Byron Dorgan: “last Friday morning we had an issues conference with the Democratic caucus at the Library of Congress, just across the…”

“last Friday morning we had an issues conference with the Democratic caucus at the Library of Congress, just across the street from this building. Those of us in the Democratic caucus in the Senate--and there are 50 of us in a 100-person Senate-- spent the day talking about the issues we want to raise during this Congress. We invited President Bush to come by this issues conference, which I believe was unprecedented. As chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, I recommended we invite the new President. He came and made a very short presentation to us--very general and very cordial. We asked a series of questions, and then he departed. We were very pleased he did come by to our issues conference. One of the things he said in discussing issues with the Democratic caucus was that when he campaigned for the Presidency, he campaigned on certain issues, and he said: I intend to pursue those issues as President, and there will be time when we disagree, but we should be able to do that without being personal and without being disagreeable. He understands that there are times we will disagree as a matter of public policy, and that is the way democracy works. There is an old saying that when everyone in the room is thinking the same thing, no one is really thinking very much. That is certainly true in public policy.”