[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20989-20990]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            SENATE BUSINESS

  Mr. DAYTON. I join my colleague from Nevada in complimenting the 
Senator from Connecticut on the passage of the election reform law. I 
had the distinct pleasure and privilege to sit in the chair to preside 
when this matter was debated and discussed many months ago. As the 
Senator from Connecticut has observed, no one could have known then how 
long the ordeal remained before they could bring the conference report 
back this week. What the Senator from Connecticut, the Senator from 
Kentucky, and the Senator from Missouri accomplished on behalf of the 
Senate and, more importantly, on behalf of the citizens of America, is 
extraordinary. Given all that has not been brought to fruition in the 
final days, the accomplishment the Senator brought to the Senate is an 
extraordinary tribute to his endurance and his legislative skills.
  He was very gracious yesterday to commend all of the people who 
worked so hard on this legislation--his colleagues and the staff across 
the aisle. He was too modest to compliment himself. I join with the 
Senator from Nevada in saying that Senator Dodd has performed an 
extraordinary service to his Nation. We will--in Minnesota and Hawaii 
and Connecticut and across the country--conduct better elections, more 
reliable elections, elections where citizens can vote and know the 
votes will be counted and counted accurately.
  His daughter Grace and his grandchildren and my children and 
grandchildren will be the beneficiaries of those hours of hard work. I 
thank the Senator. I congratulate him for that extraordinary 
accomplishment. It is one of the true highlights of our session.
  Also, to follow up, I was presiding when the Senator referred to a 
couple of pieces of legislation that were not enacted in this session. 
We will be finishing our work and perhaps coming back in November after 
the election, with an agenda then that has not yet been determined and 
with prospects that are unknown. I express my great disappointment in 
some of the matters that were not accomplished.
  When I was elected 2 years ago--so this is my first session of 
Congress--perhaps I came with loftier expectations and perhaps less 
seasoned assumptions of what could be accomplished, especially given 
the opportunities that presented themselves less than 2 years ago when 
we arrived and were looking at these months of time, the trillions of 
dollars of resources available to do the things that needed to be done.
  One of the promises I made to the people of Minnesota during my 
campaign, which I took very seriously, was the passage of prescription 
drug legislation to provide for coverage through Medicare or some other 
means, but my own view was, through the Medicare Program for senior 
citizens throughout Minnesota, I am sure Hawaii and elsewhere, have 
been ravaged by these rising prices, by their inability to control the 
costs, by the need, as I have discovered in my age, to require more 
prescription medication. The benefits of those medications are 
lifegiving, lifesaving, life-enhancing for millions of Americans.
  However, for our elderly population, they are literally the 
difference between life and death. They are literally the difference, 
time after time, between being able to enjoy their lives, rather than 
being consigned to pain and suffering, and infirmity that no one should 
be subjected to, certainly not in your last months or years of your 
life. We had all these good intentions. If we totaled the assurances 
Members made from both sides of the aisle when they sought election or 
reelection that year, we would have had a unanimous agreement that this 
legislation was overdue, was badly needed, and we might have had some 
differences of views as to how it was going to be enacted.
  But when I came here in January of 2001 I felt as certain as I felt 
about anything that we would pass that legislation and we would have 
that moment that Senator Dodd enjoyed yesterday, to bring back to the 
Senate a conference report, something that was agreed upon by the 
House, by the White House, and by the Senate, and we could pass it and 
go back and proudly tell our fellow citizens we had done the job they 
sent us to do.
  I am terribly distraught and disappointed and disillusioned. I feel 
apologetic to the citizens of Minnesota, to the senior citizens who 
placed their trust in me and sent me here. I remember one elderly woman 
in Duluth, MN, in the northeastern part of our State, about half my 
size and twice my age, who spoke to me in December of the year 2000 
just before I came here. She looked at me after I visited her with her 
and her friends. She said, If you do not keep your promises, I will 
take you out behind the woodshed for an old-fashioned thrashing.
  I don't dare go back to Duluth, MN, after our failure to pass this 
legislation. I think in some ways this whole process that we failed to 
master, if not ourselves, individually, the failure of this entire 
endeavor, needs an old-fashioned thrashing. It is shameful we have not 
enacted that legislation on behalf of seniors in Minnesota and 
everywhere.
  It is only one instance, unfortunately, where this failure to enact 
the people's business occurred in this body. I have presided over this 
Senate more hours in the last 2 years than anyone, save my colleague, 
Senator Carper, of Delaware, and it has been in most respects a very 
enjoyable, fascinating, and certainly educational experience as a new 
Member of the Senate to see firsthand what occurs here and how these 
matters are handled. The masters of the Senate, through years of 
experience, know how this process works; also, unfortunately, masters 
of the process who know how to prevent it from working and how to 
obstruct and delay it.
  I have watched since the beginning of this year, time after time the 
efforts of the majority leader, my good friend from the neighboring 
State of South Dakota, who has the responsibility as leader of our 
majority caucus to try to schedule and move legislation forward. I have 
seen time after time that he has not been given the agreement 
necessary. In the Senate, it takes, as you know, unanimous consent. It 
takes all 100 of us to agree individually just to bring up a matter of 
legislation. Without that unanimous consent, we have to go through a 
procedure that then requires the majority leader to file cloture. Then 
it takes 2 more days before we can vote on proceeding, just going ahead 
to take up a piece of legislation.
  Time after time we have had to go through that process. The majority 
leader has had to follow it. I believe, if

[[Page 20990]]

we tallied up all those days that we have been obstructed and delayed 
from just considering legislation in this body, it would be 50 or 60 
during the last year alone. That is 10 to 12 weeks of time. That is 
2\1/2\ to 3 months of time that we have not been able to conduct the 
people's business, where we couldn't consider legislation, where we 
couldn't bring up amendments and vote them up or down.
  Here we are now just at a point of recess or adjournment or whatever 
it is going to be, and we have not passed prescription drug coverage 
for seniors, we have not extended unemployment benefits but once. I 
believe we have tried two or three other times to do so. We have not 
been able to get to so many things the people of Minnesota depended on 
me to provide and I think the people of America were looking for from 
all of us.
  So as we are in these closing moments, and as Senator Dodd from 
Connecticut has brought attention to some of the unfinished business 
before us, I wanted to highlight some of that myself and to say, the 
Good Lord willing, I will be back here, whether it is in November or 
December or January of next year or the new session of Congress. I wish 
we would have been able to leave here with much more accomplished. 
Those who are out there wondering, who do not want excuses or 
explanations, who want real results, which they should have, who want 
programs that will benefit them, who want help when they need it, who 
want improvements in their lives--if they really want to understand why 
we are leaving some of these matters undone, I invite their calls. I 
would be happy to discuss those matters with them.
  They should look, as I say, and count the number of days we have had 
to wait to let the clock tick so we could follow the rules of the 
Senate just to move on to another matter. Then I would recommend they 
ask themselves why it is and who it was behind this delay and this 
obstruction, and hold those individuals to account when they visit the 
voting booth in the next occasion.
  With that, I wish the President a good evening, and I yield the 
floor.
  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. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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