Tom Daschle
Encyclopedia
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Daschle (born December 9, 1947) is a former U.S. Senator from South Dakota
and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader
. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
A South Dakota native, Daschle obtained his university degree there, and served in the United States Air Force
. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives
in 1978 and served four terms. In 1986, he was elected to the Senate, becoming minority leader in 1994. Defeated for re-election in 2004, he took a position as a policy advisor with a lobbying firm, and also became a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress
. He co-authored a book advocating universal health care
.
Daschle was an early supporter of Barack Obama
’s presidential candidacy, and was offered the position of Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
after the 2008 election
. He was President Obama's nominee to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services
(HHS) in the Cabinet
, but withdrew his name on February 3, 2009, amid a growing controversy over his failure to accurately report and pay income taxes. He is currently working for the global law firm DLA Piper
.
, to Elizabeth B. Meier and Sebastian C. Daschle. His paternal grandparents were Volga Germans. Daschle grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family as the eldest of four brothers. He became the first person in his family to graduate from college when he earned a B.A.
in political science
from South Dakota State University
in 1969. While attending South Dakota State University, Daschle became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega
. From 1969 to 1972, Daschle served in the United States Air Force
as an intelligence officer
with the Strategic Air Command
.
In the mid-1970s Daschle was an aide to then Senator James Abourezk
of South Dakota.
Daschle has been married to Linda Hall, Miss Kansas
for 1976, since 1984, one year after his marriage to his first wife, Laurie, ended in divorce. Hall was acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
in the Clinton administration; she is now a Washington lobbyist
. Her lobbying clients have included American Airlines
, Lockheed Martin
, and Boeing
, Senate lobbying records show. Daschle has three children from his first marriage: Kelly, Nathan, and Lindsay. His son, Nathan, is Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association
.
, winning the race by a margin of 139 votes, following a recount, out of more than 129,000 votes cast. Daschle served four terms in the House of Representatives and quickly became a part of the Democratic leadership.
At the 1980 Democratic National Convention
Congressman Daschle received 10 (0.30%) delegate votes for Vice President of the United States
. Although he was not a
candidate, Daschle (along with others) received votes against incumbent Walter Mondale
, who was renominated easily.
, becoming the nation's 1,776th senator. In his first year, he was appointed to the Finance Committee. In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator George Mitchell
as Democratic Minority Leader. In the history of the Senate, only Lyndon B. Johnson
had served fewer years before being elected to lead his party. In addition to the Minority Leader's post, Daschle also served as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. South Dakotans re-elected Daschle to the Senate by overwhelming margins in 1998
. At various points in his career, he served on the Veterans Affairs, Indian Affairs, Finance and Ethics
Committees.
When the 107th Congress
commenced on January 3, 2001, the Senate was evenly divided—that is, there were 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Outgoing Vice President
Al Gore
acted in his constitutional
capacity as ex officio President of the Senate, and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. For the next two weeks, Daschle served as Senate Majority Leader. Then, upon the commencement of the Bush administration on January 20, 2001, Dick Cheney
became President of the Senate, thereby returning Democrats to the minority in that body; Daschle reverted to the position of Senate Minority Leader. However, on June 6, 2001, Senator Jim Jeffords
of Vermont
announced in that he was leaving the Senate Republican caucus
to become an independent and to caucus with Democrats; this once again returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became Majority Leader.
Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned the party to the minority in the Senate in January 2003 and Daschle once more reverted to being Minority Leader.
Daschle recounted his Senate experiences from 2001 to 2003 in his first book, Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever, published in 2003.
