Thomas Daschle: “one of the advantages of a lame duck session is it gives us a little longer before we have to say good-bye to departing…”

“one of the advantages of a lame duck session is it gives us a little longer before we have to say good-bye to departing colleagues. Quite a few members of our Senate family will not be with us when the 108th Congress begins in January. From the moment we first step foot on this floor, most of us are powerfully aware that we are links in an extraordinary chain of history. When we open our desks, we see carved or penned in them the names of those who served in this body before us. Over in the historic Old Senate Chamber, we can almost hear the voices Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John Calhoun. Here in this Chamber, we walk in the footsteps on such leaders as leaders like Lyndon Johnson, Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker. Once you have served here, you never leave here entirely. Every Senator who has ever served here remains here in some form. That connection is not only carved in our desks. It is carried in those with whom we serve.”