[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 172-176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, at this juncture, on this second day of the 
new session of the 108th Congress, I will spend a few moments reviewing 
a bit but also looking ahead, setting the stage for what we are likely 
to expect in this body.
  Last night, the President of the United States delivered a powerful 
challenge to the U.S. Congress and to the American people. He told us 
the state of the Union is strong and confident. The substance of the 
talk last night reflected just that.
  There is much to celebrate as we enter this second session of the 
108th Congress. Perhaps most important is the capture of Saddam 
Hussein. It was only 1 month ago that the world woke up to those 
astonishing images--the President described it last night--of Saddam 
Hussein in a hole and now in a cell. They were images of that dirty and 
dishevelled dictator emerging out of that spider hole.
  Our brave and resourceful soldiers caught the ``butcher of Baghdad.'' 
As the President said last night, Saddam Hussein now is in a cell, a 
military prison, awaiting his fate. He will be brought to justice by 
the Iraqi people whom he so mercilessly terrorized, and he will be 
judged as the entire world looks on.
  Today, because of the war on terror, the capture of Saddam, the death 
of his two sons, and the destruction of his wicked regime, America and 
her allies are safer and more secure. As we enter the new year, we are 
also stronger. America's vibrant economy is beginning once again to 
hum. The Federal Reserve confirms that the recovery we began to observe 
last fall is gaining momentum each and every day. Worker production is 
up. Industrial production is up. Exports are on the rise. Home 
construction is booming. More Americans than ever own their own homes. 
Their total household wealth is approaching historic highs. Businesses 
are investing. Manufacturing is at its highest level in 20 years. In 
short, those tax cuts, those jobs and growth packages are working.
  The first round of tax cuts indeed helped end that recession that 
began in the year 2000. The second round of tax cuts put America on a 
path to solid growth. Americans today have more money to save, invest, 
and spend as they, as individuals, choose. Business owners have more 
opportunities today to realize their entrepreneurial spirit and 
potential. America is moving forward because President George Bush and 
the Republican-led Congress believed in that creativity, in that 
ingenuity, in that common sense of individuals, the American people. 
The risk-taking, willingness to invest, irrepressible optimism of the 
American people is in truth what has turned this economy around from 
recession to where today we are in the midst of the fastest growing 
economy in not just the last 5 years, 10 years, or 15 years but the 
fastest growing economy in this country in the last 20 years, since 
1984.
  As the President pointed out last night, now is not the time to rest. 
We cannot really rest until that economic recovery is complete. Every 
American who is looking for work should be able to get a job and should 
be able to get that work. Thus, we have to have smart pro growth fiscal 
policy to lead this country to job creation.
  Looking to the future--and our obligation is to look to the future--
there are critical structural problems that we in this body need to 
take head on, not to shy away from but to go right after, to tackle 
head on.
  The one area that is critical to job growth--the President mentioned 
it last night--is tort reform. Over the last decade, class action 
lawsuits have exploded. State court class action filings have 
skyrocketed by over 1,300 percent in just the last 10 years. It is 
really not just the statistic, not just the figure,

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but it is the result. The result of this glut of claims is to clog our 
court system, our State courts. They simply cannot handle them all. It 
is inefficient in terms of government. It wastes taxpayer dollars. It 
stifles the innovation to which I just referred. That innovation and 
that entrepreneurship that is so crucial to taking a growing economy 
and translating it into job growth is stifled, is shackled, is 
handcuffed by this glut of claims.
  Last night the President also mentioned medical liability, another 
aspect of tort reform. The President said ``frivolous lawsuits,'' and 
it was wonderful for me to see the Members of Congress stand up, but 
now we need to act. We cannot just talk about it; we need to act. Those 
frivolous lawsuits are exploding health insurance premiums. So when we 
are talking about the 44 million people uninsured, and we are talking 
about the cost of insurance and frivolous lawsuits are driving those 
premiums sky high out of the reach of hard-working men and women, we 
must respond. We must address it directly.
  I encourage my colleagues to talk to their own doctors and ask them 
what the impact of this exploding malpractice, medical liability is 
doing to their own practice, how it affects the quality of care. I was 
just in a town meeting 3 days ago with physicians. I just come straight 
in. Being a physician I can sort of cut through a lot of the 
conversation. I said: What is the biggest problem today in terms of the 
quality of care that you give that patient coming into the room?
