[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16738-16740]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         DOING RIGHT BY AMERICA

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, in just over 100 days, the American 
people will make an historic and fateful decision. They will decide 
whether we stay the course we are on or move our country in a new and 
better direction.
  As I have traveled around South Dakota and the Nation, I have heard a 
lot about the hopes and dreams Americans have for their families. I 
have listened to ranchers and farmers, teachers and mothers, police 
officers and firefighters. I am always humbled by the honesty of their 
message.
  Families in South Dakota and across our Nation aren't asking for 
special deals or special advantage. All they want is a fair opportunity 
on a level playing field. They want to know that there is only one set 
of rules, and that the game isn't rigged against them. Most of all, 
they want to know that as we make decisions affecting the future of our 
country, our first priority is doing right by America.
  If a policy isn't going to make us stronger and safer, if it is not 
going to expand opportunity and put common sense ahead of ideology, 
then it is not doing right by America.
  Doing right by America rejects the defeatist view that we have enough 
money to rebuild Iraq, but not enough resources to take care of 
America.
  At its heart, doing right by America means fulfilling our moral 
responsibility--together--to create a better future for our children 
and grandchildren. It is a simple value that Americans have always 
lived by, but it has been pushed aside these last 4 years. Boardroom 
priorities have crowded out kitchen-table needs, and special 
interests--like Enron, Halliburton, and the giant oil companies--have 
undermined our common purpose. Years of progress in spreading 
opportunity for regular Americans has been turned on its head.
  We are all proud that America is a place of great wealth and success. 
But the genius of America has never been just the ability of the rich 
to get richer. The true genius of America has always been the promise 
that all Americans who work hard and play by the rules will have the 
opportunity to succeed.
  The promise of opportunity is what inspired my grandparents, and tens 
of millions of other immigrants, to start a new life here. And nearly 
every day, I hear a new story that reminds me that my most important 
responsibility is defending the opportunity of regular Americans to 
build a better life for themselves and their children.
  Middle-class families deserve an opportunity to compete for good jobs 
that reward work. They deserve an opportunity to send their children to 
good schools, and then on to good colleges and universities, without 
busting the family budget. They deserve an opportunity to purchase 
health insurance at a reasonable price so they can see a doctor--one 
they choose--when they are sick or injured, and so they can fill a 
prescription if their doctor writes one. They deserve the opportunity 
to be safe--safe in their communities and safe in their homes. And, 
after a lifetime of hard work and years of paying into Social Security, 
they deserve the opportunity to retire with dignity and security.
  That is not a lot to ask. But in some ways, it is everything. 
Widening the circle of opportunity and prosperity--year after year, 
decade after decade--is what makes America great. It is our heritage, 
and it must be our legacy.
  But today, those with power often seem to have lost sight of this 
fundamental value and the difference between right and wrong. We saw 
that a few months ago, when a major telecommunications company gave one 
of its executives a severance package worth more than $8 million. This 
executive had worked there for only 7 months, and he was leaving 
because he hadn't done his job well. As the company handed the failed 
executive his $8 million check, it handed out something else to 12,000 
of its rank-and-file workers: pink slips. That is not doing right.
  Around that same time, a man I have known for years called my office. 
His name is Brad Besler. He is 47 and a fourth-generation rancher in 
western South Dakota. He and his wife, Fern, have five children--four 
have graduated from college, and the youngest is still in grade school. 
Brad called my office because South Dakota is entering its fifth 
straight year of drought and he is worried. Two years ago, the drought 
was so bad, and trying to survive it was so stressful, that he suffered 
a stroke that left him blind in one eye. A few months ago, he had 
another stroke.

[[Page 16739]]

  If the drought is anywhere near as bad this year, he says he will 
have to sell his entire herd of cattle--the only income his family has. 
If that happens, he will have to drop his family's health insurance, 
which runs $896 a month.
  He is trying desperately to avoid that because--with a blind eye, a 
bad back, and a history of strokes--he knows that if he loses his 
coverage, it will be next to impossible for him to ever get health 
insurance again.
