THE COURT'S ULTRACONSERVATISM. CONGRESS NEEDS TO REASSERT ITS
           DEMOCRATIC PREROGATIVES, RESPECTFULLY BUT FIRMLY. CONGRESS
           NEEDS TO REASSERT -- IN FACT, REMIND -- THE SUPREME COURT OF
           THE CONSTITUTION THAT WE ARE A COEQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT AND
           OUR POLICY DETERMINATIONS DESERVE RESPECT JUST AS THEY ASK
           RESPECT FOR THEIRS.
           

           IT IS TIME FOR THE PEOPLE'S ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES, DEMOCRATIC
           AND REPUBLICAN, REENGAGE THE BIPARTISAN CONSENT US OF PRINCIPLE
           THAT PRODUCE THE A.D.A. AND WORK TOGETHER TO RESTORE THE RIGHTS
           OF ORDINARY AMERICANS THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY BY AN
           INCREASELY ACTIVIST U.S. SUPREME COURT. AGAIN, MR. PRESIDENT,
           AS I'VE SAID, I HAVE STOOD HERE ON THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE
           DEFENDING THE SUPREME COURT AS MUCH OR MORE THAN ANYBODY I KNOW
           IN MY 25 YEARS HERE. I'VE DONE THAT ON DECISIONS IN WHICH I

           DISAGREED WITH THE LAW LAW. I DID THAT EVEN IN THEIR DECISIONS
           IN THE FLORIDA ELECTION -- ACTUALLY, THE NATIONAL ELECTION.
           WHEN I FELT THEY WERE WRONG, I STATED THAT WAS THE LAW, AND WE
           MUST ALL ABIDE BY IT. BUT I AM DISTURBED BY THIS INCREASINGLY
           DISMISSIVE TONE OF THE COURT IN WHICH THEY ACT AS THOUGH THE

           CONGRESS, REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS TOGETHER, DO NOT HAVE THE
           ABILITY TO REPRESENT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THE FACT THAT WE ARE
           ELECTED BY PEOPLE ALL OVER THIS GREAT NATION, IT'S ALMOST
           IRRELEVANT. THE A.D.A., THE FACT THAT WE HAD SPENT YEARS ON
           THIS, THAT A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT HAD STRONGLY SUPPORTED OUR
           POSITION WAS IRRELEVANT. AND THAT SOMEHOW WE DID NOT KNOW WHAT

           THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANTED. MR. PRESIDENT, I THINK IT'S A
           DANGEROUS PATH. JUST AS IT WOULD BE A DANGEROUS PATH FOR US TO
           BE DISMISSIVE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT, IT IS EQUALLY
           DANGEROUS FOR THEM TO BE DISMISSIVE OF THE CONGRESS BECAUSE
           ULTIMATELY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SUFFER. AND A NATION WHICH IS --
           HAS MAINTAINED ITS DEMOCRACY, HAS FOSTERED ITS WONDERFUL GROWTH

           BECAUSE OF OUR SEPARATION OF POWERS, BECAUSE OF THE WAY WE HAVE
           SUPPORTED THE THREE EQUAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, WHAT A SHAME
           IT WOULD BE IF ONE BRANCH, THE ONLY UNELECTED BRANCH, CONTINUED
           TO BE SO DISMISSIVE OF THE OTHER TWO BRANCHES, BOTH ELECTED.
           MR. PRESIDENT, I SUGGEST THE ABSENCE OF A QUORUM.
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE CLERK WILL CALL THE ROLL.
           
           
           
           QUORUM CALL:
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE SENATOR FROM KANSAS.
           

           MR. BROWNBACK: MR. PRESIDENT, I ASK THAT FURTHER PROCEEDINGS OF
           THE QUORUM CALL BE DISPENSED WITH.
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: WITHOUT OBJECTION.
           

           MR. BROWNBACK: MR. PRESIDENT, I RISE TO SPEAK FOR A FEW MINUTES
           AS IF IN MORNING BUSINESS. IT'S JUST ON A BROAD TOPIC. IT'S
           ABOUT THE DAY AND WHAT THIS IS. I WANT TO SAY IT'S KIND EVER
           INTERESTING WHEN WE CELEBRATE THINGS LIKE ST. PATRICK'S DAY,
           VALENTINE'S DAY. WHAT IS THE BASIS OF THE DAY?
           WHY DO WE DO THESE THINGS?
           AS YOU SEARCH THROUGH IT, YOU DIG INTO IT, YOU FIND THERE'S AN
           INTERESTING STORY HERE. LIKE VALENTINE'S DAY, AS WE CELEBRATE
           IT, RECOGNIZE A PREERS WHO MARRIED PEOPLE IN ROME WHEN IT WAS

