[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23355-23356]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF THE 108TH CONGRESS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, as we set to adjourn, I think back to 
what I said earlier this year about the need to set aside bitter 
partisanship and move towards a new politics of common ground.
  During campaigns, candidates and parties should be clear about where 
we stand on the issues and how we differ with our opponents so that 
voters can make a choice. That is an essential part of democracy. But 
we also have a responsibility to work together constructively, where we 
can, to find common ground.
  It is not simple, but it is the essential ingredient to making 
Congress work for the American people.
  By this measure, the record of the 108th Congress is mixed.
  At times, we have been able to work across party lines and, as a 
result, we have been able to make meaningful progress on some of the 
issues and challenges that matter most to Americans.
  There is no better example than the National Intelligence Reform Act. 
Senators from both parties worked together with the members of the 9/11 
Commission and the families of the victims of 9/11 to pass real 
intelligence reform that will make our Government better able to deal 
with the new threats we face, and make Americans safer in the process.
  This legislation passed 96-2. It demonstrated how much common cause 
we can find--and how much we can do--when we put the needs of Americans 
first.
  There have been other examples through the course of the 108th 
Congress.
  We passed commonsense tax relief for middle-class families, ending 
the marriage penalty and extending the child tax credits. Under this 
new law, the 70,000 families in South Dakota will benefit from a $1,000 
per child tax credit
  We passed legislation protecting the pensions of 35 million 
Americans.
  Notwithstanding the majority's claims, the Senate confirmed 201 of 
the President's 211 judicial nominations--95 percent--and the judicial 
vacancy rate now stands at an historic low.
  I am particularly pleased that Senator Johnson and I have been able 
to work with our colleagues to advance measures deeply important to the 
citizens of South Dakota.
  We honored the service of our National Guard members and Reservists 
by extending their access to the military's TRICARE health care system.
  We approved key incentives for the ethanol industry that will mean 
thousands of jobs for South Dakota and millions of dollars in revenue 
for South Dakota farmers.
  And we have offered significant help to farmers and ranchers 
struggling to deal with the effects of the 5-year drought.
  Each of these accomplishments was the product of bipartisan 
leadership. They testify to the fact that the Senate can make progress 
for the American people when we put aside partisanship and focus on the 
real challenges facing Americans.
  We all agree, however, that those moments were far too rare.
  On a number of occasions, the Republican leadership pursued an all-
or-nothing strategy that can be poisonous to the legislative process.
  One of the most regrettable instances was the Transportation bill. In 
February, we passed legislation to modernize our transportation 
infrastructure and create 2 million jobs by an overwhelming, bipartisan 
margin. But despite that, the White House and House blocked the Senate 
bill from becoming law.
  The same process was at work with the Energy bill. The Senate passed 
a bipartisan bill that had few controversial provisions. But once the 
Republican leadership insisted on attaching poison pill provisions, 
this bill became impossible to pass.
  The same all-or-nothing approach kept us from passing a bipartisan 
gun liability bill.
  It doomed a bipartisan effort to bring down the cost of prescription 
drugs for America's seniors by enabling them to shop for better prices 
across the border.
  It prevented us from raising the minimum wage at a time when millions 
of Americans work full time yet still live and raise their families in 
poverty.
  And it kept the Senate from passing a mental health parity bill that 
has 77 cosponsors in the Senate and 249 in the House.
  There is a long list of bipartisan legislation that has been left 
undone. That list exists solely because the leadership put the needs of 
American families behind those of insurance companies, drug companies, 
HMOs, and other special interests. Rather than listening to the voices 
of the American people, they have worked to advance rigid ideological 
theories.
  Nowhere has that dogmatic stance been more damaging than to the 
budget and appropriations process.
  The minimum requirement of any Congress, our most basic 
responsibility, is to pass the appropriations bills that enable our 
Government to continue working for the American people.
  At the beginning of the 108th Congress in 2003, we were told that the 
White House and Republican leadership would ensure the budget and 
appropriations process ran more smoothly than ever before.
  But each of the last 2 years, the process has broken down. Last year, 
the Republican leadership was forced to resort to an omnibus spending 
bill that combined seven different appropriations bills.
  This year, we might return after the November elections to vote on a 
massive omnibus spending bill that sews

[[Page 23356]]

 together nine different appropriations bills.
  This is not merely a difference of procedure. We all know that 
omnibus spending bills are fundamentally undemocratic, because they 
deny the American people the right to have their representatives the 
chance to vote on the details of how the Government is spending their 
money.
  Omnibus bills are invitations to abuse. Last year, for instance, the 
Republican leadership used conference negotiations to attach to the 
omnibus a series of provisions that could never have passed the House 
or Senate on their own. We don't know what provisions will be attached 
to the omnibus this time, and we won't until the spending bill comes 
out of conference in November.
  One thing is clear. This is not the way the Framers intended us to 
legislate or fund our Government. And it is not what the American 
people sent us here to do. They deserve better. They deserve leadership 
that put their needs first.
  Throughout this Congress, we should have applied a simple test to our 
work. With each piece of legislation that came before us, we should 
have asked: Does it do right by America? Does it do right by our troops 
fighting for our security overseas? Does it do right by the seniors who 
need help buying prescription drugs? Does it do right by middle-class 
families struggling to make ends meet? Does it do right by our children 
whose future is in our hands?
  Doing right by America demands a politics of common ground. We were 
able to achieve this common ground for the people of South Dakota.
  And as the Intelligence Reform Act proved, Congress is able to put 
aside partisan politics for the sake of all America, as well.
  We are capable of doing right by America. We have made progress, but 
clearly there is much work left to be done.
  I look forward to taking up this work again next year, tackling the 
challenges of the American people, creating a true politics of common 
ground, and doing right by America.

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