[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 21234]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              WORK REMAINS

  Mr. DODD. I want to say briefly before the time runs out, I have 
great admiration for the work Senator Stevens has done as chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee. It is a tough job. We all know how hard 
he works and how hard he tries to work out the differences in the 
spending bills. I have great respect for him and the work he has done 
as chairman of that committee.
  That said, I also would be remiss if I did not mention that there are 
several important matters, generally speaking, that we have not 
addressed. We are about to wrap up, to finish over the next few days, 
with maybe one or two votes left, I am told.
  I am saddened that, despite the efforts of Senator Stevens, the 
leaders, and others, the Senate has thus far failed to act on several 
other important matters, including the 39 million seniors who will go 
without prescription drug benefits under Medicare. That is a great 
loss. We could have done it this year, and we didn't.
  More than 11 million working families will not get the benefit of an 
increase in the minimum wage. That is a great loss for those people. 
Mr. President, 53 million children go to school every day in this 
country, and for the first time in 35 years we were not able to pass 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to try to improve the 
quality of schools, reduce class sizes, and come up with good 
afterschool programs.
  So, 53 million children lose, 11 million working people don't get an 
increase in the minimum wage, and 39 million seniors fail to get 
prescription drug benefits. I think it is a sad day indeed. We could 
have passed these measures, and we didn't. I am deeply saddened by it, 
as I think the American people are as well.
  While I commend Senator Stevens and members of the Appropriations 
Committee, including my colleague from Nevada, Harry Reid, and the 
distinguished Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Byrd, who have worked 
tirelessly to get the appropriations work done, the fact of the matter 
is, a great deal of America's business has gone unattended.
  Mr. President, I regret that the leadership of this Congress has 
failed thus far to act on these and other crucial priorities. If we can 
find two weeks to debate renaming National Airport, if we can spend 
many days debating whether to provide estate tax relief to the 44,000 
most affluent Americans, then I would hope that in these waning days of 
this Congress we could find the time to consider the needs of America's 
children, seniors, and working families.
  I yield the floor.

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