[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 11, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6046-S6048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MORNING BUSINESS
Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be
a period for the transaction of morning business with Senators
permitted to speak therein for up to 5 minutes each until the hour of
3:30 p.m.
Mr. EXON. Reserving the right to object, and I do not intend to
object. Is it the Senator's intention that we would go to the budget
then at 3:30? Is that the plan?
Mr. LOTT. Madam President, if I can respond to the distinguished
Senator from Nebraska, it is our hope that the Senate could consume
much of the 10 hours allocated to the budget conference report this
afternoon. That is provided, of course, under the statute. We would be
able to set the final vote on the conference report for midafternoon on
Wednesday, in all probability. Certainly, we are now consulting with
the Democratic leader, and he is making sure that that is agreeable.
We hope to have a unanimous-consent request on that in, hopefully, a
few minutes. Between now and 3:30, since a number of Senators did not
have an opportunity to speak this morning in tribute to Senator Dole,
we hope that can be done in this hour. Then we hope to begin on the
budget resolution.
Mr. EXON. I have no objection whatsoever. This Senator was one of
those, also, who wishes to speak. I will be seeking 5 minutes of my own
time for that subject during the next hour.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
[[Page S6047]]
TRIBUTE TO SENATOR BOB DOLE
Mr. LOTT. Madam President, there is no question that some of the most
eloquent speeches I have heard since I have been in the Senate were
presented this morning by Senators on both sides of the aisle as a
tribute to our good friend and majority leader, Bob Dole. They really
were very impressive in terms of the relationship that Senators have
had with Senator Dole and their love for him and for this institution.
Many Senators have enjoyed working with Senator Dole and have learned a
great deal from him. Certainly, I am one of those that has been
studying at the feet of Bob Dole. It has been something to behold. He
is truly a master of how to get things done. We can all learn from
that. I hope that I am one that has learned and will remember those
lessons.
I served in the House for a number of years after having worked for a
Democratic Congressman named Bill Colmer, the chairman of the Rules
Committee. Until this very day, when I remember the lessons I should
have learned from that old gentleman, I do well. When I forget those
lessons, I usually get in trouble. So I think that as we go through
life and as we go through political life, as we work in Government, and
as we go through our daily activities in the Senate, there are certain
giants like Bob Dole that we can and should all learn from.
Madam President, there is a little known custom, I guess, in the
Senate for Members to carve their names in the drawers of their desks.
In fact, when constituents come on the floor when we are not in
session, that is one of the things they find most interesting. They
pull the drawers out and see who signed these desks.
When you look into some of these desks, you find the great--and
sometimes not so great--names of the past. They are a veritable
rollcall of our country's history.
In 28 years in the Senate, Bob Dole did more than make his mark upon
a congressional desk. He made his mark upon this institution, not just
its legislation, but more importantly, its character.
He devoted most of his career to the Senate, but not because this
Chamber and its business were an end in itself. For Bob Dole, serving
the Senate was serving his country.
That service took precedence over most other considerations in his
life.
Indeed, it took precedence over his Presidential campaign--until
today.
The reason Bob Dole will not be with us on the Senate floor after
today is no great secret.
The reason is that he was convinced he would better serve his country
by restoring leadership to its Presidency than by handling the day to
day affairs of the Congress.
We all know it was hard for him to leave, and it was hard for us to
see him leave. It affected us all, and it reminded us once again who we
are and what we are about in this institution. Those who really know
Bob Dole know that he is leaving not out of ambition for higher rank,
but out of determination to finish the fight and be in a position to do
all that he can do for his country.
That fight, in terms of his country's future, is every bit as
important as the fight which gravely injured the young Bob Dole in
1944.
There are some who think of duty as a burden, heavy to bear and best
shrugged off onto someone else.
There are others who embrace duty, and carry it proudly, and do not
put it down until the journey is done.
In walking out of this Chamber today, Bob Dole carries with him a
lifetime of duty.
As we saw him exit this door, we all felt an emotional surge, and
every Member of this Senate knows he will not put that responsibility
and duty down.
No one would understand better than Bob that not every Senator wants
him to succeed in his present mission. Indeed, a goodly part of this
body will move Heaven and Earth to prevent that success.
That is not perfidy. It is democracy.
It is something Bob Dole went to war to defend, and something he
still can appreciate more than most of us.
But I dare say, despite the political and partisan divisions on this
Senate floor, as we quite often experience, all of us understand
something historic is happening here today.
Something none of us will soon forget.
It brings to my mind two other reluctant departures in our Nation's
past.
The first would be Washington's reluctant leaving of Mount Vernon to
assume a position he did not seek, but which his countrymen insisted he
take.
The second would be Lee's agonized departure from his post of
military honor to fulfill what he considered a higher duty.
Were he here, Bob Dole would modestly dismiss any comparison with
Washington or Lee--or any other of American's great statesmen of the
past.
