Paul Coverdell: “day before yesterday, our conference introduced our agenda for the 106th Congress. We all know that the Senate is in a…”

“day before yesterday, our conference introduced our agenda for the 106th Congress. We all know that the Senate is in a very stressful period. But we have said time and time again that the people's business is going to continue. If anything, the presence of all Members of the Senate has accelerated our attention-- the Presiding Officer and I talked about that earlier today-- accelerated the work of the people's business. But the outlining of this agenda is extremely important and says volumes about our view of what is good for America and what this Congress, the 106th, will be highly focused upon. There are five core areas that were defined by Majority Leader Lott, other members of leadership, and our conference: No. 1: Saving and strengthening of Social Security to create a more secure retirement system for all generations--not just some. No. 2: Improving education opportunities for every American child, regardless of circumstances. We all know--and last night the President acknowledged--that we have an enormous problem in kindergarten through high school. In the last Congress, the 105th, our conference put education No. 1. I predicted then that we were going to stay with it. And we are. Nothing could be more important. No. 3: Providing tax relief and economic opportunity for working families.…”