Online Chat with Stockbridge Central School
                                                          October 5, 2004

Senator Leahy: Hello, this is Chris Saunders from Senator Leahy's office.
Stockbridge Central: Hi this is Becky. I will begin gathering up the students for you. :-)
Senator Leahy: The Senator should be with us in just a minute.
Stockbridge Central: OK
Senator Leahy: I - just got back from the Senate floor and happy to be with you.
Stockbridge Central: Hi how are you doing today? This is Mikey, Jake, and Devan Thank you for taking your time chatting with us.
Senator Leahy: I saw the photos of you harvesting the garden - Mikey, Jake and Devan I wish I was in Vermont but will be home this weekend.
Stockbridge Central: we have some questions to ask you.
Senator Leahy: Please go ahead
Stockbridge Central: This is about heath care.
Stockbridge Central: How are you going to get everyone to have healthcare?
Senator Leahy: OK
Stockbridge Central: How will you change healthcare for Americans?
Senator Leahy: I like what Senator Kerry has proposed - we can afford in this country to have basic health care for everyone. It would be a help to small businesses that can't provide health care but also to families where everyone is working but still can't afford health care.
Senator Leahy: It will also require the Congress to have better priorities.
Stockbridge Central: Will healthcare be a priority for you?
Senator Leahy: It is and will be - I would also like to see Vermont be able to import drugs from Canada where they cost a lot less than here.
Stockbridge Central: What have you done and what will you do to stop terrorists?
Senator Leahy: I serve on the Homeland Security subcommittee that funds all our agencies. I have helped them coordinate better, improve their communications and have provided huge amounts for translators. The only effective way to guard against terrorists is to get them before they strike.
Stockbridge Central: How are you going to help our country be secure?
Senator Leahy: Having said that we should not live in fear. We know the 9-11 hijackers wanted to destroy the Capitol building in Washington but I have no fear going to work there every day and I encourage our fellow Vermonters to visit Washington.
Senator Leahy: We aren't more secure simply by starting preemptive wars in Iraq or anywhere else. To stop people before they come to America to strike us we have to work a lot closer with other countries around the world.
Stockbridge Central: What do you think we should do about the war in Iraq
Senator Leahy: I believe we never should have gone to war in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden and his followers were in Afghanistan and we should have finished the effort to find him instead of letting him escape - instead we went to Iraq and created even more trouble for us. I think Saddam Hussein is a terrible person but we had him contained. Now we have to work very hard to leave Iraq without the government we created collapsing it will not be easy
Stockbridge Central: Is your job fun?
Senator Leahy: My job is very enjoyable - sometimes [often] I work until midnight or later and start early in the morning but I feel I am always learning something new and knowing I am Vermont's voice in Washington is humbling and rewarding.
Stockbridge Central: What is your favorite sport?
Senator Leahy: Even though they usually break my heart I love watching the Red Sox. I also scuba dive and snowshoe at my home in Vermont during the winter
Stockbridge Central: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Senator Leahy: I have an older brother and younger sister. My brother lives in upstate NY with his wife and my sister and husband live in Marshfield not far from our home in Middlesex.
Stockbridge Central: What do you do in your spare time?
Senator Leahy: I don't have a great deal of spare time but I do a lot of photography and take advantage of some of the places I get to go as a Senator. A lot of my photography has been published and I enjoy that - also enjoy reading for pleasure and not work.
Stockbridge Central: What would you most want to change in the world?
Senator Leahy: I wish I could lower the enormous amount of conflict often caused by religious strife - I believe in a God who stresses peace and not one who espouses war in the name of God.
Stockbridge Central: Do you think testing in school every year is a good idea?
Senator Leahy: I think giving teachers and schools the tools for the best education system in the world is necessary - I worry if we end up with tests for the sake of tests. I am far more interested in the quality of the teachers and if your questions are indicative you are great students with great teachers.
Stockbridge Central: What would you do to help kids get smarter?:-)
Senator Leahy: Learn to read well and appreciate what you read. Get exercise and the best of nutrition - but a lot depends on what it is like at home. I grew up in a home where everyone read and we enjoyed comparing what we were reading - it instilled a love of learning.
Stockbridge Central: How can you help us to get more computers and supplies in our school?8-)
Senator Leahy: We have time for one more and than I have to go back to the Senate floor but I have enjoyed this very much.
Stockbridge Central: How long do you think we should read every night?
Senator Leahy: I have supported a number of programs that will get computers in schools. I expect your school board and the Vermont Department of Education are working together to get them.
Stockbridge Central: Thank you for talking to us today. We enjoyed talking with you. We will participate in a mock election this month. We will be voting for US Senator, governor & president. Have a great day! :-Devan, Jake, Mikey.
Senator Leahy: You should read at night because you enjoy it - that is different for everyone - the most important thing is to know reading should be enjoyable not work.
Stockbridge Central: Many thanks (you're a nice guy!)
Senator Leahy: Thank you all and enjoy the week - if you see me around Vermont come and introduce yourselves.
Stockbridge Central: ok;-)