[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 4, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13-S15]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DELIVERING SOLUTIONS TO THE NATION'S PROBLEMS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes to 
expand on what I discussed at the outset of this session, now about 3 
hours ago. I would like to focus not just on what we must do as 
individual Senators, but also on what this Senate can do and can 
achieve together, as a body. With the President and the House as 
partners, we can deliver meaningful solutions to the real problems that 
confront our Nation. We can secure freedom and safety and a healthier 
future for generations of Americans to come.
  We made much progress toward these goals in the last Congress and we 
did so in a very narrowly divided Senate. Even with the rough and 
tumble of election year politics, we found ways to work together for 
the common good of our country. We can, we must, and I believe we will 
achieve at least the same and hopefully even greater success in the 
Senate.
  No doubt it will be a challenge. The makeup of this Senate is unique. 
The margins between the majority and the minority may be wider, but the 
margins at the ends of the ideological spectrum are wider still.
  We also have our own prerogatives as equals, as individual Senators, 
as members of our respective caucuses. And we have principles, 
principles to which I hope each and every one of us will hold tight 
during the next 2 years and throughout our careers in public service. 
But we also have an obligation to this body and to the people and to 
the Nation we serve to conduct that business with civility and with 
foresight and a sharp focus on those meaningful solutions. The agenda 
before us is simply too ambitious, too urgent, and too important to the 
future of our country and the world to do otherwise. Every Member of 
this body can take pride in the accomplishments of the last Congress, 
the 108th Congress. We took on big issues. We took on huge challenges. 
And our actions translated into solutions. Together we proudly moved 
America forward.
  For years Congress talked about providing seniors with relief from 
the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs through Medicare. Finally, 
in 2003, Congress took action and passed the first substantial 
improvement to Medicare since the program was created 40 years ago. 
Today, more than 6 million seniors have prescription drug discount 
cards that are saving them 10 percent to 25 percent on their medicines; 
tens of thousands more are signing up every week; and within 12 months 
every senior on Medicare will have affordable access to a comprehensive 
prescription drug benefit. Challenge; action; solutions.
  Before President Bush took office, our economy was tilting toward 
recession. Then the Internet bubble burst, corporate scandals rattled 
investor confidence, and terrorist attacks devastated our economy. We 
took action. We cut taxes for every American who pays taxes and we 
reduced taxes on businesses, helping them invest and expand and be more 
competitive in the global economy. Since August 2003, our businesses 
have created over 2.4 million jobs, we reduced the unemployment rate 
from a peak of 6.3 percent last June to 5.4 percent today, and aftertax 
income is up by more than 10 percent since 2000. Challenge; action; 
solutions.
  On September 11, 2001, the United States was ruthlessly and brutally 
attacked by terrorists. More than 3,000 innocent men, women, and 
children were murdered. America and indeed the world changed forever. I 
am proud of the support this body has given to our Commander in Chief 
and the brave men and women who risk their lives every day to defend 
our country. We provided $87 billion to help our military buy equipment 
and support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. To date, our forces 
have killed or captured three quarters of al Qaida's leadership. They 
have toppled two terrorist regimes, and in the process they have 
liberated 50 million people and put them on the path to self-
government.

  The Senate also adopted the most sweeping overhaul of our 
intelligence system since the creation of the CIA itself. This will 
bolster and better organize our intelligence efforts to win the war on 
terror and face those new security threats of the 21st century. Again: 
Challenge; action; solutions.
  These are just several of the achievements of the last Congress. But 
the

[[Page S14]]

pattern that has been set is clear. America faced urgent challenges. We 
acted with solutions, and with the heart and drive and genius of our 
people we moved America forward.
  Earlier today we witnessed 34 Members take that oath of office of a 
U.S. Senator. It is a wonderful tradition that dates back to that first 
Congress in 1789. The oath at that time was a simple 14-word phrase:

       I do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution 
     of the United States.