  Listening to Brad Besler, two things strike you. The first is his 
incredible courage and willingness to work hard to support his family. 
The second is that Brad's government seems to have forgotten about him.
  We are not doing right by Brad Besler. And in my view, we are not 
doing right by America when we hand over millions to a lucky few who 
already have so much, while ignoring the real needs of those who are 
working so hard and so honestly.
  But that is exactly what is happening in America today. There is an 
ever growing list of government policies that reward wealth, not work. 
That is not an accident; it is a conscious choice.
  With Republicans in control of the entire Federal Government, it 
often seems as if their leaders are trying to narrow the circle of 
opportunity and prosperity in America. And they have put the needs of 
middle-class families on the back burner.
  We see that even as the economy slowly improves. Corporations reap 
most of the benefits, while regular workers continue to struggle. In 
fact, during this recovery, corporations have gotten twice their normal 
share of the increase in national income, while workers have received 
their lowest share in over 50 years.
  As the chief economist at Merrill Lynch observed: ``We've had a 
redistribution of income to the corporate sector.''
  Or as Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in America, put it: 
``If there's class warfare going on, my class is winning.''
  That isn't good for most American families, and it isn't doing right 
by America.
  We can do better, and we have done better. During the Clinton 
administration, America created 21 million new private-sector jobs. 
Now, just 4 years later, the Bush administration is on track to have 
the worst job-creation record since the Great Depression.
  During the first 2\1/2\ years of the Bush administration, we lost 
over 3 million private-sector jobs. And although the economy has 
finally started to recover some jobs in recent months, the new jobs 
pay, on average, 13 percent less than the jobs they are replacing.
  As a result, too many average families are losing ground, even as 
they work harder and harder. And to make matters worse, the Bush 
administration continues to demand that millions of employees lose 
their right to overtime pay.
  Since President Bush took office, real weekly earnings for average 
Americans have not grown at all--but their expenses have soared. Gas 
prices have gone up 23 percent; college tuition has gone up 28 percent; 
and health care premiums have gone up 36 percent.
  And while the middle class is getting squeezed, huge corporations are 
growing rich. While consumers are struggling with record gas prices, 
Chevron-Texaco is reporting record profits. While family incomes have 
stagnated, overall corporate profits have risen by more than 50 
percent.
  A generation ago, the average American CEO made about 50 times more 
than the average worker. Now, thanks to bad policies and even worse 
values, the average CEO makes 300 times more than the average worker.
  That is just not right. And unless we change course, it is going to 
get worse.
  Instead of fighting to keep good jobs here, Republican leaders in 
Washington are using tax breaks to reward companies for shipping jobs 
overseas. Businesses are walking jobs out of the country, and the 
government is holding the door for them.
  A few months ago, President Bush's top economic adviser told us that 
sending jobs overseas ``is probably a plus for the economy, in the long 
run. The President believes this.''
  The President also seems to believe it is okay to send millions of 
dollars in unemployment pay to former Iraqi soldiers, while denying 
help to American workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas.
  That is doing wrong by America.
  As the election nears, the President's economic team has been 
grasping for ways to make a bad economy sound good. To deal with the 
loss of more than 2 million manufacturing jobs, they floated the idea 
of redefining ``manufacturing jobs'' to include fast-food workers 
preparing Big Macs and Whoppers. Manufacturing once meant building cars 
or fabricating steel for good wages. Now the Bush administration says 
it might mean putting a burger on a bun for minimum wage.
  That is not being straight with America.
  And we are not doing right by America by running up trillions in new 
debt and pretending it is not a problem.
  During the Clinton administration, we turned huge deficits into 
record surpluses. Now, just 4 years later, $5 trillion of expected 
surpluses have turned into $3 trillion of new debt. As a result, we are 
giving our children something they don't want and don't deserve: a 
$25,000 birth tax. That is the share of our national debt owed by every 
child in America. My two grandchildren both inherited that debt the 
moment they were born.
