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WORK REMAINS (Senate - October 06, 2000) [Page: S10048] GPO's PDF Mr. DODD. I want to say briefly before the time runs out, I have great admiration for the work Senator Stevens has done as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. It is a tough job. We all know how hard he works and how hard he tries to work out the differences in the spending bills. I have great respect for him and the work he has done as chairman of that committee. That said, I also would be remiss if I did not mention that there are several important matters, generally speaking, that we have not addressed. We are about to wrap up, to finish over the next few days, with maybe one or two votes left, I am told. I am saddened that, despite the efforts of Senator Stevens, the leaders, and others, the Senate has thus far failed to act on several other important matters, including the 39 million seniors who will go without prescription drug benefits under Medicare. That is a great loss. We could have done it this year, and we didn't. More than 11 million working families will not get the benefit of an increase in the minimum wage. That is a great loss for those people. Mr. President, 53 million children go to school every day in this country, and for the first time in 35 years we were not able to pass the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to try to improve the quality of schools, reduce class sizes, and come up with good afterschool programs. So, 53 million children lose, 11 million working people don't get an increase in the minimum wage, and 39 million seniors fail to get prescription drug benefits. I think it is a sad day indeed. We could have passed these measures, and we didn't. I am deeply saddened by it, as I think the American people are as well. While I commend Senator Stevens and members of the Appropriations Committee, including my colleague from Nevada, Harry Reid, and the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Byrd, who have worked tirelessly to get the appropriations work done, the fact of the matter is, a great deal of America's business has gone unattended. Mr. President, I regret that the leadership of this Congress has failed thus far to act on these and other crucial priorities. If we can find two weeks to debate renaming National Airport, if we can spend many days debating whether to provide estate tax relief to the 44,000 most affluent Americans, then I would hope that in these waning days of this Congress we could find the time to consider the needs of America's children, seniors, and working families. I yield the floor.