  Those same 14 words form the vital core of today's oath, the oath 
that 34 Senators took now 3 hours ago. They bind us and all who have 
served in this body before us, many of whom joined us today, to a 
common, a timeless, and a paramount cause.
  Our first responsibility above all else is to do our constitutional 
duty. Nothing should come before it. Nothing should stand between it--
not party, not ideology, and certainly not politics.
  Yet, in the last Congress I believe the Senate failed to perform an 
essential constitutional duty. It failed to offer advice and consent to 
the President by filibustering ten judicial nominees and threatening to 
filibuster another six. These filibusters were unprecedented. Never in 
the history of the Senate has a minority filibustered a judicial 
nominee who had clear majority support. This was an abrupt and an 
unfortunate break in more than 200 years of Senate tradition, of Senate 
history. This tradition must be restored, not merely because we honor 
the traditions of the Senate, but because this tradition reflects the 
proper role for this body, the Senate, as designed by our Framers in 
the constitutional arrangement.
  Next month we will have the opportunity to restore Senate tradition. 
I will bring one of the President's very capable, qualified, and 
experienced judicial nominees to the floor. We can debate that 
nomination. We can vote to support it or to oppose it. And we must 
offer the President advice and consent by giving this and future 
judicial nominees who are brought to the floor up-or-down votes.
  Some, I know, have suggested that the filibusters of the last 
Congress are reason enough to offer a procedural change today, right 
here and right now, but at this moment I do not choose that path.
  Democratic colleagues have new leadership. And in the spirit of 
bipartisanship, I want to extend my hand across the aisle.
  I have a sincere hope that we can move forward past difficulties--
beyond the past difficulties we saw in the last Congress--and look 
forward to a future of cooperation.
  I seek cooperation, not confrontation. Cooperation does not require 
support for the nominees. Cooperation simply means voting judicial 
nominees brought to the floor up or down.
  So let me say this: If my Democratic colleagues exercise self-
restraint and do not filibuster judicial nominees, Senate traditions 
will be restored. It will then be unnecessary to change Senate 
procedures. Self-restraint on the use of the filibuster for 
nominations--the very same self-restraint that Senate minorities 
exercised for more than two centuries--will alleviate the need for any 
action. But if my Democratic colleagues continue to filibuster judicial 
nominees, the Senate will face this choice: Fail to do its 
constitutional duty or reform itself and restore its traditions, and do 
what the Framers intended.
  Right now, we cannot be certain judicial filibusters will cease. So I 
reserve the right to propose changes to Senate rule XXII, and do not 
acquiesce to carrying over all the rules from the last Congress.
  As a public servant who has twice taken an oath to support and defend 
the Constitution, I cannot stand idly by, nor should any of us, if the 
Senate fails to do its constitutional duty. We, as Senators, have our 
constitutional duty to offer the President advice and consent.
  Although our constitutional duties are paramount, we also have a 
legislative responsibility to the people we serve and to the Nation. 
This is our opportunity to take on the challenges that each of us 
sought public office to pursue. After all, we are here not just to 
occupy our offices but to lead, to be bold, to take action, and to get 
things done.
  First, there is work left undone from the last Congress, and we need 
to act on it.
  America is long overdue for an energy policy. We need a plan in place 
to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and bolster conservation 
efforts. Last Congress, the Senate passed an energy bill that would 
have done just that. I am hopeful we will be able to do the same this 
year and work with House leaders and the President to finish the job.
  We also need to eliminate frivolous lawsuits by reforming asbestos 
liability, medical liability, and our class action system. Frivolous 
lawsuits cost our economy more than $250 billion per year. That is more 
than 2 percent of our gross domestic product--the equivalent of over 
$800 on every American. To keep our economy growing and competitive, we 
need to act now.
  I will bring class action reform to the floor early next month. I am 
confident we will pass this bill and take a big first step to restoring 
sanity and fairness to our legal system.
  Second, in the last Congress, we led on the most urgent issues facing 
America. And we still need to keep our focus on issues such as 
protecting our homeland from biological threats. But we must also lead 
today on tomorrow's challenges. We need to look to the horizon and 
ask ourselves: What will be the cost in the future if we fail to act 
now?