  It was pretty amazing. That group of physicians, without any 
hesitation, just one after another, said medical liability, medical 
malpractice premiums; I cannot afford it; it affects quality; it 
affects access; it affects the way I practice medicine in a negative 
way.
  Being a doctor, I receive letters about this problem from doctors all 
over America. It is real. The problem is increasing, and thus we in 
this body must respond to it. It is driving doctors out of the practice 
of medicine. When babies are being delivered, in some States the tax on 
that baby is as much as $1,000 the mom or family has to pay, somebody 
has to pay, at the end of the day. That $1,000, being a tax, goes to 
medical liability service. It hurts access to care. It hurts the 
quality of care. It is threatening our health care system. It is 
costing the country billions of dollars.
  As a physician, I am concerned about the care and the quality end of 
it, but even though the numbers are hard to calculate, if we just stand 
back and look in the aggregate, it is expensive. Well-researched 
reports predict that if we reform the medical liability system, make 
sure that there is equity, fairness, and appropriate compensation, if 
we have appropriate reform, we will save the economy anywhere from $70 
to $126 billion a year. Just the Federal Government would save about 
$14.9 billion over 10 years through savings just in the Medicare and 
the Medicaid programs.
  So when we are talking about what is the biggest issue in health care 
today, clearly this issue of the uninsured and the cost of health care 
must be put on the forefront.
  Staying with this whole area of tort liability, I very much would 
like to address the issue of asbestos litigation. Right now things are 
out of control. A very good law has run amok over time and the intended 
consequences no longer are being accomplished, but they are unintended 
consequences which are hurting America.
  The torrent of asbestos litigation has wreaked havoc on the victims 
of asbestos. Many of them develop either cancer or a type of cancer 
called mesothelioma. It has wreaked havoc on Americans' jobs. Companies 
are going bankrupt. About 20 companies have gone bankrupt from the cost 
of this out-of-control asbestos litigation system over the last 2 
years. And it is wreaking havoc on the economy. The approximately 
600,000 claims that have been filed already have cost $54 billion in 
settlements, judgments, and litigation costs.
  The sad thing is that even with all of these billions of dollars that 
are being spent in the system, the current asbestos tort system has 
become nothing more than a litigation lottery. A few victims receive 
adequate compensation. But far more, far more today, the way the system 
is constructed, the way it has evolved, suffer long delays for 
unpredictable awards, for inequitable awards--if they receive anything 
at all. This is the victims, the people who have been hurt by asbestos.
  It is a system where, if you look at it, there is only one real 
winner. It is not who was intended to win in the initial legislation or 
the laws or the regulations; that is, the victim or potential victim of 
exposure to asbestos. No, the only one real winner today is the 
plaintiffs' trial lawyers, the only certain winner. They are taking 
about half of every dollar that is awarded to victims. So you have a 
victim, you have a system with a lot of money going to it, but only 50 
percent of it ends up going to the victim. The other 50 percent gets 
lost in the system. There can be a system where there is fair and 
adequate compensation both for the lawyers and especially for the 
victims.
  While the attorneys collected their fees, the asbestos-related 
bankruptcies have already cost about 60,000 Americans their jobs. These 
job losses are unnecessary. If we act and update and modernize the 
asbestos tort system and bring everybody to the table, and do it in a 
bipartisan way, we can stop this unnecessary job loss--60,000 jobs to 
date. For those who lose their jobs, the average personal loss in wages 
over a career is as much as $50,000. That is in wages. That doesn't 
even include the losses in health benefits as well as in lost 
retirement.
  Remember, when I say 20 companies in the last 2 years have gone 
bankrupt, these are big companies, big employers. About 60 companies 
have gone bankrupt over the last two decades because of the asbestos-
related matters.
  So passing this asbestos reform will create enormous economic 
benefits. It will benefit the victims themselves. The certainty that 
flows from the bill itself will also stimulate capital investment which 
will go to preserve existing jobs and create new jobs. Again, I mention 
a bipartisan spirit. We have to have everybody at the table. We began 
the work in the last session. I would like to finish it in this session 
in a bipartisan spirit to accomplish this reform.
  In early February we will be turning to the highway system. It will 
be shortly--February 2, hopefully, somewhere, depending upon when we 
finish the appropriations bills, which I hope we will finish this 
week--that we can turn to America's highways. It is another jobs issue. 
