Tom Daschle

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Tom Daschle (Thomas Andrew Daschle) , 1947–, U.S. senator from South Dakota (1987–2005), b. Aberdeen, S.Dak. A Democrat, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, where he served four terms; he was first elected to the Senate in 1986. A low-key centrist with a reputation as a skillful negotiator, Daschle was a supporter of farm subsidies and acted as the coordinator of the failed effort to pass President Bill Clinton's comprehensive health-care bill in 1994. He subsequently continued to advocate the regulation of managed care, a patients' bill of rights, and prescription drug benefits under Medicare. Daschle served as Senate minority leader (1995–2001, 2003–5) and majority leader (2001–3), but he failed to win reelection to the Senate in 2004. In 2009 President Barack Obama nominated him to be secretary of the Health and Human Services Dept., but he withdrew his name after it was revealed that he owed some $128,000 in back taxes on benefits he had failed to report.

Daschle, Tom • Born: Dec. 9, 1947, Aberdeen, S.D.• Political party: Democrat• Representative from South Dakota: 1979–87• House majority whip-at-large: 1982–86• Senator from South Dakota: 1987–• Senate minority leader: 1994–

Tom Daschle was elected leader of the Senate Democrats just as they lost the majority in 1994. The rules of the Senate made it easier to be a minority leader than a majority leader. “It doesn't take much to stop stuff here,” Daschle pointed out, “It's getting things passed that's hard.” But Senate Democrats were not content with blocking Republican initiatives. They wanted to assist President Bill Clinton in enacting his legislative agenda.

Tom Daschle knew his way around Capitol Hill, having come to the Senate in 1973 as a legislative assistant to his home state senator, James Abourezk. He returned to South Dakota to win a seat in the House and served in his party's leadership as majority whip-at-large. When he went to the Senate, Daschle became co-chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee. Both positions involved planning legislative strategy and maintaining party unity, training that well prepared him to become his party's floor leader.

Daschle was personally close to President Clinton, with whom he frequently jogged in the morning, and the President learned to trust his advice. As minority leader, Daschle proved successful in keeping his party's senators together to prevent the majority from invoking cloture to cut off a debate and to prevent the Senate from overriding the President's vetoes. But Daschle also helped Senate Democrats switch from the defense to the offense by Crafting amendments they could attach to Republican legislation. This way, the minority was able to promote issues it considered essential, such as raising the minimum wage and protecting safe drinking water. The Democrats also introduced some bills they knew would not pass. “We're in the minority, we know that,” Daschle explained. “But it's important to let the American people know what the Democrats might have done if we were in the majority.”