  The President has put Social Security reform among his top priorities 
for his second term. He has laid out wise and essential principles: 
protecting the benefits of today's seniors, not raising payroll taxes, 
and giving younger Americans the opportunity to save, own, and invest a 
portion of their own Social Security dollars. But in the end, the 
details on how to accomplish Social Security reform will fall to 
Congress. This will require a tremendous amount of work, especially 
from our skilled committee chairmen. It will also require us to work 
together across the aisle--both parties in both Houses. If we do so, I 
believe we will be able to achieve the goal of putting a bill that 
addresses the short-term and long-term gaps in Social Security on the 
President's desk.
  As we consider Social Security reform, we cannot turn a blind eye to 
other entitlements. Gathering on the horizon is a Medicare perfect 
storm: skyrocketing health care costs that are affecting every family 
and an increasing number of seniors--a doubling in the number of 
seniors--over the next 30 years, and fewer and fewer workers paying 
into the program.
  Keeping the promise of Medicare to seniors will place an untenable 
burden on younger Americans and their children and their grandchildren. 
In fact, the total unfunded liability in the Medicare Program far 
exceeds Social Security's unfunded liability. We have a moral 
responsibility to begin to have a conversation about the long-term 
challenges facing Medicare.
  In the short term, we can work to reduce health care costs in 
general. The fact is, our health care system--it is not even really a 
system. Our health care sector is fantastically inefficient. We can 
make it much more productive.
  Just think about it for a minute. We can access our bank accounts 
from nearly anywhere in the world with our ATM cards, but we can't 
transfer our CAT scan results digitally from one hospital to another 
hospital across the street for a second opinion. We can pay bills on 
line, we can order groceries on line, and we can even apply for a 
mortgage on line--all in a matter of minutes. But if we happen to be in 
a car accident, if we are knocked unconscious with our lives at stake, 
paramedics and emergency room doctors cannot quickly check for blood 
type or allergies to our medicines.
  It doesn't make sense. We can fix it by encouraging the use of 
information technology. By reforming our broken medical liability 
system, by expanding portable tax-free accounts, among other things, we 
can begin to hold that line on health care costs and improve our 
system.
  I am pleased the President is firmly committed to working with 
Congress to make health care more affordable and accessible.
  He is also committed, as I am, to protecting the values that serve as 
the foundation of a healthy society: Marriage, family, and a culture of 
life that protects human dignity at every stage of development.

[[Page S15]]

  Finally, we need to elevate global issues of moral consequence.
  This is becoming increasingly apparent in the past week. During the 
last 9 days, we have all been deeply saddened by the unfolding tragedy 
in Southern Asia. Estimates now put the death toll at more than 
150,000, more than a third of which are children. And the statistics 
don't capture the sorrow, the sadness, that sense of loss, the 
psychological impact that will leave longstanding scars.
  When we resume our business later this month and the President 
requests our assistance, we will set aside what we are working on to 
provide funding quickly and cleanly.
  Later tonight I will be leaving with several of our colleagues to 
travel to the devastated areas. We will report back about what America 
can do to aid relief and recovery efforts.
  America is the most generous Nation in the world. We will step up 
with all the resources, all the compassion, all the hope that we can 
muster in these next few weeks and beyond. We have done so as a nation. 
We have done so as a people many times before.

  Last Congress we stepped up in the fight against global HIV/AIDS. We 
stepped up with an unprecedented $15 billion commitment. We will keep 
that commitment strong. We need to work hard to bring peace, stability, 
and humanitarian support to war-torn nations such as Sudan.
  Americans are a compassionate people. We, as Senators, can help 
capture that and channel it for the good of the world. It is our 
responsibility. We will do just that.
  In his most recent news conference, President Bush said this about 
his second-term agenda:

       All of these goals require the energy and dedication of 
     members of both political parties. Working in a spirit of 
     bipartisanship, we will build the foundation of a stronger, 
     more prosperous country.

