Around two buildings around the Old Student Union and i believe the new football practice is silly, you could have fit the student body, when senator daschle was here, in that facility. I am going to get to the point. Dr. Lee, make sure i did not bury the lead in dr. Miller. And dr. Hogan, who set lot of the ground rules here early. This is a dialogue. It is not a debate. But there will be differences. We hope to get into those tonight as we go forward. A year ago tonight, the government shutdown. It seems appropriate that we gather here, in this environment , and talk about partisanship and whether or not there is such a thing. The senate recently has been described as equipment of mass dysfunction. I think that is probably a pretty good description. The ratings of congress are so low that senator john mccain says it is basically down to members themselves and to their Staff Members who did the only people that are saying that they are approving of congress. , these two long ago leaders were leading in a time when we got some things done in this country. It came at a time when, above everything else, they put partisanship aside. We are going to discuss this tonight in a little bit. At one day, look above all others, where they were leaders that started to define the recent history of this country. Lets take a look and then we will get on to our discussion. [applause] at a time like this, no words that we should utter today, this evening, can help the hearts and souls and feelings of the victims and the families that were a part of this great tragedy that happened in this country today. , and words, thoughts of consolation go out to all of those who have suffered. But one thing that happens here, in this place, is when america suffers and when people perpetrate acts against this country, we, as a congress and a government, stand united. And we stand together. [applause] senators and house members, democrats and republicans, will stand shoulder to shoulder to fight this evil that has been perpetrated in this nation. We will stand together to make sure that those who brought forth this evil deed will pay the price. We are not sure who this is yet. [applause] but we have our suspicions. And when that is justified and when those suspicions are justified, we will act. We will stand with the president , we will stand with this government, and we will stand, as americans, together through this time. Thank you. [applause] todays despicable acts were an assault on our people and on our freedom. As the representative of the people, we are here to declare that our resolve has not been weakened by these horrific and cowardly acts. Congress will convene tomorrow. [applause] and we will speak with one voice to condemn these attacks, to come for the victims and their families, to commit our full support to the effort to bring those responsible to justice. Democrats,cans and house and senate, stand strongly anded behind the president will Work Together to ensure that the full resources of the government are brought to bear in these efforts. Thoughts and our fervent prayers are with the injured and families of those who have been lost. [applause] , as wenow, as a nation have said, our thoughts and prayers are with those families and those injured and those who are the casualties of todays attack. Thousandsmember those of people who were rescue workers. We ask now that we all bow our heads in a moment of silence and remembrance. Thank you. Love d that i senator lott, what does this bring you back to . It was a startling and memorable day, to say the least. I started the day off in my office, looking at that view right behind tom. And i saw the first plane go into the tower. We started getting reports and then, of course, a staff member came running in and said, theyve hit the pentagon. We could see the smoke billowing up. I went back to my desk, picked up my red phone and said, tom, i think we need to get out of here. He was the majority leader then and had to give the order. By that time, our security detail came in. I remember it so vividly because we round up at the police station, the air force base, and a helicopter came and picked me up. I do not know exactly where we were. It came back that night after we learned a few things about what happened. That singing at the end was totally spontaneous. We did not know that was going to happen. I thought that was one of the most one of the great moment in history, actually. The members of congress came back to the steps of the capital and said, we are going to be in session. We are not going to be intimidated by this horrific act. I could write a dissertation on all of the emotions and what happened that day. The most important part about that day was what happened after that, how we came together to get what was necessary done for new york, for our military, and to pursue the people who caused those events. And we did it working together. Tom and i went through a lot of legislation that fall. I am very proud to talk about the fact that the senate, by the end of that year, had reached and 82 approval rating. Do you know why it was that way . Because they saw us working together for the good of the country, above politics and bipartisanship. [applause] senator daschle, you were and he said that no pilot would do that. He knew right away. Do you recall that . That is right. John had come into both of our offices were in the center of the complex. People would just drop by. John was having an interview in a little while with cnn and came by for a couple coffee. We were talking in front of my television. My god, i said, look at that. A pilot just flew into that building. He looked at that and said, that is not a pilot. It is something much more serious than that. I began a Leadership Meeting shortly after that and we were sitting around a table. I remember patty murray, the senator from washington, look out my window and said, my goodness. Look at all that smoke. We rushed to the window and there was smoke billing out of the pentagon. Called andnt, trent said, we have got to get out of here. We were rushed to the doors. I remember senator byrd