Jim Lehrer moderates this debate featuring Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott(R-MS), Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich(R-GA), Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle(D-SD), and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt(D-MO). The debate took place at the historic Great Hall of the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, VA, home of the first elected assembly in colonial America. The topics covered in the debate were: the economy; quality of life; America's position in the world; and running the government.
Jim Lehrer opened the proceedings by asking Senator Lott why the Republicans should continue to run Congress.
JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I’m Jim Lehrer. Welcome to the House of
Burgesses, in Colonial Williamsburg, and to a debate between the Republican and the Democratic leaders of Congress. There are many national elections coming on November 5th, one for President and Vice President of the United States, the others for the 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 in the United States Senate. The outcome of those will decide which party controls Congress, whether the Republicans remain in charge of the House under Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and the Senate, under Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, or the Democrats take over, led by the current House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri and the Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
Over the next hour, these four leaders will make their respected cases for control of Congress. We’ll start and end with an overview question to each side, but the rest of the hour will be divided into four main topics, each introduced by a resolution supported by one side, rebutted by the other. These formal statements and rebuttals will be 90 seconds long. A series of lights will alert the participants as they reach the time limits. I will assist them in watching those lights. After the formal statements and rebuttals, we’ll have a free flowing, less structured question and answer dialogue in each of the four subject areas.
We start now with our opening question. It is addressed in accordance with a coin toss that established the order for this entire evening. It goes to the Republicans. And the question is this: Why should Congress remain Republican?
SEN. TRENT LOTT, Majority Leader: Well, first, Jim, I want to thank you and PBS and your station affiliates all across America for giving us this opportunity. It truly is historic. I understand 
this is the first time the leaders of Congress have gotten together like this, and it is an honor for us to be here on this occasion on this historic spot. It’s really a beautiful setting here in Williamsburg, Virginia. So we appreciate the opportunity. It’s a great opportunity for us to talk about the future of our country, to think about what we want in the 21st century, to think about the challenges we have as a country. So I hope we will take advantage of this opportunity to not get involved in what quite often has been partisanship and name calling, but keep it to the solutions. Too often, the debates have turned to that, but I think the relationship that the four of us have, even the bipartisanship we saw this very week in the Congress, sets the stage for us having a good discussion tonight about solutions for our country. Two years ago, the American people said enough of too much wasteful Washington spending, enough of too much taxation out of Washington, enough with too many regulations affecting their lives, and we heard that message. And we went to work. We have delivered for the American people. We have given ‘em genuine welfare reform that requires work that ends the endless game of cash payments. We had common sense health insurance reform that’s going to work for the American people. We’re going to have illegal immigration reform, and we begin by our reforming ourselves. In short, we have delivered for the American people. We will continue to do that. There is more to do. But next year, with the new majority being Republican, we will continue what we have started.
JIM LEHRER: Democrats, why not a Republican Congress to continue?
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT, Minority Leader: Well, Jim, I wish we had had this debate two years ago because I think two years ago the American people voted for change. But I don’t think 
they got the change that they were looking for. We always have to ask the question: Who do we stand and who do we fight for? And I think the Republicans really answered that question over the last two years. They tried to cut Medicare to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. They tried to cut school lunch and student loans. They tried to roll back 30 years of progress on clean air and clean water to help special interests. They even tried to raise taxes on working Americans. The question that we asked as we went around the country and listened to people was: What are your everyday problems? What do you really face? And that brought us to our agenda. We call it Families First. It is things like tax breaks for health care and education, making pensions portable, expanding Individual Retirement Accounts, trying to put 25,000 more police on the streets, and balancing the budget consistent with all those other actions. The choice in this election in ‘96 is very clear. Do you want even bigger Medicare cuts to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the Dole tax plan, or do you want to solve the practical, everyday problems that people in this country face, Families First?
Continued ...
A RealAudio version of this Newsmaker interview is available.