It is also an infrastructure issue. It is a safety issue. It is an 
issue we will address in this body. It is estimated the highway bill, 
from a jobs perspective, will help create as many as 2 million much 
needed jobs, and it is easy to understand why.
  We are blessed in many ways because this country is interlaced with 4 
million miles of roads and highways. Our transportation infrastructure 
is estimated to be worth about $1.75 trillion. We are blessed in many 
ways.
  It is interesting that every $1 billion we invest in transportation 
infrastructure turns around and generates, for every $1 billion 
investment, $2 billion in economic activity. That, of course, 
translates into jobs.
  Our roads, our ports, our railroads are that infrastructure, that 
transportation infrastructure that is fundamental to our Nation's 
economic success. If things are so good, we are so blessed, why do we 
have to have a highway bill? Because if we look at that infrastructure, 
we see much of it is deteriorating or is becoming painfully crowded. 
Probably people listening to me now over their radios as I am talking 
are sitting in line in their cars. Commutes that used to take 10 
minutes now take 20 minutes or that used to take 30 minutes now take an 
hour. Some people are probably sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic as I 
speak, not during just rush hour but throughout the day.
  From a safety standpoint--I have to put it on the table because it is 
another reason we have to address this highway bill early--we have more 
accidents.

[[Page 174]]

  There is less time to spend with families as you spend more time in 
the car. There will be about 23.6 billion hours spent by Americans in 
delays, it is estimated. Americans waste 5.7 billion gallons of fuel 
just sitting in traffic in these delays. We can't ask our fellow 
citizens to join the great American workforce and then simply sit idly 
by and allow our roads to decay as that daily commute stretches from a 
few minutes to 30 minutes to 60 minutes--indeed, to hours.
  It is a jobs issue. It is a quality of life issue. It is a safety 
issue.
  Last year we addressed similar types of issues. We addressed the 
issue of spam with legislation, the Do Not Call phone registry. We just 
hit the issue of spam head on. This year we need to upgrade our 
transportation system. We are losing billions of dollars in lost 
productivity and billions of hours stuck in traffic.
  It is that image of being stuck in traffic that kind of moves me to a 
topic that is unfinished business, that we worked hard on but we were 
unsuccessful with in the last session. It is an issue that affects 
every single American, every one of my colleagues, every one of my 
colleagues' families, everybody listening to me, their families--and 
that is energy. Our Nation simply does not have a comprehensive energy 
policy that addresses the unfortunate dependence on foreign sources of 
oil and energy today, a dependence which is increasing. It used to be 
30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent. Now it is up to 60 percent 
dependence on oil from overseas--an energy plan.
  A lot of this reminds me to at least comment on what happened last 
summer. Fifty million people suffered the biggest blackout in American 
history. It came at an instant from New York City to Cleveland to 
Detroit to Toronto; tens of thousands of citizens were trapped at that 
instant, trapped in elevators and subways, trapped in trains, and they 
were stranded on dark city streets. We saw just with a sort of snap of 
the fingers in that instant the potentially fatal consequences of 
operating on a grid, upon which we are all so dependent, that is 
outmoded, that is outdated, that can crash at any time.
  The Senate must respond. Our Congress must respond. It is our 
responsibility to respond, to act--not just talk, not just try, but to 
respond and pass legislation that addresses in a comprehensive way 
energy supply and conservation and renewable resources and the uses of 
more efficient types of energy.
  We have to address what people are beginning to feel in the last 
several weeks, especially with the cold wave and the cold streak that 
has hit New England in historic proportions, and that is the cost of 
energy and the cost of oil and natural gas. U.S. chemical companies are 
closing plants. They are laying off workers. They are looking to expand 
production abroad. All because of what? The cost of high energy prices. 
We will import approximately $9 billion more in chemicals than we 
exported this year. American consumers are getting hit with higher and 
higher energy prices.
  Small businesses are struggling just to contain these rising energy 
costs. It is our responsibility, this body, the Senate, to act. We 
acted in the last Congress. We came two votes short. Now it is 
incumbent upon us to go back and address that challenge before us.
  I should add, not only will the energy plan lower prices, it, too, 
will have a real impact on jobs and on the economy--on thousands of 
jobs. It is estimated that the energy package will create about a half 
a million jobs. The Alaskan pipeline alone will create at least 400,000 
jobs.
  Hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested in research and 
development and new technology. All of this will create jobs. 
Engineering will create jobs in math, chemistry, physics, and science. 
Reforming the litigation system, upgrading our highways, and passing a 
comprehensive energy plan will lead to more jobs and higher economic 
growth.
  We also must think beyond our borders in relation to what happens 
within this country, what happens within other countries, and address 
the energy issue of trade--specifically trade with Central America and 
Australia. Free trade is essential to the creation of jobs and to 
growing the economy.
  Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend 2 days in Mexico City 
where I met with representatives from the senate there. I had the 
opportunity to look back over the last 10 years of NAFTA. Indeed, under 
those 10 years of much freer trade with Mexico, the value of two-way 
trade between the United States and Mexico tripled. It went up three 
times--from $81 billion to over $230 billion. While I was there, I was 
talking to my legislative counterparts in the senate. And I was talking 
to President Fox. It was apparent to me that free trade does much for 
growth and economic opportunity.
  But it also does much more than that. They described to me how 
elections there have become much freer and much more open at the state 
level and at the national level. We also need to make sure those trade 
agreements that we are part of are fair and equitable--that they 
strengthen the rules of international trade, and we will work hard in 
this body to achieve that right mix of benefits and obligations.
  In addition to these types of structural reforms, we will continue to 
pursue strong fiscal policy and deficit reduction.
  Again, the President mentioned last night the importance of this 
fiscal responsibility. In about 2 weeks, the President of the United 
States will deliver a budget to this body. We will work with that 
budget to accomplish that fiscal discipline. The President last night 
laid out a plan to cut the deficit in half over the next 5 years.
  Now that the economy is beginning to hum once again, thanks to the 
tax relief package and the jobs and growth package of the President 
from 2001 and 2003, we must turn our attention to reducing the deficit. 
The deficit depends in part on revenues and in part on how much we 
spend. To grow those revenues, we have to focus like a laser, which the 
President has done and which we in this body have done growing the 
economy. Now is the time to focus on that spending.
  We are also committed to promoting fairness in the Tax Code. Last 
summer we passed a tax bill to provide additional tax relief for 
families with children. We created a uniform definition of a child. 
Instead of five confusing and conflicting categories in terms of 
defining a child, the Tax Code was simplified to make it easier for 
folks to fill out the forms and get the tax relief to which they are 
entitled.
  Tax simplification: We will not solve all of it this year, but I 
pledge this body--working with the appropriate committees--to work 
along the line for tax simplification. We will continue to pursue 
reforms that make the Tax Code clearer, more understandable, and less 
burdensome for America's tax filers. We will address the issue of 
Internet tax, for example. We will work hard to pass manufacturing tax 
incentives.
  Each of these will reduce the burden that the Government imposes on 
American workers and on American businesses. They, too, are critical to 
adding jobs to the economy. Reducing taxes on manufacturing profits 
especially will increase the competitiveness of American businesses by 
creating a fairer and a more sound system of taxing income. We will 
work hard this year to lower manufacturing taxes and streamline the Tax 
Code; all of that as we focus on taxes because taxes ultimately is not 
about dollars but about people--people who go to work every day, who 
start businesses, who hire new workers, who contribute to their 
communities, who raise their families, and who expand the economy.
  Tax relief and tax reform grow the range of opportunities for people 
to make the very best choices for themselves and for their families, 
whether that is to spend their hard-earned dollars on a dishwasher or 
whether it might be to take the family on a vacation.
  For some families, however, the choices are stark. They are not 
thinking about even a new dishwasher. They are not thinking about a 
vacation. They struggle just to pay the bills. Often health insurance 
for their loved ones is a necessity they do without.

[[Page 175]]

  The President last night mentioned the importance of addressing the 
cost of health care today. Forty-four million people are uninsured in 
this country. It varies between 40 million and 44 million. Whatever the 
figure is, it is too high. The primary cause is the cost of health 
insurance. It is one of the most daunting policy challenges facing our 
Nation.
  As a physician, it is clear to me that if somebody does not have 
health insurance they simply don't get good care or high-quality care. 
They do not tend to get things that are important in preventing 
diseases such as preventive services. The uninsured are four times less 
likely to receive needed medical and health treatment. The uninsured 
are five times less likely to obtain prescription drugs. The uninsured 
are four times more likely to enter the health care system through the 
emergency room.