carrying all of these Important Documents with both arms, running. I was concerned for his safety, of course. But that is where it all started. Thinkretrospect, do you that was a high or low point in your leadership . That day, the leadership that you displayed and the leadership that was shown that day, in the ,ense that it was a tragic day but do you look back on it with hope or regret . I look back at it, as trent said so eloquently, it was a time of incredible unity. I remember people going to the floor, one after another, saying, i am no longer a republican or a democrat. I am an american. There was a sense of patriotism and commitment to country, a sense of resolve and unity that really was inspiring and moving and energizing. From that perspective, it was a moment of great pride as we look back. I think what i regret is that it takes a crisis of that kind to create the unity and to create that kind of environment and that political determination to work so closely together to accomplish a problem. [applause] later, than six weeks did you think that that was another terror terrorist attack from the same group . I think you were up on the hill that day, too. Were you scared for the country at that moment . I thought it was just another stop in what could have been a series of attacks. We did not know what to think. Youngest Staff Members that you have are the ones working in the mailroom, opening those letters, which could have had anthrax in them. But we were concerned about tom and other senators and his staff, what we were going to do to deal with that. Waspostmaster in the senate a classmate of mine from high school. He had to deal with all that we had to do to check the mail. It was another example of how members pulled together. I was in the russell building and you were in the other building. Senators from other parties started giving senators their extra office space. There was no incentive to do that, they just started doing that. In the cafeteria, all of the senators, republican and democrat, talked about what happened, what were going to do about it. The atmosphere was one of great concern. It was also one of camaraderie, expression of concern for each other. It was one of those Magic Moments that we experienced several times when we were the leaders where we had to get on our knees and get together in the Old Senate Chamber or the Senate Dining room and, as one group, make decisions that were right for the moment and for the country. They do not do that anymore. Toms one of the things that there should be a more regular opportunity to get together across party lines. Could you go through the legislation that was passed in the two or three months after 9 11 . Many pieces. So one of the most controversial was the patriot act. As we look back, i would like to revise many of the things we decided to do at the time. Trent said something a moment ago and i agree. We did the best we could given the circumstances and the , thestanding we had knowledge and the intelligence that we were given. , the whole issue of National Security changed when we experienced 9 11. The realization that it would never be the same. The creation of the Homeland Security department was part of that agenda. Homeland security had been a very disparate entity through a lot of different agencies. We brought them altogether. Was controversial and coupling hated. It got political at times. And complicated. It got political at times. But i think we did a good job. Creating the framework for security in a different context. Of it as moreght of an international and military complex. It was now much more local, much more personal, far more pervasive than it had been before. That was another piece of legislation we had to address. We passed some legislation to help new york city, of course. And we passed legislation to deal with problems a were having in the Aviation Industry after that day, too. People quit flying and they had real losses. Period ofhole legislation. Tom and i went up to new york city after that event. We wereer saying, when there, they hit new york city, they hit america. We are all in this together. And we did that. We kept our word. I know you have said since you have left the senate that there was another period of crisis in the country where you felt that there was Productive Work done and that was the impeachment of president clinton. Could you talk about that . It was 10 in it was tenuous that day. Can you talk about what led to that moment . Whats i remember the call. It was my birthday. Trent called me and the house had just enacted to impeach the president. I was running an errand that afternoon and he said, now it is in our lap, now it is up to us. The one thing we have got to understand is we have got to rise to the occasion. We have got to do everything we can to make this a deep political politicized experience and get through this godawful mess we are facing. Impeachment had not occurred for the president in over 100 years. We first had to learn just what happens, how do you do this . How do you manage and imprisonment an impeachment trial in the United States senate . Who knows these things . We began a great deal of research with staff, just trying to create a mechanism or putting the pieces in place to conduct the impeachment trial. Now the question is, when do we do this . The sooner we get it behind us, the better. However it turns out. We decided it was going to be the first order of business when we came back in january. Piece by piece and stepbystep, it came together and we got through it in reasonably good shape. In that conversation with tom, we agreed that we would get a couple of senators to take a and what wehistory needed to do and come up with some recommendations. The senator from Washington State and he selected Joe Lieberman from connecticut. Period of time, they came back with their recommendation. A short way to describe it was it was going to be an abbreviated proceeding. When i presented that to the republican conference, they did everything but stoned me and throw me out into the street. Some of my best and said no, we are not going to do it that