  It wasn't long ago that Republicans came to Washington promising 
fiscal discipline. Instead of keeping that promise, they have taken us 
on a 4-year fiscal binge that has squandered record budget surpluses 
and created record budget deficits.
  In 2000, Republican leaders, including President Bush, promised that 
``[t]he Social Security surplus is off-limits, off budget, and will not 
be touched.'' Four years later, they have already raided $500 billion 
from Social Security to pay for tax cuts, and they are planning to take 
another $2.4 trillion--$2.4 trillion--over the next 10 years.
  That is your money. It comes out of your paycheck. It is supposed to 
be there when you retire. It is not supposed to be used to pay for tax 
breaks for millionaire CEOs or to reward companies for shipping 
American jobs overseas.
  Looting Social Security is not doing right by American workers and 
retirees, and we can't let it happen.
  The Bush administration is draining trillions from Social Security, 
borrowing hundreds of billions from China and Japan to pay our debts, 
sending billions of dollars to Iraq for roads and schools, and then 
planning on cutting billions here at home for education, environmental 
protection, medical research, Head Start, and nutrition programs for 
pregnant women and children. The administration even wants to cut $1 
billion from homeland security at the very time it is warning of likely 
new terrorist attacks.
  That is not doing right by America, and it doesn't make any sense. 
But this administration is making a habit of decisions that don't make 
much sense.
  A couple of months ago, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
defended the administration's plan to provide health care to all 
Iraqis, but not to all Americans. He said, ``Even if you don't have 
health insurance in America, you get taken care of. That could be 
defined as universal coverage.''
  Try telling that to the nearly 44 million Americans who are 
uninsured--4 million more than when George Bush took office--and the 
millions more who are under-insured.
  Try telling that to the millions of families who, year after year, 
are watching out-of-control health insurance premiums bust the family 
budget.
  Or try telling that to the Lakota woman in South Dakota whose sister 
died a few months ago from a stomach cancer that went undetected 
because the Indian Health Service didn't have money to refer her to a 
specialist.
  In America today, seniors can't afford the medicine they need and 
have discovered that last year's Medicare law is a sham that provides 
billions to insurance and drug companies. Many veterans can't use the 
VA health system anymore because of arbitrary,

[[Page 16740]]

budget-driven barriers to care. And 32,000 National Guard members and 
reservists who are serving in Iraq will lose their health coverage when 
they come home because the Bush administration refuses to extend their 
coverage.
  These aren't unintended consequences. They are clear choices.
  When record debt makes it difficult to repair our crumbling roads and 
bridges, fund our children's schools, support our police and 
firefighters, and honor our commitment to America's veterans, that is 
the result of bad choices.
  When American soldiers are sent into combat without armor in their 
protective vests, when they are losing limbs and sacrificing their 
lives because there aren't enough armored cars, when health services 
are being cut for veterans, and when the Bush administration says that 
there isn't enough money to let reservists and Guard members buy into 
the military health system, that is the result of bad choices.
  These choices don't do right by America, and we need to change them.
  There is something else we need to change. In the last 4 years, we 
have seen more and more secrecy and less and less accountability in the 
Bush administration.
  During the past few years, a small group of courageous individuals 
has stepped forward and said things this administration didn't want to 
hear and didn't want anyone else to know. In every case, their 
patriotism, honesty, or competence was attacked.
  Senator John McCain found that out. So did the President's former 
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. And so did Medicare actuary Richard 
Foster, former Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki, and former 
White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke.
  When Ambassador Joe Wilson told the truth about the administration's 
misleading claims about Iraq's nuclear weapon capability, some 
Government officials retaliated by disclosing that his wife was a deep-
cover CIA agent. For nothing more than political gain, they were 
willing to endanger the life of one of the people who protect our 
national security.
  That is not doing right by America. Those aren't our morals, and they 
aren't our values.