He would rather let the future judge such things, and so should we.
Whatever the outcome of this year, whatever the course of its
conflicts and controversies, the future holds a place for Bob Dole as a
giant of the Senate, a man set apart from most by a quiet passion for
his country that we are only now beginning to understand.
But Lord willing, we will benefit from it for years to come.
I yield the floor, Mr. President.
Mr. EXON addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coats). The Senator from Nebraska.
Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I thank the Chair. I wish to associate
myself with the remarks by the distinguished Senator from Mississippi.
I just want to say a few words about my friend Bob Dole. I suspect my
feelings are not significantly different by what has been thought and
what has been said by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. So
aside from the Bob Dole that we all know so very, very well, I just
want to say that I was pleased to be here and to hear that excellent
speech that Senator Dole gave as his farewell address in the U.S.
Senate. It was sad in lots of ways, and yet it was so reassuring to see
someone of the integrity, the ability, the character, and the good
nature of Bob Dole spelled out in that speech so very, very well. I
hope that many, many people in the United States heard that speech by
my friend and colleague, the man from Kansas.
I have worked with him so very, very long on so many issues. Many
times we have been on the same side, but on many of the items we have
been on opposite sides. But never, as Senator Dole mentioned in his
speech this morning, has he ever, to my knowledge, violated that
cardinal rule of the U.S. Senate--unwritten, which is just as
effective: A man's word or a woman's word is their bond. In all of
these nearly 18 years that I have had the pleasure of my association
with Bob Dole, I have never known Bob even to give a hint of breaking
his word, because if there was ever a man in the U.S. Senate for whom
we all know his word is his bond, that is Bob Dole.
On a personal note, I just want to say when I saw Bob walk out after
his address, it took me back to times in all of our lives when there
have been breakups. I suppose the first was when we graduated from
grade school and that old gang of ours broke up and went on through our
educational process. And certainly it is true. When you left the
service of the United States of America, that old gang was broken up.
That old gang that Bob Dole was with was suddenly broken up when he
nearly gave his life in combat, in defense of the national security
interests of the United States of America and the free world. But I
thought of that breakup when I saw Bob walk out that door an hour or so
ago.
Bob Dole meant so much to me because, despite our differences from
time to time, we always had an excellent personal working relationship.
He came into Nebraska on two or three occasions to support my opponent
in one of my races. But never did Bob Dole say anything bad about Jim
Exon, even though he could have probably found some legitimate things
that he could and maybe should have said. But that was not Bob's way.
Bob came into Nebraska, and he campaigned for my Republican opponent--
not against Jim Exon. I think that is the mark of not only a great
statesman but a very effective leader, which he was of his party as
majority leader on that side, but also someone that you could be truly
proud of and call your friend.
Little known outside the Senate, I suspect, was Bob's strongest
characteristic, and that was his sense of
[[Page S6048]]
humor. I am not sure that the public at large has understood that. But
I have had an ongoing relationship--very friendly--with Bob Dole on
many, many occasions. In fact, this year when he was running for
President of the United States, I suggested to him--and he knew it was
facetious--that I might consider a draft to be his Vice Presidential
running mate, if he was interested in that. Bob knows that I am a
Democrat--always have been and always will be, and we had lots of jokes
about that. But over the years of friendship, over the years of serving
on very tough issues, sometimes we were maybe at sword's point, one
would think, when we were debating a measure of some importance on the
floor of the U.S. Senate. Bob Dole never lost his sense of humor. He
never forgot his sense of humor. And I think that is what helped carry
him through probably that life-threatening wound that he received in
battle and probably through some of the more heated debates that have
taken place here on the Senate floor. I have never seen Bob Dole do
anything but smile when someone said something or told him something
that he thought was humor.
So I am saddened by the fact that a coworker for whom I have great
respect, has made a choice that I think was the right choice for him to
make, especially with regard to the heavy responsibility that he
carries for his party, and he will carry in the Presidential election
this year. In that regard, maybe I can sum up my feelings, friendship,
and understanding with Bob Dole by a statement that I made to him in
one of our more humorous conversations maybe 6 months ago right in the
heat of those very tough Republican primaries for President of the
United States. I said to Bob Dole, ``You know, Bob, if we have to have
a Republican President''--then I repeated it--``if we have to have a
Republican President, I hope it is you.'' People that do not understand
humor might think that was a cutting thing for Jim Exon to say, but Bob
Dole knew what I was saying. Bob Dole knows that myself and all,
likely, on both sides of the aisle respect not only the man's talent
but the man's sense of responsibility and his sense of humor which has
endeared him to those of us on both sides of the aisle.
Godspeed, Bob Dole, to you and your wonderful wife, Elizabeth. You
are a great couple. And whatever the future holds, we will always hold
you in high esteem.
I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
Mr. HATCH addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
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