Thomas Daschle: “let me just say this before I make my final comments. Senator Kennedy is on the floor and I want to acknowledge, as I…”

“let me just say this before I make my final comments. Senator Kennedy is on the floor and I want to acknowledge, as I did just now upstairs and as I did a couple of weeks ago as we completed our work on the education bill, a historic and landmark piece of legislation, how grateful I am, once again, to the senior Senator from Massachusetts, the chairman of the Health, Education, and Labor Committee. I have said privately and publicly that I believe he is one of the most historic figures our Chamber has ever had the pleasure of witnessing. We saw, again, the leadership and the remarkable ability that he has to legislate over the course of the last couple of weeks. I didn't think that what he had to endure in the education bill could have been any harder. In many respects, I think the last 2 weeks were harder. It was harder reaching a consensus. We had very difficult and contentious issues to confront, amendments to consider. In all of it, he, once again, took his responsibilities as we would expect of him-- with fairness, with courtesy, and with a display of empathy for all Members, the likes of which you just do not see on the Senate floor. So on behalf of all of our caucus, I daresay on behalf of the Senate, I thank Senator Kennedy, our chairman, for the work he has done. I also acknowledge and thank our colleague from North Carolina, Senator John Edwards. Senator Edwards has done a remarkable job.…”