, becoming a target of the 2001 anthrax attacks
. Many of his staffers were confirmed to have been exposed, as well as several of Sen. Russ Feingold
's staffers and Capitol police officers.
wrote to Senator Daschle regarding the Senator's views on abortion, in light of legislation Congress was considering that would ban an undefined set of late-term procedures called "partial-birth abortion" by those opposed to them. Carlson reportedly told Senator Daschle that his stance on such issues were in conflict with Roman Catholic teaching, and he told Daschle that he should no longer identify himself as a Catholic. Daschle had previously described Bishop Carlson as being "more identified with the radical right than with thoughtful religious leadership." A mixed voting record on abortion-related issues led the pro-choice organization NARAL to give Daschle a 50 percent vote rating. In 1999 and 2003, Daschle voted in favor of the ban on so-called "partial-birth abortion", and supported legislation making it a crime to harm a fetus when someone attacks a pregnant woman. (Investigators into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which included Senator Daschle's Capitol Hill office, suspect that alleged anthrax mailer Bruce Ivins may have chosen to target Daschle over his views on abortion, although Ivins's lawyer disputed this alleged motive.)
prevailed by a narrow 50.5%-49.4% margin, which was 4,508 votes. Daschle's defeat marked the first time that a Senate party leader had lost a seat since 1952. Senate majority Leader Bill Frist
visited South Dakota to campaign for Thune.
Throughout the campaign, Thune — along with Frist, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Cheney — frequently accused Daschle of being the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda and charged him with using filibuster
s to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees. The Republican candidate also drove home his strong support for the war. In a nationally televised debate on NBC
's Meet the Press
, Thune accused Daschle of "emboldening the enemy" in his skepticism of the Iraq war.
When the race began in early 2004, Daschle led by 7 points in January and February. By May, his lead minimized to just 2 points and into the summer polls showed a varying number of trends: either Daschle held a slim 1 to 2 point lead or Thune held a slim 1 to 2 point lead or the race was dead even. Throughout September, Daschle led Thune by margins of 2 to 5 percent while during the entire month of October into the November 2 election, most polls showed that Thune and Daschle were dead even, usually tied 49-49 among likely voters. Some polls showed either Thune or Daschle leading by extremely slim margins.
arm of the K Street
law firm Alston & Bird
. Because he was prohibited by law from lobbying for one year after leaving the Senate, he instead worked as a "special policy adviser" for the firm.
Alston & Bird's health care lobbying clients include CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth. The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60 percent of that money coming from the health industry. Daschle was recruited by the former Republican
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole
. Daschle's salary from Alston & Bird for the year 2008 was reportedly $2 million.
Daschle was also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress
. In addition, he served as National Co-Chair of ONE Vote ‘08 (an initiative of ONE.org), along with former Senator Bill Frist
. He and former Senators George Mitchell
, Bob Dole, and Howard Baker
formed the Bipartisan Policy Center
, dedicated to finding bipartisan solutions for policy disputes. Daschle is also a co-chair of BPC's Health Project.
In late September 2005, Daschle caught the attention of the media by reactivating his political action committee
, changing its name from DASHPAC to New Leadership for America PAC and procuring a speaking slot at the Iowa
Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day
dinner. He has continued to keep a relatively high profile among Democratic interest groups. These moves were interpreted by the media as an exploration of a potential 2008 Presidential candidacy. On December 2, 2006, announced he would not run for President in 2008.
In an appearance on Meet the Press
on February 12, 2006, former Senator Daschle endorsed a controversial warrantless surveillance program
conducted by the National Security Agency
(NSA); Daschle explained that he had been briefed on the program while he was the Democratic leader in the Senate.
In addition, Senator Daschle is a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley
. The Center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.
On February 21, 2007, the Associated Press
reported that Daschle, after ruling out a presidential bid of his own in December 2006, had thrown his support behind Sen. Barack Obama
of Illinois
for the 2008 presidential election
, saying that Obama "personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country."
Daschle exited the Senate just as Obama entered in 2004 and suggested that Obama take on some of his staffers. These included Daschle's outgoing chief-of-staff Pete Rouse
who helped to create a two year plan in the Senate that would fast-track Obama for the presidential nomination. Daschle himself told Obama in 2006 that "windows of opportunity for running for the presidency close quickly. And that he shouldn't assume, if he passes up this window, that there will be another."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Daschle served as a key advisor to Obama and one of the national co-chairs for Obama's campaign. On June 3, 2008, Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary
in Daschle's home state of South Dakota, although that night Obama clinched his party's nomination
anyway.
Two days later, sources indicated Daschle "is interested in universal health care
and might relish serving as HHS secretary
." In the general election campaign, Daschle continued to consult Obama, campaign for him across swing states, and advise his campaign organization until Obama was ultimately elected the 44th President of the United States
on November 4, 2008.
