Setting America on a New Course

Tom Daschle served as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader from 1994-2005. Throughout his 18-year presence in the Senate, he was an advocate for quality education, healthcare, agriculture communities, Veterans and Native Americans. In his first year on the hill, he was appointed to the powerful Senate Finance Committee, an unusual honor for a freshman. In 1988, then-Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell named Daschle the first-ever co-chair of the Democratic Policy Committee. Part of the National Affairs Series.