic wand and make it better. My grandmother, Susie Pryor, said you 
cannot clean up the whole world but you can clean up your little 
corner.
  I hope today Democrats, Republicans, and Independents will take the 
responsibility to clean up our little corner of it. Let's clean up the 
Senate and return to politics of common ground.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. I thank the distinguished Senator from Arkansas for his 
eloquent statement for being part of the inspiration for this proposal 
creating the Politics of Common Ground.
  I will tell my colleagues, as I began thinking through many of these 
particular ideas and the suggestions we have now made, it was the 
Senator from Arkansas who was extraordinarily helpful and who had many 
creative ideas and thoughts on how we might discuss this matter and 
make these proposals.
  I acknowledge the Senator's important contribution and thank him for 
his statement and appreciate the tone he has helped create virtually 
since he has arrived in the Senate. He believes in the Politics of 
Common Ground--but for him it is more than just words; it is deeds. He 
has again demonstrated that this afternoon. I am grateful.




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