  The lack of affordable health care coverage is also one of the key 
factors accounting for the health care disparities among minorities--
addressing specifically access to quality care.
  As we heard last night, the President offered specific proposals. He 
didn't just say we need to address the problem by saying we are going 
to take care of everybody no matter what it costs and sort of stick 
one's head in the sand about the issue or overpromise. The President 
offered very specific proposals which we in this body should consider.
  Refundable tax credits for low- and middle-income Americans are 
important. It means that people who are on the margin and can't afford 
health care insurance all of a sudden have a pool of resources to be 
able to buy that insurance.
  He proposed to expand the number of community health centers and to 
increase access to this new entity of health savings accounts where 
you, in essence, own your health savings account. You are able to put 
in money tax free and take it out tax free. You control that health 
care dollar.
  He introduced the concept last night of making the premiums 
deductible, to encourage and to make it more affordable to have these 
health savings accounts.
  We have to control costs through, as I mentioned earlier, addressing 
head on the frivolous and unnecessary medical lawsuits.
  The President mentioned promoting association health plans--again, a 
specific proposal. It will be debated on the floor of the Senate.
  But the point is the President says we need to reduce the cost of the 
health insurance policies. He feels very strongly that one of the 
answers would be lowering the cost by allowing association health plans 
to enter the market and to compete.
  In this body, I have asked Senator Judd Gregg to lead a Senate 
Republican task force to explore ways in which this body can respond to 
the uninsured--this daunting challenge which is before us.
  America is a strong nation. America is a compassionate nation. We are 
committed to protecting the most vulnerable before us. The President 
last night mentioned immigration policy. The reception to his 
immigration policy statements from a few weeks ago has been very mixed. 
We know that. A lot of people are getting phone calls from 
constituents. But the point is the President says this is a problem, 
and the reality is we have 8 million people or 9 million people in this 
country who are in the shadows. We don't know who they are or where 
they are or what they are doing. Our immigration policy is outdated. It 
must be addressed.
  Indeed, in this body we must address immigration policy. I have asked 
my chairmen of the appropriate committees to come together and see what 
the appropriate response is in discussing, pulling together and 
addressing what the immigration policy might be and to report back.
  It was feared that the President's plan was either amnesty or 
welfare. But the President was very direct last night. This year we 
will work to find ways to improve the system.
  In 2004, we will also work to build on the success of the No Child 
Left Behind Act and the education bill. We are committed to improving 
Head Start and making sure that every child in America learns.
  We will also address the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 
in this session, and to get education out of the courtroom and into the 
classroom focusing on the individual--to focus on individuals 
themselves who have disabilities and to make sure they have that 
opportunity to learn. We will examine how we can expand access to 
higher education. The President last night mentioned the support for 
community colleges. If you are a minority or your family is poor, you 
are less likely to attend college. We must examine how to close this 
gap so that college is within reach for all children, regardless of 
race, regardless of income. We will work hard in this body this year to 
make sure, from Head Start all the way up through college, every child 
in America has that opportunity to learn and to achieve.
  Our commitment to opportunity also brings me to mention welfare 
recipients as they work to gain independence and self-reliance. Since 
the enactment of the historic 1996 welfare law, 5.4 million fewer 
people live in poverty than when the law was passed. Caseloads have 
declined by more than half. Families once trapped in the clutches of 
government dependency are now on those first rungs of the economic 
ladder.
  It is by no means an easy climb, but these hard-working Americans are 
succeeding for themselves, they are succeeding for their families. 
Today, 2.8 million fewer children live in poverty. Among African-
American children, poverty has dropped to its lowest level ever.
  Welfare reform is working. It is working because it is based on the 
belief that everyone can succeed if given the chance. This year, in 
this body, we will work to extend the promise of welfare reform which 
is at its heart the promise of the American dream.