On November 19, 2008, the press reported that Daschle had accepted Obama's offer to be nominated for Health and Human Services Secretary
. His selection was formally announced at a news conference with Obama on December 11, 2008.
Some organizations objected to Daschle's selection, arguing that his work at Alston & Bird was tantamount to lobbying and therefore his selection violated Obama's promise to keep special interests out of the White House. According to Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation
, Daschle technically complies with the transition rules against lobbyists but "many power brokers never register as lobbyists, but they are every bit as powerful". Stephanie Cutter
, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition
, responded that Daschle's work "does not represent a bar to his service in the transition" since "he was not a lobbyist, and he will recuse himself from any work that presents a conflict of interest".
When Daschle was officially nominated for his Cabinet
position on January 20, 2009, confirmation by the Senate was required. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a confirmation hearing for Mr. Daschle on January 8, 2009. A second Senate committee, the Finance Committee
, also traditionally reviews HHS Secretary nominees; the committee discussed his nomination behind closed doors on February 2, 2009.
since 2005, during which time he received from Hindery access to a limousine
and chauffeur
. Daschle reportedly did not declare this service on his annual tax forms as required by law. A spokeswoman for Daschle said that he "simply and probably naively" considered the use of the car and driver "a generous offer" from Hindery, "a longtime friend". Daschle told the Senate Finance Committee that in June 2008—just as he was letting the press know he would like to be HHS secretary in an Obama administration -- that "something made him think that the car service might be taxable" and he began seeking to remedy the situation.
Daschle reportedly also did not pay taxes on an additional $83,333 that he earned as a consultant to InterMedia Partners
in 2007; this was discovered by Senator Daschle's accountant in December 2008. According to ABC News
, Daschle also took tax deductions for $14,963 in donations that he made between 2005 and 2007 to charitable organizations that did not meet the requirements for being tax deductible.
The former Senator paid the three years of owed taxes and interest—an amount totaling $140,167—in January 2009, but still reportedly owed "Medicare taxes equal to 2.9 percent" of the value of the car service he received, amounting to "thousands of dollars in additional unpaid taxes".
On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, Daschle withdrew his nomination, saying that he did not wish to be a "distraction" to the Obama agenda. He was forced to withdraw because, even though he had a sufficient number of Democratic votes for nomination, he became an untenable political liability for the President.
system than private insurance, and that it would be socialized medicine
.
A key element of the single-payer plan that Daschle and his co-authors propose in the book is a new "Federal Health Board" that would establish the framework and fill in the details. The board would somehow be simultaneously "insulated from political pressure" and "accountable to elected officials and the American people". The board would "promote 'high-value' medical care by recommending coverage of those drugs and procedures backed by solid evidence". This proposal has been criticized by conservatives and libertarians who argue that such a board will lead to rationing of health care, and by progressives
who believe the board will, as one writer put it, "get defanged by lobbyists immediately".
One of Daschle's co-authors, Jeanne Lambrew
, had been slated before his withdrawal to serve as his deputy in the White House Office of Health Reform.
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Party leaders of the United States Senate
The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive...
. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
A South Dakota native, Daschle obtained his university degree there, and served in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 1978 and served four terms. In 1986, he was elected to the Senate, becoming minority leader in 1994. Defeated for re-election in 2004, he took a position as a policy advisor with a lobbying firm, and also became a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
. He co-authored a book advocating universal health care
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
.
Daschle was an early supporter of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
’s presidential candidacy, and was offered the position of Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet...
after the 2008 election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. He was President Obama's nominee to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet...
(HHS) in the Cabinet
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
, but withdrew his name on February 3, 2009, amid a growing controversy over his failure to accurately report and pay income taxes. He is currently working for the global law firm DLA Piper
DLA Piper
DLA Piper is a global law firm with 76 offices across 30 countries and more than 4,200 lawyers. As of May 2011, it was the largest law firm in the world by number of attorneys. The firm's global revenues were $1.92 billion in 2009-2010. The firm is composed of two partnerships, DLA Piper...
.
