Remarks as prepared for delivery:

When Jim Jeffords made that brave walk across the aisle, we knew that we were watching history being made. What we didn't realize fully at that moment was what a difference it would make to have Democrats in charge. We have restored balance to America's system of checks and balances.

Never in our lifetimes has there been a more urgent need for honest debate in America than there has been this past year. Your former chairman -- and my friend, Joe Lieberman -- is making sure America is able to have that kind of debate -- on homeland security. John Kerry is doing the same on foreign policy. John Edwards, and Pat Leahy, are working hard to make sure we have a full and fair debate on the future of our judiciary.

The fact that Democrats hold the gavel in the Senate is also making it possible for Americans to have a real debate about one of the most urgent matters facing our nation: our economic future. A couple of weeks ago, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors wan on TV, and he made an made an astonishing statement. He said: "In terms of the economy, I see nothing that would suggest the need for any change in policy."

Nothing?

The stock market has lost more than $7 trillion in value since its peak in March 2000. Alan Blinder, the former vice-chair of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, says that the investing public's mood is at its worst since the stock market crash in 1929.

As someone else said, this isn't a bear market - it's a grizzly bear market. We're seeing executives arrested, CEOs indicted, and a major accounting firm convicted. People are losing their life savings, and losing faith in the markets.

They're also losing jobs. In the last 20 months, America has lost 1.8 million jobs. We've got a jobless recovery. Instead of new jobs being created, we're seeing more huge layoffs. The $5.6 trillion surplus - that the Administration said a year ago was a sure thing -- is now gone. The national debt clock near Times Square -- which was unplugged after we went from record deficits to record surpluses -- was turned back on two weeks ago.

As you know, states are in a terrible bind. They face a combined budget shortfall is $40 billion. They're using up their rainy day funds and their tobacco settlement money, and they're still having to cut education and other essential services. Anyone who sees nothing to suggest the need for change must be spending too much time in a secret undisclosed location.

The other night, I was standing in line at a book store and I started reading the covers of the news magazines by the cash register, listen to these headlines:

Business Week: "Can You Afford to Retire?"

Time: "Will You Ever Be Able to Retire?"

Money magazine: "How to Beat a Bear Market"

Smart Money showed a picture of George Washington winking, with the headline: "Financial Advice You Can Trust."

The Economist put it most bluntly: "It's the Economy, Boss."

All over America, middle class people who did the right things -- who worked hard and invested their savings and thought they'd planned for their future are suddenly worried about how they're going to be able to put their kids through college, when they'll be able to retire, if they'll be able to retire.

All they're hearing from the Administration is: "Don't worry about the stock market. Don't worry about your retirement. Don't worry about the deficit. We've got it all under control." Clearly, everything is not under control. The economy is in trouble. And there is no economic leadership coming from the White House.

But that doesn't mean that there are no answers. It's time for the Administration to stop being cheerleaders, and start being leaders. But if they won't lead, Democrats will.

We will provide the leadership to restore growth to America's economy, create good-paying new jobs, and protect people's pensions. We know how to bring both parties together for the good of the country. In a Senate that is so closely divided, the only way you can get anything done is with bipartisan support. With Democrats in charge in the Senate, we broke a four-year logjam and passed a real Patients' Bill of Rights. We provided the leadership and the votes to pass education reform. We passed campaign finance reform -- with help from John McCain.

And we are the ones who are providing economic leadership.

In just the past few days, we've seen the products of our leadership in two critical areas: corporate responsibility, and economic growth. For months after the Enron story broke, the Administration denied there was a problem. The only thing they wanted to change was the way the President referred to Ken Lay.

Democrats saw the problem for what it was: a threat to the economic security of thousands of Enron employees and stockholders - and a threat to people's faith in the markets. Led by Paul Sarbanes and with help from a few Republicans, we produced a real corporate accountability plan.

The Administration said it was the wrong answer. Even after WorldCom, the Administration continued to resist nearly every major part of the Sarbanes plan. Finally, when the wave of corporate scandal -- and mounting public outrage -- became too great to ignore, they switched tactics. They tried to create the appearance of reform while pushing the most minimal changes possible.

The President came here, to New York, to take Wall Street to the woodshed. His speech combined Teddy Roosevelt rhetoric with Herbert Hoover policies. It was full of tough talk, but short on real solutions.

The President says that in business, things aren't always black and white. That may be so. But I'll tell you what. There's a lot more black-and-white today than there was a week ago -- in business, accounting and the markets.

The Sarbanes corporate accountability bill puts important new investor protections in writing. It passed the Senate 97-0. And now -- because of Democratic leadership -- it is about to become the law of the land.

The President deserves credit for agreeing -- finally -- to sign the corporate reform bill. Now we ask him to work with us to make sure that the independent auditing board the new law creates has the best people and is truly independent, and that the SEC has the resources and leadership it needs to do its job correctly.

We held our ground for real corporate accountability because we know that the vast majority of American business owners are people of integrity. And we don't want to see good businesses dragged down with the bad. Even at this time of justifiable criticism of corporate wrongdoing, we Democrats have not forgotten that government doesn't create jobs. Businesses create jobs -- especially businesses on Main Street.

That's also why we provided the leadership to give the President the authority to negotiate trade agreements. For eight years, Congress was divided sharply between those who argued that free trade has no downside, and others who say it is a complete disaster.

Neither side was right.

The truth is, our economy as a whole benefits enormously from expanded global trade. But some workers are hurt by it. Our trade bill put that truth in writing. We included in the trade promotion bill a comprehensive assistance package for workers who are displaced by trade. That balanced approach is what enabled us to win bipartisan support in the Senate to pass trade promotion authority.

