Evan Bayh: “I rise today as someone who was invited to Austin, TX, several weeks before the new year to discuss with our new…”

“I rise today as someone who was invited to Austin, TX, several weeks before the new year to discuss with our new President the cause of bipartisanship when it comes to improving the quality of our public schools. I rise as someone who was in the White House several nights ago to discuss with the President bipartisanship when it comes to improving the quality of health care. I rise as someone who wants to work with this President to enact a fiscally responsible tax cut. I rise as someone who shares his conviction that faith-based organizations have much to contribute to the welfare and well-being of our country. I rise as someone who deplores the gridlock in recent years and politics of personal destruction and yearns to return to bipartisanship and principled compromise for the sake of the United States of America. Because of all these things and all we can accomplish together, I also rise to express my opposition to the President's nomination of John Ashcroft to be the next Attorney General of the United States of America.”