           FORBIDDEN TO MARRY PEOPLE BECAUSE THE EMPEROR AT THE TIME
           WASN'T GETTING ENOUGH SOLDIERS TO SIGN UP FOR THE MILITARY
           BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO GET MARRIED. SO THE EMPEROR DECREED
           NOBODY COULD GET MARRIED. THE PRIEST SAID THAT'S NOT -- I DON'T
           AGREE WITH THAT. SO HE QUIETLY, SECRETLY MARRIED A NUMBER OF
           PEOPLE AND WAS THEN LATER ARRESTED, INCARCERATED, PUT IN JAIL
           AND BEHEADED HIMSELF FOR HAVING DONE THIS NICE, WONDERFUL
           THING. BUT IT'S A GREAT REMINDER OF WHAT VALENTINE'S DAY IS
           ABOUT WHEN WE START TO SEND THE CARDS CARDS. TODAY WE CELEBRATE

           ASH WEDNESDAY. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PEOPLE CELEBRATING ASH
           WEDNESDAY. IT'S INTERESTING TO ME TO SAY WHAT'S ASH WEDNESDAY
           ABOUT?
           IT COMES FROM A NUMBER OF REFERENCES IN THE BIBLE, PARTICULARLY
           IN GENESIS WHERE IT SAYS, "DUST THOU ART AND ON TO DUST THOU
           SHALT RETURN." IT'S A RECOGNITION. IT'S A SYMBOLISM OF WHAT WE
           PHYSICALLY ARE, WHAT THE -- WHAT THE PHYSICAL BODY ENDS UP

           HAPPENING TO US. FROM THE E.W.T.N., THEY COMMENTED ON THEIR WEB
           PAGE ABOUT ASH WEDNESDAY, LIT TURNING CAL USE OF ASHES
           ORIGINATED IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES, ASHES SYMBOLIZED MOURNING,
           PENT INCIDENCE. MORT COULD I PUT ON SACK CLOTH AND ASHES WHEN
           IT HEARD THE DECREE FROM THE KING THAT WENT OUT TO KILL ALL THE
           JIISH PEOPLE IN THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. HE THEN PUT ON SACK CLOTH
           AND ASHES. JOE REPENTED IN SACK CLOTH AND ASHES. PROPHESYING

           ABOUT THE BABYLONIAN APTIVITY OF JERUSALEM. DANIEL LATER WROTE,
           I TURN TO THE LORD GOD PLEAD IN ERNEST PRAYER SASHED WITH ASH
           CLOTH AND ASHES. IT'S A REGULAR PART OF MORTALITY AND PENT
           NANTZ. JEES SUS COMMENTED, IF THE MIRACLE WORKED IF YOU HAD
           TAKEN PLACE, IT WOULD REFORM IN SACK CLOTH AND ASHES LONG AGO.
           ASHES, ASH WEDNESDAY. IN THE MIDDLE AGES, THE PRIEST WOULD
           BLESS THE DYING PERSON WITH HOLY WATER AND SAY, REMEMBER THAT
           THOU ART DUST AND TO DUST THOU SHALT RETURN. THE CHURCH ADOPTED

           THE USE OF ASHES TO MARK THIS PERIOD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE
           SEASON OF LENT WHERE WE REMEMBER OUR MORTALITY AND MOURN FOR
           OUR SINS. IN THE PRESENT LITURGY FOR ASH WEDNESDAY, IT
           REMEMBERS THAT AS WELL. MR. PRESIDENT, I SIMPLY RISE TO REMIND
           US OF WHAT THE SYMBOLISM IS IF WE GO AROUND THE HALLWAYS AND WE
           SEE PEOPLE WITH ASHES ON THEIR FOREHEAD AND THE SYMBOLISM THERE
           IS ABOUT THE MORTALITY OF EACH OF US, THAT FROM DUST WE CAN AND
           TO DUST THAT WE RETURN. AND IT'S A SYMBOLISM AND IT'S A DAY OF

           REFLECTING ON OUR OWN SINS, OUR OWN NEEDS, AND I THINK MAYBE
           THAT'S A USEFUL THING FOR US TO DO AS A NATION IS TO REFLECT ON
           WHAT WE HAVE DONE RIGHT, WHAT WE HAVE DONE WRONG AND SEE WHAT
           WE CAN DO BETTER AS WE MOVE ON FORWARD. SO IN THIS TIME, ON
           THIS DAY OF ASH WEDNESDAY, IT SEEMS TO BE A GOOD DAY THAT WE
           REFLECT ON OUR OWN MORTALITY, OUR OWN SINFULNESS, AND WHAT WE
           CAN DO TO BE BETTER, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND AS A NATION. MR.
           PRESIDENT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I YIELD THE FLOOR, AND I NOTE
           THE ABSENCE OF A QUORUM.
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE CLERK WILL CALL THE ROLL.
           
           
           
           QUORUM CALL:
           
{END: 2001/02/28 TIME: 17-15 , Wed.  107TH SENATE, FIRST SESSION}