Family background
Daschle was born in Aberdeen, South DakotaAberdeen, South Dakota
Aberdeen is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, about 125 mi northeast of Pierre. Settled in 1880, it was incorporated in 1882. The city population was 26,091 at the 2010 census. The American News is the local newspaper...
, to Elizabeth B. Meier and Sebastian C. Daschle. His paternal grandparents were Volga Germans. Daschle grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family as the eldest of four brothers. He became the first person in his family to graduate from college when he earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University is the largest university in the U.S. state of South Dakota, located in Brookings. A public land-grant university and sun grant college, founded under the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act, SDSU offers programs of study required by, or harmonious to, this Act...
in 1969. While attending South Dakota State University, Daschle became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of approximately 17,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni members...
. From 1969 to 1972, Daschle served in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
as an intelligence officer
Intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...
with the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
.
In the mid-1970s Daschle was an aide to then Senator James Abourezk
James Abourezk
James George Abourezk is a former Democratic United States Representative and United States Senator, and was the first Arab-American to serve in the United States Senate. He represented South Dakota in the U.S...
of South Dakota.
Daschle has been married to Linda Hall, Miss Kansas
Miss Kansas
The Miss Kansas competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Kansas in the Miss America pageant. Kansas has won the Miss America crown on three occasions.- Winners :- External links :*...
for 1976, since 1984, one year after his marriage to his first wife, Laurie, ended in divorce. Hall was acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
in the Clinton administration; she is now a Washington lobbyist
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
. Her lobbying clients have included American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
, Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
, and Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
, Senate lobbying records show. Daschle has three children from his first marriage: Kelly, Nathan, and Lindsay. His son, Nathan, is Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association
Democratic Governors Association
The Democratic Governors Association is a Washington, D.C. based 527 organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The mission of the organization is to provide party support to the election and re-election of Democratic...
.
Career in the House of Representatives
In 1978, Daschle was elected to the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, winning the race by a margin of 139 votes, following a recount, out of more than 129,000 votes cast. Daschle served four terms in the House of Representatives and quickly became a part of the Democratic leadership.
At the 1980 Democratic National Convention
1980 Democratic National Convention
The 1980 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party nominated President Jimmy Carter for President and Vice President Walter Mondale for Vice President...
Congressman Daschle received 10 (0.30%) delegate votes for Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
. Although he was not a
candidate, Daschle (along with others) received votes against incumbent Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
, who was renominated easily.
Career in the Senate
In 1986, Daschle was elected to the Senate in a close victory over incumbent Republican James AbdnorJames Abdnor
James Abdnor is a Republican politician from the state of South Dakota.-Personal:He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1945 where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He served in the United States Army during World War II and from 1957 to 1969 was a member of the South Dakota...
, becoming the nation's 1,776th senator. In his first year, he was appointed to the Finance Committee. In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator George Mitchell
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell, Jr., is the former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995...
as Democratic Minority Leader. In the history of the Senate, only Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
had served fewer years before being elected to lead his party. In addition to the Minority Leader's post, Daschle also served as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. South Dakotans re-elected Daschle to the Senate by overwhelming margins in 1998
United States Senate election in South Dakota, 1998
The 1998 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 2, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Daschle won re-election to a third term.-Results:-Candidates:*Byron Dale...
. At various points in his career, he served on the Veterans Affairs, Indian Affairs, Finance and Ethics
United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics is a select committee of the United States Senate charged with dealing with matters related to senatorial ethics. It is also commonly referred to as the Senate Ethics Committee...
Committees.
When the 107th Congress
107th United States Congress
The One Hundred Seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2001 to January 3, 2003, during the final...
commenced on January 3, 2001, the Senate was evenly divided—that is, there were 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Outgoing Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
acted in his constitutional
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
capacity as ex officio President of the Senate, and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. For the next two weeks, Daschle served as Senate Majority Leader. Then, upon the commencement of the Bush administration on January 20, 2001, Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
became President of the Senate, thereby returning Democrats to the minority in that body; Daschle reverted to the position of Senate Minority Leader. However, on June 6, 2001, Senator Jim Jeffords
Jim Jeffords
James Merrill "Jim" Jeffords is a former U.S. Senator from Vermont. He served as a Republican until 2001, when he left the party to become an independent. He retired from the Senate in 2006.-Background:...
of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
announced in that he was leaving the Senate Republican caucus
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
to become an independent and to caucus with Democrats; this once again returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became Majority Leader.
Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned the party to the minority in the Senate in January 2003 and Daschle once more reverted to being Minority Leader.
Daschle recounted his Senate experiences from 2001 to 2003 in his first book, Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever, published in 2003.
Anthrax case in 2001
In October 2001, while he was the Senate Majority Leader, Daschle's office received a letter containing anthraxAnthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
, becoming a target of the 2001 anthrax attacks
2001 anthrax attacks
The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to...
. Many of his staffers were confirmed to have been exposed, as well as several of Sen. Russ Feingold
Russ Feingold
Russell Dana "Russ" Feingold is an American politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He served as a Democratic party member of the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2011. From 1983 to 1993, Feingold was a Wisconsin State Senator representing the 27th District.He is a recipient of the John F...
's staffers and Capitol police officers.
Views on abortion
In 2003, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert CarlsonRobert James Carlson
Robert James Carlson is an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the ninth and current Archbishop of St. Louis. He previously served as Auxiliary Bishop of St...
wrote to Senator Daschle regarding the Senator's views on abortion, in light of legislation Congress was considering that would ban an undefined set of late-term procedures called "partial-birth abortion" by those opposed to them. Carlson reportedly told Senator Daschle that his stance on such issues were in conflict with Roman Catholic teaching, and he told Daschle that he should no longer identify himself as a Catholic. Daschle had previously described Bishop Carlson as being "more identified with the radical right than with thoughtful religious leadership." A mixed voting record on abortion-related issues led the pro-choice organization NARAL to give Daschle a 50 percent vote rating. In 1999 and 2003, Daschle voted in favor of the ban on so-called "partial-birth abortion", and supported legislation making it a crime to harm a fetus when someone attacks a pregnant woman. (Investigators into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which included Senator Daschle's Capitol Hill office, suspect that alleged anthrax mailer Bruce Ivins may have chosen to target Daschle over his views on abortion, although Ivins's lawyer disputed this alleged motive.)
2004 Senate election
In the 2004 Congressional elections, John ThuneJohn Thune
John Randolph Thune is the junior U.S. Senator from South Dakota and a member of the Republican Party. He previously served as a U.S. Representative for .-Early Life, Education:...
prevailed by a narrow 50.5%-49.4% margin, which was 4,508 votes. Daschle's defeat marked the first time that a Senate party leader had lost a seat since 1952. Senate majority Leader Bill Frist
Bill Frist
William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...
visited South Dakota to campaign for Thune.
Throughout the campaign, Thune — along with Frist, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Cheney — frequently accused Daschle of being the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda and charged him with using filibuster
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
s to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees. The Republican candidate also drove home his strong support for the war. In a nationally televised debate on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
, Thune accused Daschle of "emboldening the enemy" in his skepticism of the Iraq war.
When the race began in early 2004, Daschle led by 7 points in January and February. By May, his lead minimized to just 2 points and into the summer polls showed a varying number of trends: either Daschle held a slim 1 to 2 point lead or Thune held a slim 1 to 2 point lead or the race was dead even. Throughout September, Daschle led Thune by margins of 2 to 5 percent while during the entire month of October into the November 2 election, most polls showed that Thune and Daschle were dead even, usually tied 49-49 among likely voters. Some polls showed either Thune or Daschle leading by extremely slim margins.
Post-Senate career
Career and public service
Following his reelection defeat, Daschle took a position with the lobbyingLobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
arm of the K Street
K Street (Washington, D.C.)
K Street is a major thoroughfare in the United States capital of Washington, D.C. known as a center for numerous think tanks, lobbyists, and advocacy groups.-Location:...
law firm Alston & Bird
Alston & Bird
Alston & Bird LLP, commonly abbreviated , is the largest law firm in Atlanta and the forty-third largest in the United States.-History:...
. Because he was prohibited by law from lobbying for one year after leaving the Senate, he instead worked as a "special policy adviser" for the firm.
Alston & Bird's health care lobbying clients include CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth. The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60 percent of that money coming from the health industry. Daschle was recruited by the former Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
. Daschle's salary from Alston & Bird for the year 2008 was reportedly $2 million.
