Thomas Daschle

I am sure I have a little time remaining. Let me just say no one wants to stomp their feet and get red in the face--certainly not me. That is not my style. If it has happened, it is only because the frustration level continues to mount. It…

we have witnessed an extraordinary political spectacle in the last 24 hours. Yesterday we spent approximately 3 hours in a quorum call because the Republican caucus could not decide how to respond to a simple Sense of the Senate amendment…

the debt we owe to the men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces is one that we will never be able to repay adequately. They sacrifice so much of themselves to defend our nation and its ideals, and ask for so little in return…

this weekend an estimated 750,000 mothers, fathers, and children united for the Million Mom March here in the District. These women and men took the first step toward ending the epidemic of gun violence in our country. Certainly, Congress…

Since Mother's Day, May 14, 2000, an estimated 750,000 mothers, fathers, and children united for the Million Mom March on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and were joined by tens of thousands of others, in 70 cities across America, in…

I compliment the majority leader for his statement and for the effort he has put forward in bringing us to this point. I agree with virtually every word he has just spoken about the importance of this matter and about the extraordinary…

I commend our colleague, Senator Lautenberg, for his efforts. He has done the Senate a service and has called the Senate and the Nation's attention to the importance of the Million Mom March. I appreciate as well the participation and the…

Ten years ago I joined with two distinguished colleagues, then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and Senator Tom Harkin, to introduce the reformulated gasoline (RFG) provision of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The RFG provision, with its…

I think, as everyone has already noted, this is an important debate for a lot of reasons. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act is truly the blueprint that guides all Federal education policy from prekindergarten through high school…

I am as disappointed as he is that in committee, after more than a year's worth of work, the document the committee had been using, the work they had been constructing was shelved in favor of a very partisan approach to the Federal role in…

I think the Republican bill is a marriage penalty relief bill in name only. It's a Trojan horse for the other risky tax schemes they have that have been proposed so far this year.

It is important to be clear what this vote is about--and what it is not about. This vote is not a test of who supports eliminating the marriage penalty. Virtually every member of this Senate agrees: Married couples who work hard just to…

I rise to recognize all the Senators who participated in this important and healthy debate. In particular, I thank Senator Leahy and Senator Byrd for their tireless defense of the Constitution. In addition, however, I also want to…

I regret that this vote had to have been taken. I have made it clear from the very beginning that my hope is we can find some way to compromise.

Today, I'd like to recognize someone whose name you won't see in the headlines, but who is truly extraordinary in every sense of the word. Earlier this year, my good friend Dr. Herb Cheever, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at…

Today Senator Lieberman and I, along with a group of our colleagues, are introducing a resolution emphasizing to all Americans the importance of accurately and completely filling out their census forms. It is my hope that all members of…

in the last week, this budget has gone from bad to worse. That is the only ``progress'' we've seen. After a conference from which Democrats were excluded, our Republicans colleagues are now proposing even bigger tax cuts. Last week, Senate…

on several occasions we have had debates with the Parliamentarian and with the majority with regard to the issue of relevancy. I point out to my colleagues, the concept of relevancy is only defined as it relates to an appropriations bill…

maybe you have to be in the minority to appreciate the position in which the minority has now been put once again. The Republican majority is saying, first and foremost, we want to debate the marriage tax penalty. We say to that…

We would not agree to second-degree amendments. To ask for the details on top of all of that seems to me to be a real stretch. I am sure that in good faith we can work through these amendments one by one. That is quite an acknowledgment on…

No. I am simply saying in most of the amendments offered there is a direct relevancy to the issue of marriage tax penalty. I am also suggesting in all cases we would be prepared to limit the debate to 1 hour equally divided. Regardless of…

Basically, the letter says what a number of our colleagues have been saying throughout this debate, that this could have devastating consequences on general revenues as well as on the Social Security trust fund per se. It says, briefly…

the Senate recently lost a very dear friend. Larry Harrison, who worked in the Capitol for over 36 years prior to his retirement in 1997, died early this week. Larry's many years of dedicated and distinguished work made him an institution…

Mr. President, the debate over the last two days has been deeply moving. When we began this debate, I thought to myself how much I would prefer it if we were talking about veterans' health care, prescription drugs, or raising the minimum…

I come to the floor to talk briefly about a matter that we have been especially concerned about in recent months, and that has to do with the Corps of Engineers. Prior to that, I rise to express my disappointment that we were not able to…