Tom Daschle

Tom Daschle (born Dec. 9, 1947, Aberdeen, S.D., U.S.) American politician who was a member of the U.S. Senate (1987–2005) and from 2001 to 2003 served as the Senate’s majority leader.

Daschle was the first member of his family to attend college, and in 1969 he graduated from South Dakota State University with a B.A. in political science. From 1969 to 1972 he served in intelligence in the Air Force Strategic Air Command. For five years, from 1972 to 1977, he was a congressional aid to U.S. Sen. James Abourezk, and in 1978 he was elected to the first of four terms in the House of Representatives.

In 1986 Daschle, a Democrat, defeated incumbent James Abdnor to win election to the Senate, and he was reelected overwhelmingly in 1992 and 1998. He became a member of the powerful Finance Committee while still a freshman senator and in 1988 was appointed cochair of the Democratic Policy Committee. Other legislative interests of Daschle included veterans’ and Indian affairs and agriculture. He compiled a record that was generally liberal on economic matters and moderate on social issues. Daschle gained a reputation for looking out for the interests of his constituents, and every year he drove himself throughout South Dakota to visit each of its 66 counties and talk to voters. In 1994 Daschle won the position of Democratic leader by one vote, and he became minority leader in the Senate at the beginning of the 1995 session. A soft-spoken man, he had a reputation for being fair and inclusive, but he was a skillful tactician and could be tough when needed.

On June 6, 2001, Daschle became the new majority leader when the Senate passed from Republican to Democratic control. The shift occurred when Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to become an independent, which gave the Democrats a 50–49 majority. The Democrats under Daschle found themselves with greater power to determine the legislative agenda and to pass judgment on the appointments and judicial nominees of Pres. George W. Bush. Daschle opposed Bush’s tax-cut bill on the grounds that it was fiscally irresponsible and that it unduly benefited the wealthy. He also declared that parts of the Bush legislative program, including drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and quick deployment of a missile defense system, would not pass the Senate. In the first three weeks under Daschle’s leadership, a patients’ bill of rights, guaranteeing certain protections to those who were covered under managed-care health insurance, cleared the Senate despite the president’s threat to veto it; the House of Representatives later passed a weaker version of the bill, and both proposals ultimately stalled in Congress. Later in the year Daschle took the lead in blaming the Bush tax cut for the disappearance of the budget surplus.

Daschle remained the majority leader until 2003, when Republicans regained control of the Senate. In 2004 he was defeated in his reelection bid by Republican challenger John Thune. Daschle subsequently returned to the private sector. In November 2008 President-elect Barack Obama selected Daschle to serve as secretary of health and human services, a post requiring Senate confirmation. The following February, however, Daschle asked to be withdrawn from consideration for the cabinet position after problems surfaced concerning back taxes.