Trent Lott: “I want to thank Senator Daschle for his opening statement. I see a lot in his remarks that should give us encouragement…”

“I want to thank Senator Daschle for his opening statement. I see a lot in his remarks that should give us encouragement and hope that we can come together and achieve things that need to be done this year in the Congress for the American people. Regardless of party, regardless of past difficulties, we should try to find a way to work together. There's a common word between what Senator Daschle said and what I will be saying, if you look at what we have in our remarks and the thrust of those remarks. That word is ``security.'' We need to pay close attention this year more than ever to that issue, that word. We need strong national security. We need to make sure that our men and women have the tools, the weapons, whatever they need to deal with the threat of terrorism and with threatened democracy wherever we may find it in the world. We also need to have personal security for our people here at home. Last year brought so many startling things to our attention. Never before had we been attacked here at home like we were last year. And so, this year working on homeland security, working on personal security, we have to find a way to protect American people. Surely that's one of the obligations that we have as a Congress, to at least be safe and secure here at home. The only way we can look after our national security and personal security is to have economic security.”