We could not have done it without the DLC. You were instrumental in shaping the new trade adjustment assistance program, and in convincing more than a few people to support for it. For the first time -- because of Democrats -- workers who are displaced because of global trade will get help -- a 65 percent COBRA tax credit -- to maintain their health insurance. For the first time, workers who are forced to take lower-paying jobs will be eligible for wage-insurance benefit to make up part of the difference. For the first time, farmers and "secondary" workers will be eligible for training and other kinds of assistance. The new bill also expands the time workers are eligible for assistance -- from 18 months to two years.

With these two accomplishments, Democrats can be proud to say that we have provided leadership on two of the most pressing economic needs in America today: restoring trust in the market, and expanding markets for American goods and services the right way.

But there's more that needs to be done.

Last Friday, I met a man named Steve Vivien, from Northern California. Steve is 46 years old. He started working for MCI 19 years ago, and now works for MCI WorldCom. He said he invested his 401(k) in WorldCom because he believed in the goals of his company -- and he believed that officials there were telling the truth about the company's financial situation. His faith cost him over $400,000. That's how much he's lost from his 401(k).

Steve Vivien isn't alone. Millions of working people who invested their life savings and their retirement savings in the stock market are seeing those savings disappear. Not all of them have lost as much as Steve. But must of them have lost money they needed -- to pay for their children's college tuition ... to pay for their own retirements.

New York City firefighters and police officers lost $100 million from their pension fund because of WorldCom. When corporate fraud destroys pension funds, it's not just workers who get hurt. Investors' faith in the market is undermined. That can lead to a loss of consumer confidence. And if consumers lose faith and stop spending, the whole economy suffers.

On pensions -- just as with corporate accountability -- Democrats have a plan that offers real protections, while Republicans offer only the appearance of protection.

Our plan allows workers to sue to get their money back if the people responsible for protecting their investments abuse that trust. It will hold the Ken Lays of the world accountable for their fraud and their betrayals of workers' trust. The Republican plan doesn't do this.

One of the biggest problems at Enron and WorldCom is that employees got trapped holding onto free-falling shares. Compared to the House Republican plan, our plan makes it easier for workers to sell their company stock and diversify their holdings. Our plan gives workers access to independent, unbiased investment advice. The Administration's plan allows the same firms that manage company plans to also counsel workers n investments. That clearly subjects workers to potentially biased advice -- and potentially costly mistakes.

Steve Vivien, the WorldCom worker who lost his retirement savings, says that people who claim it's anti-business to protect pensions are wrong. "In fact," he says, " if we want to see an increase in productivity, we need to put the (pension security) issue to bed -- once and for all. Congress should protect workers' retirement plans - and let workers focus on their jobs."

If the White House won't lead that fight, Democrats will.

What we need is a comprehensive economic plan -- like the one we followed in the 1990s

I've heard Republicans lately referring to the 1990s as a "binge." What it was, was eight years of unprecedented growth and prosperity that benefited all Americans -- not just those at the very top. You don't get You get it by practicing fiscal discipline ... restoring investor confidence ... and opening up new markets for American goods and services. You get it by investing in the American people and their potential - not by cutting $1 billion from education, as the President's budget for next year does.

You create economic growth and prosperity by investing in American entrepreneurs, and by investing in new technologies - like broadband communications. Democrats will include tax credits to do both - help small businesses grow ... and grow America's critical technology sector -- as part of our bill to raise the minimum wage.

You create jobs -- and increase our national security -- by replacing an energy policy that looks to the past with one that looks to the future; a new policy that invests in innovative new technologies. A bill to do exactly that passed the Senate four months ago, all President Bush has to do is tell Republican leaders in Congress to stop blocking it and send it to him.

He should also tell them to send him the terrorism insurance bill we passed in the Senate. Eight billion dollars in commercial construction has come to a halt because companies can't get terrorism coverage. With the stroke of the President's pen, we can get America building and people working again..

He should work with us to make sure that, after a lifetime of hard work, people are able to retire with dignity and security.

Yesterday morning, Americans awoke to some amazing news. On the front pages of newspapers -- next to the stories about our troubled economy -- was the story of the miraculous rescue of those nine coal miners in southwestern Pennsylvania. For three days, they were trapped in a flooded tunnel, 420 feet beneath the surface of the Earth. People call their rescue a miracle -- and maybe they're right.

But it took more than a miracle to save those men and get them home to their families. It took local, state and federal rescue workers, and people from the private sector, working together around the clock for three days. It took amazing skill, and ingenuity, and new technology. Most of all, it took enormous courage and determination -- from the men in that tunnel, and from their rescuers.

Ten miles from that coal mine is a field. It's in a small town whose name has become synonymous with American courage and determination. That town is Shanksville. On September 11, United Flight 93 crashed into that field after the passengers and crew defied their terrorist kidnappers. They gave their lives to save others.

The men and women of Flight 93, the coal miners and their rescuers, the firefighters and police officers and others who risked their lives -- and gave their lives -- at the World Trade Center, are proof that the American people are capable of heroic things. Americans are the smartest, best-educated, hardest-working, most determined people on the face of the Earth. Over and over again, we have done the impossible.

We can certainly overcome our current economic difficulties. We can create jobs -- and get our economy moving in the right direction again. All we need is a realistic plan, and leaders who understand America's strength, and are willing to channel that strength to lead us to a better future.

No organization in America today is doing more than the DLC to cultivate those leaders. Thank you for the tremendous service you perform for our party, and our nation. I am proud to stand with you.