[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 3 (Thursday, January 20, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S97]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         A CALL FOR UNIFICATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, every 4 years, at the time of the 
inauguration, it is a festive time in America. It certainly is a time 
of celebration in Washington, DC. I have had the good fortune of being 
able to be here on a number of occasions.
  As I look back, the thing that stands out--Democrat and Republican--
is how cold the weather is. It is always cold. It is always a question 
of how cold it is going to be. I had the good fortune, historically, of 
being able to serve here in the Senate when we canceled an outdoor 
inauguration ceremony for President Reagan. It was so cold it simply 
could not be held outside, and the crowd had to be thinned down by 
thousands and thousands, and people jammed into the Rotunda behind us. 
Even though it was cold outside, it was still warm inside at the second 
inauguration of President Reagan. It is a time when we put political 
differences aside and honor the American presidency.

  I have had a lot of microphones shoved in my direction today. Each of 
those times I tried to recognize the day. The day is to honor our 
system of Government.
  If we look back 4 years ago, there was a situation where the man who 
was elected President received fewer votes than the person he beat. We 
had the tremendous problems with the electoral system in Florida, and 
then we had the race decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. But America 
being as it is, the minute the Supreme Court made their decision, Vice 
President Gore and the rest of the country recognized that the election 
was over. There wasn't a window broken; there were no riots; no one was 
hurt. The inauguration went forward as if President Bush had won by 10 
million votes. That is what our country is all about. We are a nation 
of laws, not a nation of men.
  It is my hope that today will usher in a new beginning in Washington. 
I say that because we have had a lot of partisan rancor and squabbling. 
I hope that now gives way to a spirit of bipartisanship. Frankly, we 
didn't get much in the last 4 years with the new tone. The President 
said he wanted to be a uniter and not a divider. For reasons I don't 
fully understand, that never took place.
  I spoke to the President the day after the election, and it was a 
pleasant conversation. He clearly indicated at that time that he wanted 
to reach out. He said: I haven't another election, and I want to do my 
best to get along. That is my take on what he said to me. I hope we are 
able to go forward on the message the President delivered to me. This 
country needs unification. We have been divided too long.
  Today we had a little lunch after the inauguration ceremony. Of all 
the speeches the President has given, his speech there, which took less 
than 5 minutes, was the best he has ever delivered. I commented on 
that. It was because he delivered the speech recognizing the tremendous 
responsibilities he has as President of the United States. You could 
tell by listening to and watching him the emotion that he felt. I was 
very impressed with that.
  I trust and hope that the President's expressed feelings today go 
forward in the months and years to come. I say that because the 
American people are counting on us. People from Rhode Island, people 
from Illinois, people from Nevada, people from all over the country are 
depending on us to work together to tackle the immense problems facing 
this Nation.
  We on this side of the aisle--the aisle that we talk about so much is 
right here--all 45 of us have stated privately and publicly, we will 
work with the President. But I do say this: We will not shy away from 
living up to the values and priorities we believe are important in our 
country. We are serious in tone and in context. We will work with the 
President.
  He took an oath of office today. We all saw that on national 
television. People don't often see us every 6 years when we take the 
oath of office. During his remarks following taking the oath of office, 
he praised the wisdom contained in the document we call the 
Constitution. That document lays forth the separation of powers within 
our Government, the three separate but equal branches of Government. I 
take my constitutional responsibility just as does the President of the 
United States.
  We as Senators have constitutional obligations to which we swear 
every 6 years when we take our oath of office and fulfill our contract 
with the people of our respective States. Speaking for those on this 
side of the aisle, we are going to work as hard as we can to live up to 
the expectations the American people have in us. We may be elected as 
Democrats and Republicans, but we don't serve as Democrats and 
Republicans. We serve ultimately as Americans. There are so many areas 
where we can find common ground, we need not look to areas where we can 
squabble and be partisan. If we work together on the areas where we 
have common ground, it would take every waking minute the Senate has.
  I look forward to being the new Democratic leader, working with this 
caucus and working with the President and my Republican colleagues to 
find ways that we can keep our commitments to the armed services, those 
serving in uniform in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, the Balkans, all over 
the world, as they are serving to keep Americans safe. The war on 
terror is a war for which we must be vigilant, and we will do 
everything we can to support the armed services of our country.
  One of our immediate tasks must be to put our Nation's fiscal house 
in order. There can be no question about the need to do that. We are 
spending more money than we are taking in as a government. We are 
spending in excess of our resources by far too much. There is much work 
to be done to strengthen education, expand access to quality, 
affordable health care.
  I don't talk about bipartisanship just in theory. I have had the good 
fortune to work with Senator John Ensign, a Republican. John Ensign and 
I are from the State of Nevada. Six years ago we were in one of the 
most difficult, bitter races, not only in the history of the State of 
Nevada but the history of our country. That race was ultimately decided 
by 428 votes. Here it is 6 years later, and John Ensign is now a member 
of the Senate.
  John Ensign is a loyal Republican, and I do my very best to represent 
the Democratic Party. But because of our work together, the work of 
Senator Reid and Senator Ensign, we have worked on that which is 
important to the State of Nevada and, we believe, to the country. We 
have worked together in a bipartisan basis. That work has been 
beneficial to our country.
  With the spirit of the inauguration close to our hearts today, I look 
forward to the great debates ahead in the great debating society we 
call the Senate. I am optimistic and confident that today could be a 
new beginning. But it will only be a new beginning if the tone that is 
set today is carried forward in the years to come in making our country 
the country it has the potential to be.




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