Hotline

Here's The Hotline summary of an article in today's Argus Leader (I can't get the AL link to work):

DASCHLE: Making The Sioux Fall A Little Softer

Aides to Senate Min. leader Tom Daschle "can still get paid for up to two months" after Daschle leaves office in 1/05. "The Senate created provisions last week at the request" of Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist "to provide severance pay and benefits for staff who worked for Daschle for at least six months." The aides "will have to relinquish their severance" once they get new jobs. Frist "proposed the change" before Thanksgiving. It "passed unanimously." Frist spokesperson Bob Stevenson: "You can't expect professionals to work on Capitol Hill in high-pressure situations if they know that if the person they work for is defeated, they're going to be left high and dry" (Madden, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 12/1).