[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 7, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1158-S1159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE SENATE

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me indicate that I think we have 
accomplished a great deal this year in the Senate, and we will 
accomplish a great deal more. Normally there is a period of recess for 
Lincoln's birthday so Republicans can go out and do whatever they do 
during that week, and then there is a later period of a week for 
Democrats.
  I regret that we could not adjourn the Senate to accommodate many 
members of the staff who will now be required probably to stay here, 
because if we take a look at last year, we came in early in January and 
stayed throughout the year with hardly any breaks. I am not complaining 
about that, but those are the facts. I should know. I think we may have 
set records with the number of votes and the number of hours in 
session. It was truly a remarkable year, and we accomplished a great 
deal. We have a great deal more to do this year. I regret that we were 
unable to just recess. There will be no votes until February 27, and 
perhaps members of the staff whom I am looking at now can work out some 
little time to have some relaxation and rest because they certainly 
deserve it. We have had long sessions. We have been in late at night 
and some of us were here during the holidays negotiating with the 
President trying to work out a budget agreement. We do not have it yet. 


[[Page S1159]]


  America's Governors may have moved it along a little bit. We are 
still not in accord with the President, and we hope that might be 
possible. I must say the American people will only accept a good 
agreement, not a game of arithmetic, but policy changes that will mean 
a great deal to the American people, bring interest rates down a couple 
of percent so that when you buy a home or car or borrow money for one 
of your children going to college or whatever, you will pay 2 percent 
less interest. The American people can understand that. That is what 
the first session was all about, and that is what the second session is 
going to be all about.
  In the meantime, today we passed historic farm legislation. We passed 
a very significant DOD authorization report. We passed a START II 
Treaty which the President requested in his State of the Union Message. 
We had all the work done before and we were just waiting for a vote.
  We also passed the telecommunications bill, probably the biggest jobs 
bill in this decade. We have done all that plus public housing reform, 
which was very significant legislation.
  So I do not want the Record to only reflect the statements I heard 
earlier from my friend from Ohio, Senator Glenn, and the Senator from 
Michigan, Senator Levin, that it has been sort of a waste of time. 
Because there will be no votes does not mean that there will not be 
hearings and progress, and I am certain my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle will either be here working or be at home working. I think 
that from time to time it is good to go home and find out what the 
people are thinking.
  It is not 3 weeks. It is about 2 weeks--10 days--10 days. So we will 
be back. In the interim, if there is anything that should be done, 
obviously we are going to be in here on this Friday, and next week 
there are pro forma sessions, and then we are in again for a couple 
hours each day and we can take care of any business that might come 
before the Senate.

  So I want to thank all of my colleagues for their help and their 
cooperation so far this year. It is going to be a long year. There will 
be a lot of work to do, but I believe we can accomplish what we set out 
to do in the first place--welfare reform, balance the budget, 
regulatory reform, tax relief for families with children, all those 
things that are so necessary if we are going to get the economy moving 
again and if we are going to have that hope and optimism that the 
American people are looking for. So I thank the Presiding Officer.

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