way. They were not happy with it. They had some legitimate arguments so i had to call tom and say, this is not going to work so then we were kind of flummoxed. We did not know how we would proceed and get this whole thing done. Someone came up with this idea we wound up meeting in the whole senate chamber, which is a hell of a place. It and called on to openckup danny up the session with prayer. And then i called on bob byrd to give us perspective. I did ask him to be brief [laughter] but he gave us a really good outline. And then we started the discussion. Kennedy goth up, ted kennedy, and made some suggestions about how we can proceed. And then the old republican from texas got up and started talking. And i realized, they were saying about the same thing. With a nod from connie mack from florida, we said, we have the solution. Were going to go with the brownkennedy proposal of how to go forward. Everybody was ecstatic. We came up with a solution and it was ted kennedy, the liberal democrat from massachusetts, and graham, the conservative republican from texas. I said, tom, do you know what we really agreed to . [laughter] greatt out and had a press Conference Announcing this great agreement and then we Senators Group of would sit down and render it to writing. I do not remember what the agreement was, but it broke the dam and we went forward and we got it done in a dignified way because it was our constitutional responsibility. Some people said you could have removed him if he wanted to. No. Most of my life, i was a went a whip. I counted votes in the proper way. So the question was, how could we pick up and carry this for our country . The following thursday, bill clinton called me and, without even mentioning what had happened, started talking about legislation he was interested in and we went forward. And it worked. It worked because we worked together and our colleagues realized that this was an historical moment. We can embarrass ourselves. That we made, my colleagues on my side of the aisle, they wanted witnesses. They wanted Monica Lewinsky to be a witness. And i said, never. Thed i agree to demean senate and treat it like it was a regular Court Proceeding . We are going to do this with dignity in a way it has been done historically and it is not going to include that. I think that was one of the moments where tom and i felt the bond of trust in each other. I remember still, and i have seen the picture where we stepped across the aisle from each other, shook hands, and said, we got it done. Now lets go forward. [applause] the thing that i think most people forget is that right after the votes on impeachment, there was a bomb scare. We all had to leave the building. This was in the 1990s. Nobody knew where to go. My Security Team had no idea of what we needed to do. So i ended up walking through the space museum for about two hours until it was safe to come back. I will never forget that. It was probably the best tour of the space museum i ever had. It was like 10 minutes after a vote on impeachment. I am thinking, what a contrast. That makes the point to my next question. Can you explain to us what was so funny in this picture . Tom had told a dirty joke. [laughter] i thought maybe you were sharing john mccains story. By aat picture was taken wonderful photographer who asked if he could follow me around for about a week. And we let him. Trent was good enough to say, yeah, if you want to do this so he had enormous access. That is the only time i can recall ever doing that. But that picture was taken while we were negotiating the 5050 senate. I do not know what was funny at the time, but i am glad we found some humor in it. That was in the year 2000. Top was the majority tom was the majority leader. I guess we still had the minority because we had the Vice President s vote. The leaders now, i doubt if they ever grace each others offices. The whole between my office and toms office went both ways. He came to my office and i went to his office. What a small thing to do. How ridiculous would you be that you would not go to the other Leaders Office . That was one of the things we did to keep an easy relationship. Sitting at that desk, we laughed and we cried some, too. Senator thinking daschle just told him that senator jeffords was going to switch parties. Some other time, we both would have changed numbers. Lets switch gears and talk about the institution itself both of you served in the house as well. It has been said that the senate coolse the saucer that the hot coffee. Today, it just seems to be dysfunctional. Do you think it is personality . Do you think it is partisanship . What do you think it is that is driving it . It is an array of things. It is partisanship, personality, the times. I blames have changed the airplane, in part. In the old days, when travel was not nearly as convenient as it is today, people stayed in washington for large blocks of time and then they would go back to their homes for equally big blocks not equal, but significant time. Nowadays, people literally leave on thursdays to come home or do their fundraising and come back on tuesdays. And we try to govern on wednesdays. You just cannot do that. Me, is one of the single Biggest Challenges we are facing. The senate is only in session this year, out of 365 days, they are only in session 109 days. Of those days, only about one third of that time is synchronized with the house. About two thirds of the time, the house is not in session. So there is no way to correlate, do the kind of coordination necessary to move meaningful legislation, to Work Together. Not to mention the fact, and this is such a big topic that we could go on for the rest of the time, but i think i would start with that. There are many other aspects to it. You both have come up with some proposals, including being in session five days a week. Some of them are just common sense. The job is in washington. Do you want to stay in touch with your constituency . Sure. I wanted to be in mississippi. I always kept my home in mississippi and would go there. But you are elected to go to washington on behalf of the people. We do not