Daschle was also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
. In addition, he served as National Co-Chair of ONE Vote ‘08 (an initiative of ONE.org), along with former Senator Bill Frist
Bill Frist
William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...
. He and former Senators George Mitchell
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell, Jr., is the former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995...
, Bob Dole, and Howard Baker
Howard Baker
Howard Henry Baker, Jr. is a former Senate Majority Leader, Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, White House Chief of Staff, and a former United States Ambassador to Japan.Known in Washington, D.C...
formed the Bipartisan Policy Center
Bipartisan Policy Center
The is a non-profit organization that "drives principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation, and respectful dialogue." Founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell, "BPC combines politically-balanced policymaking...
, dedicated to finding bipartisan solutions for policy disputes. Daschle is also a co-chair of BPC's Health Project.
In late September 2005, Daschle caught the attention of the media by reactivating his political action committee
Political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
, changing its name from DASHPAC to New Leadership for America PAC and procuring a speaking slot at the Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day
Jefferson-Jackson Day
Jefferson-Jackson Day is the most common name given to the annual fundraising celebration held by Democratic Party organizations in the United States. It is named for Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson...
dinner. He has continued to keep a relatively high profile among Democratic interest groups. These moves were interpreted by the media as an exploration of a potential 2008 Presidential candidacy. On December 2, 2006, announced he would not run for President in 2008.
In an appearance on Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
on February 12, 2006, former Senator Daschle endorsed a controversial warrantless surveillance program
NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
The NSA warrantless surveillance controversy concerns surveillance of persons within the United States during the collection of foreign intelligence by the U.S. National Security Agency as part of the war on terror...
conducted by the National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
(NSA); Daschle explained that he had been briefed on the program while he was the Democratic leader in the Senate.
In addition, Senator Daschle is a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. The Center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.
Obama campaign
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported that Daschle, after ruling out a presidential bid of his own in December 2006, had thrown his support behind Sen. Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
for the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, saying that Obama "personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country."
Daschle exited the Senate just as Obama entered in 2004 and suggested that Obama take on some of his staffers. These included Daschle's outgoing chief-of-staff Pete Rouse
Pete Rouse
Peter Mikami Rouse is an American political consultant who served as White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President Barack Obama. Rouse has spent years on Capitol Hill, becoming known as the '101st senator' during his tenure as Chief of Staff to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle...
who helped to create a two year plan in the Senate that would fast-track Obama for the presidential nomination. Daschle himself told Obama in 2006 that "windows of opportunity for running for the presidency close quickly. And that he shouldn't assume, if he passes up this window, that there will be another."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Daschle served as a key advisor to Obama and one of the national co-chairs for Obama's campaign. On June 3, 2008, Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary
South Dakota Democratic primary, 2008
The 2008 South Dakota Democratic primary took place on June 3, 2008. Along with Montana, it was one of the final two elections in the 2008 primary season...
in Daschle's home state of South Dakota, although that night Obama clinched his party's nomination
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
anyway.
Two days later, sources indicated Daschle "is interested in universal health care
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
and might relish serving as HHS secretary
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet...
." In the general election campaign, Daschle continued to consult Obama, campaign for him across swing states, and advise his campaign organization until Obama was ultimately elected the 44th President of the United States
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
on November 4, 2008.
Obama administration nomination
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet...
. His selection was formally announced at a news conference with Obama on December 11, 2008.
Some organizations objected to Daschle's selection, arguing that his work at Alston & Bird was tantamount to lobbying and therefore his selection violated Obama's promise to keep special interests out of the White House. According to Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation
Sunlight Foundation
The Sunlight Foundation is a 501 educational organization founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States government....
, Daschle technically complies with the transition rules against lobbyists but "many power brokers never register as lobbyists, but they are every bit as powerful". Stephanie Cutter
Stephanie Cutter
Stephanie Cutter is a Democratic Party operative. She serves as Deputy Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama.- Biography :Cutter was born in Taunton, Massachusetts and raised in nearby Raynham, Massachusetts...
, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition
Presidential transition of Barack Obama
The presidential transition of Barack Obama began when he won the United States presidential election on November 4, 2008, and became the President-Elect. He was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 15, 2008...
, responded that Daschle's work "does not represent a bar to his service in the transition" since "he was not a lobbyist, and he will recuse himself from any work that presents a conflict of interest".
When Daschle was officially nominated for his Cabinet
United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
position on January 20, 2009, confirmation by the Senate was required. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a confirmation hearing for Mr. Daschle on January 8, 2009. A second Senate committee, the Finance Committee
United States Senate Committee on Finance
The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generally, and those relating to the insular possessions; bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection...
, also traditionally reviews HHS Secretary nominees; the committee discussed his nomination behind closed doors on February 2, 2009.
Withdrawal
On January 30, 2009, it was reported that Daschle's friendship and business partnership with businessman Leo Hindery could cause problems for Daschle's Senate confirmation. Daschle has been a paid consultant and advisor to Hindery's InterMedia PartnersInterMedia Partners
InterMedia Advisors, LLC, also known as InterMedia Advisors is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in the media sector....
since 2005, during which time he received from Hindery access to a limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
and chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
. Daschle reportedly did not declare this service on his annual tax forms as required by law. A spokeswoman for Daschle said that he "simply and probably naively" considered the use of the car and driver "a generous offer" from Hindery, "a longtime friend". Daschle told the Senate Finance Committee that in June 2008—just as he was letting the press know he would like to be HHS secretary in an Obama administration -- that "something made him think that the car service might be taxable" and he began seeking to remedy the situation.
Daschle reportedly also did not pay taxes on an additional $83,333 that he earned as a consultant to InterMedia Partners
InterMedia Partners
InterMedia Advisors, LLC, also known as InterMedia Advisors is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in the media sector....
in 2007; this was discovered by Senator Daschle's accountant in December 2008. According to ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, Daschle also took tax deductions for $14,963 in donations that he made between 2005 and 2007 to charitable organizations that did not meet the requirements for being tax deductible.
The former Senator paid the three years of owed taxes and interest—an amount totaling $140,167—in January 2009, but still reportedly owed "Medicare taxes equal to 2.9 percent" of the value of the car service he received, amounting to "thousands of dollars in additional unpaid taxes".
On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, Daschle withdrew his nomination, saying that he did not wish to be a "distraction" to the Obama agenda. He was forced to withdraw because, even though he had a sufficient number of Democratic votes for nomination, he became an untenable political liability for the President.
Health policy
Daschle co-wrote the 2008 book Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis. He and his co-authors point out that "most of the world’s highest-ranking health-care systems employ some kind of 'single-payer' strategy - that is, the government, directly or through insurers, is responsible for paying doctors, hospitals, and other health-care providers". They argue that a single-payer approach is simple, equitable, provides everyone with the same benefits, and saves billions of dollars through economies of scale and simplified administration. They concede that implementing a single-payer system in the United States would be "politically problematic" even though some polls show more satisfaction with the single-payer MedicareMedicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
system than private insurance, and that it would be socialized medicine
Socialized medicine
Socialized medicine is a term used to describe a system for providing medical and hospital care for all at a nominal cost by means of government regulation of health services and subsidies derived from taxation. It is used primarily and usually pejoratively in United States political debates...
.
A key element of the single-payer plan that Daschle and his co-authors propose in the book is a new "Federal Health Board" that would establish the framework and fill in the details. The board would somehow be simultaneously "insulated from political pressure" and "accountable to elected officials and the American people". The board would "promote 'high-value' medical care by recommending coverage of those drugs and procedures backed by solid evidence". This proposal has been criticized by conservatives and libertarians who argue that such a board will lead to rationing of health care, and by progressives
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
who believe the board will, as one writer put it, "get defanged by lobbyists immediately".
One of Daschle's co-authors, Jeanne Lambrew
Jeanne Lambrew
Jeanne Lambrew is a United States professor of public affairs and health policy. She has been named to serve in the Obama administration as Deputy Director of the new White House Office of Health Reform.-Education:...
, had been slated before his withdrawal to serve as his deputy in the White House Office of Health Reform.
External links
- Alston + Bird - Biography of Sen. Daschle