  In the America I know, moms and dads sit at the kitchen table every 
month and balance the family checkbook. When the car breaks down or 
there are unexpected doctor visits, there is a pinch. They don't expect 
the Government to bail them out when that happens, but they want a fair 
shake. They want their Government to focus on jobs and health care and 
education, and they don't want their Government to take their Social 
Security money to pay for tax breaks for millionaires and big 
corporations.
  They want their Government to do right by them, and they have a right 
to expect that. But when they see oil industry interests coming before 
their interests, HMO profits coming before the health of seniors, and 
special deals for Halliburton coming before the safety of their sons 
and daughters in Iraq, they know their Government isn't doing right by 
America.
  I am as frustrated as they are about these choices, but I am not 
discouraged about our ability to fix things. We can and we will. We can 
get America back on track by doing right by America.
  Doing right by America means putting our common interests ahead of 
the special interests. It means paying as much attention to middle 
America as we are paying to the Middle East. And it means bringing 
common sense back to Government.
  We should be thinking not just about the people who own Wal-Mart, but 
about the millions of Americans who work and shop there.
  We should be changing tax polices so corporations have an incentive 
to keep jobs here at home, not ship them overseas, and we should 
aggressively enforce our trade laws to protect workers from unfair 
competition.
  We should be improving roads and bridges and creating millions of 
jobs along the way, and investing in education, training, and 
technological innovation so workers who have lost jobs can find new 
ones, and workers who have jobs can get better ones.
  And if we are truly going to do right by American workers, it is long 
past time that we increase the minimum wage, and it is absolutely 
essential that we stop the Bush administration from following through 
with its plan to strip millions of workers of their right to overtime 
pay.
  Doing right by America means honestly confronting the health care 
crisis in our country, not pretending that it doesn't exist. As a first 
step, we should provide every American with the opportunity to choose 
from the same health care options, at the same price, as Members of 
Congress have. If it is good enough for those of us in Government, it 
ought to be an option for every American who needs health insurance.
  Doing right by America means an honest prescription drug policy that 
doesn't funnel billions of dollars in windfalls to drug companies and 
HMOs, but instead offers seniors the medications they need at a fair 
price--without the mind-boggling complexity of the Bush 
administration's drug plan.
  It means properly funding our children's schools and giving every 
American family a guarantee: If your sons and daughters work hard in 
school and get good grades, they will have a first-rate and affordable 
college education waiting for them the day they graduate from high 
school.
  And it means putting our Nation on the road to energy independence. 
The next generation should be able to look forward to a future that is 
not put at risk by unrestrained pollution and a dangerous dependence on 
foreign oil.
  Finally, doing right by America means being honest about performance, 
both at home and abroad. It is not pessimistic to acknowledge the 
problems workers have endured over the past 4 years; it is pessimistic 
to think that we can't do better.
  And it doesn't endanger our troops to ask questions that might save 
their lives. If we are going to do right by them, we have to stand up 
for them, even if that means asking tough questions about the 
administration and its policies. And when our troops return home, we 
have to make sure they receive the medical attention they earned. We 
owe them more than empty promises.
  We will have a clear choice in November. We can continue on the 
course we are on, where special interests come before common interests, 
where boardroom issues come before kitchen-table issues, and where 
opportunity is reserved for a small, members-only club. Or we can 
choose a new and better direction.
  Doing right by America means that our values guide our policies. Our 
strength comes from opportunity and responsibility--and a commitment to 
making sure that our middle-class has a fair chance. It means fixing 
health care, creating good jobs again, and making education affordable.
  Mr. President, we can do this, and we should do it together. Doing 
right by America shouldn't be an idea we just talk about, it should be 
the value that guides all our decisions in Congress.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair inquires of the Democratic 
leader, the Democratic leader has used time in excess of his leader 
time. Is it the intent that be charged against the time he had under 
his control under the previous order, or is that time outside that 
previous order?
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask that 10 minutes of the time that I 
consumed be applied against the Democratic morning business time.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has consumed more than that 
time. He wishes to have 10 minutes of that time counted against that 
time?
  Mr. DASCHLE. Correct.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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