  As we move America forward on the domestic front, we must also 
continue to meet international challenges to the safety and security of 
the American people. There are many but none more important than the 
war on terror. The fight against terror will be a long and difficult 
struggle, unlike any struggle this Nation has known before. Let there 
be no mistake about it; we are at war, but we will prevail. Already we 
have made tremendous progress. After years of indifference to the 
threat of terrorism, the U.S. Government has, under the leadership of 
President Bush, made enormous strides in taking the fight to the 
terrorists. In just 2 years, America has toppled two terrorist-
sponsoring regimes. In just 2 years, America has liberated millions of 
people. In just 2 years, America has brought avowed adversaries to the 
table of peace. Our bold, tough, unwavering leadership has yielded 
spectacular results. As the President said last night in the State of 
the Union Message, ``No one can doubt the word of America.''
  Previously recalcitrant rulers are beginning to cooperate in the war 
on terror. After seeing our troops roll into Baghdad, the Libyan 
dictator, Muammar Qadhafi, called the Italian Prime Minister and said: 
I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in 
Iraq and I am afraid. Libya will now dismantle its nuclear weapons 
programs and join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
  With the military defeat of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and 
Saddam's regime in Iraq, American diplomacy has been further 
strengthened toward ending the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and 
Iran. North Korea and Iran now feel the combined pressure of the 
international community to abandon their nuclear ambitions. I am 
confident in time they will.
  Finally, change wrought by war has given old adversaries an 
opportunity to lay aside their grievances and begin the work of peace. 
India and Pakistan have agreed to peace talks. Syria has established 
diplomatic relations with Turkey. In each case, the opportunity to 
pursue a new course of peace between these historic antagonists is a 
direct result of the United States determination to oppose 
international terrorists and the regimes that sponsor them.

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  This is not to say the war against terrorism has been won. We are far 
from that. Yasser Arafat continues to cling to the tools of terror, 
frustrating the latest efforts for peace in the Middle East. In 
Colombia, a courageous new government fights a stubborn terrorist 
movement. But with clear-eyed determination we can find solutions to 
these conflicts as well.
  Victory in the war against terrorism is inevitable because of the 
leadership of our President, because of the perseverance of our people 
and, most of all, because of the courage and sacrifice of our men and 
women in uniform. Every day they serve the Nation, our service men and 
women give this Nation their very best. They are not the first, but 
they are the latest generation to take up and bear arms, to travel from 
home and loved ones and risk all so we may live in safety, so we may 
live in peace. They deserve our deep gratitude.
  I take one final moment to pay a special thanks to the 101st Airborne 
which is based in my home State of Tennessee and also in the adjoining 
State of Kentucky. Under the leadership of MG David Petraeus, a friend, 
the 101st is doing extraordinary work. You may remember it was the 
101st that found and dispatched Uday and Qusay Hussein in Mosul. Since 
then, the 101st has moved more quickly than any other American unit in 
training guards and policemen for the new Iraqi civil defense guard.
  They have also shown that the Iraqi people have tremendous generosity 
in their relationships with the United States. They have demonstrated 
the generosity through their action, through the action of the 101st 
Airborne, the generosity, the heart displayed by our service men and 
women in helping Iraq rebuild its infrastructure, rebuild its civic 
institutions and, even more fundamentally, the pride and hope of the 
people in Iraq, that pride and hope in the future. Together with the 
support of the Congress and the American people, the 101st is helping 
plant the seed of democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
  There is yet much to be done, but it must be said that none of these 
developments was even imaginable 3 years ago. Because of the 
extraordinary leadership of President Bush and the courage of our men 
and women in uniform, America is safer. Millions of people around the 
world are for the first time free.
  Strengthening our homeland security, prosecuting this war on terror, 
addressing domestic issues such as education and health care and tort 
reform are just a few of the issues we will address this year. The 
President's judicial nominees will get the up-or-down vote they 
deserve. We will not allow a small minority of Senators to thwart our 
constitutional duty to advise and consent.
  Look for action to protect unborn victims of violence, child custody 
protection, gun liability, bankruptcy, and many other legislative 
efforts.
  We have laid out an ambitious agenda, one worthy of a great nation, 
one that will require strong, bipartisan work. We will be aggressive. 
We will fulfill our duty to serve the American people and make our 
Nation strong.
  Some cynics say in a narrowly divided Congress, especially during an 
election year, that we are doomed to gridlock, that we can accomplish 
little. I strongly disagree. I believe everyone in this Chamber will do 
what is right and what is best for the American people and that is to 
move America forward.
  There is much to be done and there is no time to waste. I thank my 
fellow Senators for their dedication. I look forward to another 
extraordinary year in the Senate.
  I yield the floor.

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