Thomas Daschle

Providing as high a quality of life as we can guarantee is a critical goal for us as we look at health reform and as it pertains especially to the disability community.

We have cost problems. We have access problems. But as you rightfully point out in your question, we certainly have quality problems.

This is something that really does deserve a framework, a national framework.

I think we need to change the paradigm in this country on health.

We try to work together, when possible, to write legislation that focuses on what we can agree on--not what divides us.

It is no longer an illness-driven system, it is a wellness-driven system.

I think that the cost of the status quo, the cost of doing nothing may be the most expensive option of all.

One is defining our issues as clearly as we can. And before we can ever get to the solutions of healthcare, we have to make sure that we are all on the same page with regard to the problems of healthcare.

Immunization is probably as sound an investment as we can make in good health.

It is always better to build a child than to repair an adult.

I have a sense that the time has come for real constructive bipartisan action on healthcare.

Well, Senator Coburn, I believe that a top-down review is essential. I would start with that. I think it is very, very important for us to understand what the problems are before we try to make the system better.

Confirming the President's nominees is one of the most important Constitutional duties of the Senate.

The case for reform of our health care system has never been stronger.

I commend President-elect Obama for selecting such an extraordinary nominee to lead the Nation's healthcare agenda.

And they won't swing as a block. But the way they swing could make a huge difference, given their numbers and given who we're talking about; people with great respect within the party.

And they won't swing as a block, but the way they swing could make a huge difference, given their numbers and given who we're talking about, people with great respect within the party.

nearly 26 years ago, I arrived in Washington as a newly elected Congressman with an urgent desire to help the people of my State but not nearly as much knowledge as I wanted about exactly how to do that. Having good ideas and getting those…

I hope very earnestly that people who have an inclination to want to add extraneous issues can refrain from doing so in order to complete our work and to avoid what might be an extended delay. This is probably one of the most important…

as we set to adjourn, I think back to what I said earlier this year about the need to set aside bitter partisanship and move towards a new politics of common ground. During campaigns, candidates and parties should be clear about where we…

I share his view about the importance of these matters and about the urgency with which we must work to ensure the completion of our work on the same bipartisan basis that we demonstrated to pass the bill here on the floor.

today is a day that has taken too long to come. But it is a day of victory for hard-pressed farmers and ranchers who have been devastated by various natural disasters around the Nation. Today, we have approved $2.9 billion in emergency…

I simply say there is no logical conclusion one can draw from this except that there are those in the administration and apparently here in Congress who believe farmers and ranchers ought to be subject to a double standard; that they…

I think today is going to be a very important day, because we will now have completed the first phase of the Senate's work in response to the 9/11 Commission recommendations. I have said this now on several occasions, but I think it bears…

this month we celebrate an important milestone in South Dakota: The opening of the first Super 8 Motel. In 1974, the first Super 8 Motel opened in my hometown of Aberdeen, SD. This motel is a pioneer of the economy motel industry, and a…