[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12033-12034]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         PROGRESS IN THE SENATE

  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, from time to time I have come to the 
floor to discuss our progress since we became the majority as Democrats 
in the Senate. I wanted to talk briefly about the accomplishments 
during this work period and the list of items we have attempted to 
address over the course of the now virtually 1 year that we have been 
in the majority. We took over officially during the month of July of 
last year. Technically, we are not quite there. But for all intents and 
purposes, we have now completed 1 year as a majority in the Senate.
  We began June with work on the supplemental appropriations bill, a 
key piece of legislation. That legislation passed in the Senate a 
couple of weeks ago.
  We then moved on to terrorism insurance. We passed that bill out of 
the Senate with an overwhelming vote.
  We passed legislation which expedites the extradition of terrorist 
suspects. The antiterrorism legislation passed about 10 days ago.
  We increased the debt limit on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.
  We passed the Defense authorization bill, thanks to the extraordinary 
leadership of our colleague from Michigan, Senator Levin.
  I might add that all of these issues--the supplemental 
appropriations, the terrorism insurance bill, the antiterrorism bill, 
the debt limit, and the Defense authorization bill--passed with 
overwhelming bipartisan majorities.
  I am pleased to be able to announce that because I feel quite 
confident that is what the American people are expecting--that we 
attempt to work together, and that these priorities which are certainly 
their priorities as well be addressed in the way that allows us to 
enact them into law sometime very shortly.
  I will say, having done as much as we can on a bipartisan basis, that 
I was disappointed by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
when they objected to the passage of the hate crimes legislation. We 
failed to achieve the 60 votes necessary to obtain cloture on hate 
crimes.
  For the life of me, I am troubled by that. I would think that would 
be a 100-to-0 vote dealing with hate crimes in this country. It is 
something that is pernicious, and it is something that we must address 
in a meaningful legislative way.
  We will continue to make the effort to assure that 1 day we will pass 
meaningful hate crimes legislation.
  I also say there was another matter that was not bipartisan. That 
involved the Republicans' attempt to permanently repeal the estate tax.
  I am very proud of the fact that we did not do that. I think that is 
a good fiscal policy. It is good tax policy, and I am confident that 
any effort to repeal the estate tax permanently would fail in the 
future.
  Let me hasten to add that the Democrats certainly support reform of 
the estate tax. We supported an increase in the overall exemption to $7 
million, and we are very appreciative of the widespread effort within 
our caucus and hopefully within the Congress itself to continue to work 
to reform the estate tax over a period of time. But blocking the 
permanent repeal of the estate tax saves the Treasury $60 billion a 
year when it is fully implemented, $600 billion over the course of a 
10-year period of time. So we look upon this actually as an 
accomplishment, as we have with all of the other accomplishments during 
the month of June.
  But I might say, as we look at accomplishments, the list has become 
quite significant over the course of the last 12 months.
  Right after the Democrats took the majority, we passed a Patients' 
Bill of Rights. After the tragedy of September 11, we passed an 
antiterrorism use of force resolution and an immediate $40 billion 
response to the terrorist attacks, the Defense and homeland security 
appropriations bill, and the USA Patriot Act to deal with the 
extraordinary challenges we have with regard to law enforcement.
  We passed increased airport, border, and port security. We passed 
terrorism insurance. We passed additional support for the airline 
industry, which was really struggling after the tragedy of September 
11. We passed economic stimulus and unemployment insurance legislation. 
We passed the campaign finance reform bill. We passed an election 
reform bill.
  We passed 57 judicial confirmations. That is more than any recent 
Congress has passed in the same period of time, either Republican or 
Democrat, even in those cases when the Senate was of the same party as 
the President at that particular time.
  We passed clean water and brownfields revitalization legislation. We 
passed a sweeping comprehensive education reform bill. We passed an 
energy bill. We passed a farm bill. And as I just noted, we have passed 
the Defense authorization bill.
  I would say, as we look at this list of accomplishments, it would be 
hard for

[[Page 12034]]

anyone to argue we have not accomplished a good deal in our first 12 
months as members of the majority.
  I look with great satisfaction, with great pride, and am very 
grateful to all of my colleagues for the extraordinary job they have 
done in working through the committees--and in most cases all of this 
legislation has come through committees--to address the needs of 
America in public policy and the tremendous challenges we face as a 
nation.
  We will continue to add to this growing list of accomplishments over 
the course of the next several months as we complete our work in the 
107th Congress. Certainly, the 107th Congress has been historic for so 
many reasons, but I would say that when all is said and done, at the 
end of the session we will be able to look with great satisfaction, 
with great pride, and, I might say, with a certain degree of confidence 
that we have done what the American people have expected of us.
  Passing this legislation is a recognition of what Democrats in the 
majority can do in the broad array of issues with which we have done 
it.
  So I thank my colleagues. I thank all of those who are responsible 
for the work on these bills, especially our legislative leadership, the 
chairs of each committee where these bills have been produced, for the 
work within the committee, and certainly the management they have 
demonstrated on the Senate floor as these bills have been passed here 
on the floor and sent either to the House or to the President.
  I see my colleague from Michigan on the floor. I will yield the floor 
at this time. But I again appreciate the work done by our caucus, and, 
I might say, in concert, on many occasions, with our Republican 
colleagues, to achieve the long list of accomplishments we have listed 
here.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kennedy). The Senator from Michigan.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, before the majority leader leaves the 
Chamber, let me say he is always giving credit to others for the 
accomplishments of this body--which have been many--and what he, in his 
traditional modesty, of course, does not make any reference to is his 
own leadership and the role of that leadership in these 
accomplishments. But there is not a Member of this body on either side 
of the aisle who does not recognize the extraordinary leadership of 
Senator Daschle. And that list is a tribute to his leadership. It 
obviously involves a lot of other people, as he pointed out. 
Nonetheless, it is his leadership that has led the way to a successful 
and long list of achievements so far in this Congress.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, I am grateful 
for his kind words. We have always had a tremendous team effort within 
our caucus and within the legislative leadership of the Senate but I 
recognize that the workhorses are the chairs. And I am speaking to one 
as we stand here this morning.
  I thank him for his kind words. I thank the Senator for yielding.

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