[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1550-1551]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE LETTER

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, when President Bush was elected, he said 
that he wanted to be a uniter and not a divider. We took him at his 
word. The last 4 years have not worked out well. There has not been 
much unity in Washington, but a lot of divisive matters come before us 
and the tone has not been good.
  The day after this last election when the President was reelected he 
called me when I was in Las Vegas and we had a very pleasant meeting on 
the telephone. He said he wanted to get along. He wanted to set a 
better tone in Washington.
  This past Wednesday, the State of the Union Message was given. The 
President said the same thing there--he wanted to get along, to 
cooperate.
  Today, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, ``Rollcall,'' has a front page 
story: ``RNC Turns Up Heat on Reid.'' It is a big story. It says among 
other things that they are sending out a 13-page research document, the 
RNC, the Republican National Committee, ``a 13-page research document 
today to roughly 1 million people . . . detailing Reid's . . .''--what 
they don't like about me, saying what they want to do is just like they 
did to Daschle.
  I don't think the President of the United States can say one thing 
and then do something else and get away with it. Is this how he wants 
to be a uniter, not divider? He cannot distance himself from the 
Republican National Committee. The Republican National Committee is his 
committee. He picks the chairman. He picks everybody there. He raises 
the money for it. It is the President's organization. He can't say one 
thing to the American people and to the Democratic leader of the Senate 
and then send out scurrilous letters saying that I am a bad guy, in 
great detail. I mean, is President George Bush a man of his word? Is 
what he is telling the American people just a charade?
  Last Wednesday, just a few days ago, as I have mentioned, he said 
that he was going to reach out to the Democrats. This is a strange way 
to reach out.
  Mr. President, I call upon you to repudiate this document, to tell 
the Republican National Committee don't mail it. Tell them not to send 
it. We haven't dealt with one piece of legislation here on the Senate 
floor, yet they are sending out, to a million people, what they think 
is to have Reid roughed up a little bit.
  What politics is all about, what government is all about, is honesty, 
integrity--not phoniness. Why didn't he stand and tell the American 
people last Wednesday that one of the first items of business we were 
going to do in Washington is send out a hit piece on the Democratic 
leader? If he is honest with the American people, why doesn't he just 
call it the way it is? It is going to be politics as usual, directed 
from 16th and Pennsylvania Avenue. Honesty, integrity and truth--if 
those are the watch words of this President, he will repudiate what his 
Republican National Committee is doing.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maine is recognized.

[[Page 1551]]


  Ms. COLLINS. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Ms. Collins pertaining to the introduction of S. 300 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Dole). The Senator from Rhode Island is 
recognized.

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