  The President is exactly right. The challenges before this Congress 
are so vital to the future of our country. We must work together to 
address them. Through our history, America has been served best by 
leaders who treat each other and their offices with respect and 
civility and decency.
  I think of George Washington who, at the age of just 16, copied out 
by hand a list of 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company 
and Conversation. This act shaped the early character of Washington and 
in turn the indelible character of our Nation.
  In recent history, Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill come to mind. 
Although they stood on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum, they 
enjoyed a wonderful relationship, a fruitful friendship. On the 
Speaker's 70th birthday, President Reagan invited him to the White 
House for a celebratory lunch. At the end of the meal, the President 
raised a glass of champagne and toasted the Speaker:

       Tip, if I had a ticket to heaven and you didn't have one, 
     too, I'd sell mine and go to hell with you.

  Many have enjoyed friendships just like that in the Senate. I know I 
do, and so do many of our spouses. The Senate, as I have often said and 
referred to in my remarks earlier today, is a family. The sense of 
family does not come across on the television screen and certainly 
doesn't come across in the newspapers. What the American people too 
often see and what I don't believe they like is an extreme 
partisanship, a partisan bickering and a lack of cooperation. Some of 
that is just the nature of the news. Conflict, as we all know, sells 
advertising and catches people's attention, but it is also the nature 
of Washington today with all of the competing special interests.
  There is still something else at work. Somehow, we have become more 
defined by the forces that divide us than the common cause that unites 
us. The civility that once was the hallmark of this body has eroded 
over time. I recognize, we all recognize, it will take time to regain 
it. But we must begin. We must begin now and we will begin.
  I applaud the orientation for new Members that Senators Carper and 
Alexander and others helped organize just this November. Our nine newly 
elected Senators worked with veterans of this body to learn, as my 
colleague from Tennessee said, what it takes for the Senate to function 
as an institution and fulfill its constitutional role. We need more 
efforts just like this, such as in Senate policy forums, bipartisan 
leadership meetings, all of which would be a good start.
  These are issues I have discussed with the Democratic leader. I ask 
our colleagues to come to Senator Reid and me with other suggestions 
they may have over the next several weeks. Leaders on both sides of the 
aisle need to set an example, but the whole body needs to share in this 
effort. We all need to commit to restoring civility in the Senate. If 
we do, with time, I believe, the Senate again can become what it was in 
the so-called golden age, what the great statesman and Senator, Daniel 
Webster, called in his last major address:

       . . . A body not yet moved from its propriety, not lost to 
     a just sense of its own dignity and own responsibilities, and 
     a body to which the country looks, with confidence, for wise, 
     moderate, patriotic and healing counsels.

  I close by expressing a concept that is by no means new but is 
essential to our deliberations and, in the end, to the future for 
America. It is the concept that this body, the Senate, act as one.
  During my decade of service in this body, I have seen extraordinary 
acts of courage. I have seen men and women endure overwhelming currents 
of political pressure. Sometimes they have done this standing alone and 
independent; sometimes they have crossed the aisle and cast a deciding 
vote with the opposing party. Every time, however, it has been for one 
simple reason: to do what their hearts told them was right for the 
people they represent and for the Nation.
  Where leaders perform such acts of courage, they subjugate their own 
political interests to the higher purpose of the whole. Although they 
may pay a political price, they are rewarded with honor and with pride 
and with respect.
  In the end, those rewards are priceless. Those rewards last--not only 
in the hearts of public servants but in the hearts of the people they 
represent.
  The Senate's longest serving majority leader, the late Mike 
Mansfield, said of this body:

       In the end, it is not the Senators as individuals who are a 
     fundamental importance. In the end, it is the institution of 
     this Senate. It is the Senate itself as one of the 
     foundations of the Constitution. It is the Senate as one of 
     the rocks of the Republic.

  Let us do the duty of U.S. Senators, our constitutional duty and our 
duty to our people and our Nation. Let us do so with respect and 
civility and decency for this body and for each other. As we do, let us 
secure for every American a freer, safer, and healthier future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Martinez). The Senator from Oregon.

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