[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 125 (Monday, July 31, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S10912]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PRAISE FOR GIFT BAN

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, on another matter, I want to again thank my 
colleagues, Senator Lott and Senator McConnell, as well as Senator 
Levin, Senator Wellstone, Senator Feingold, and many others on both 
sides of the aisle who worked together on the gift ban proposal.
  As I said on the floor on Friday, I think we made a lot of progress. 
I read the editorial in the New York Times which indicated many fought 
it to the bitter end, which was not true. Editorial writers are 
entitled to their opinion, but they are not entitled to lie. If they 
had followed the debate, they would have known there was a lot of work 
going on all week long, in good faith, by Democrats and Republicans, by 
the leader, by the Democratic leader.
  What we finally did was say, ``OK, we agree on this. We cannot agree 
on three things. We will agree on what we agree on and vote on what we 
cannot agree on.'' That is precisely what we did.
  So, to the editor, whoever wrote that in the New York Times--I do not 
normally read it, but Sunday was a slow day--I hope that they will try 
to at least stick with the facts, maybe once a year, twice a year. We 
do not want to overdo it for the New York Times, but every little bit 
would help. They are entitled to facts, they are entitled to opinions, 
but understand what the facts are. And it is supposed to be the paper 
of ``all the news that is fit to print''--some say a 10th, but I say 
all the news fit to print. We hope for more responsibility from the 
editorial board of the New York Times.
  The primary purpose was to thank my colleagues for all the work they 
did and the good-faith effort. I think we made a giant step forward, 
and, hopefully, we will ease the concerns of many of our constituents 
when it comes to Members of Congress and gift rules.
  Also, lobbying reform was another bipartisan effort on the floor. I 
thank my colleagues who were engaged in that.


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