[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 94 (Monday, June 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6679-S6680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         A TRIBUTE TO BOB DOLE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, in my 22 years here in the Senate, I have 
had a chance to witness many historic events in this Chamber. When I 
leave the Senate, I hope to write a book about some of these.
  One of the truly historic events was a speech given by our former 
majority leader, the senior Senator from Kansas, Senator Dole. I think, 
Mr. President, that there will be historians who read the Record of 
that event; but in reading the Record they will read only the words. 
They will not really see the event. I would like to add, for those 
historians who may read that, that at the time Senator Dole gave his 
speech, most of the Republicans and most of the Democrats were on the 
floor.
  As the Presiding Officer knows, when Senators speak, even though we 
may all be on the floor, ofttimes we do not listen. This was an 
exception. Every single Senator on the floor listened, and listened 
carefully. They heard a speech that was vintage Bob Dole--plain, to the 
point, with flashes of the humor that we know so well. Even when he was 
corrected by the then distinguished Presiding Officer, the President 
pro tempore, when the President pro tempore spoke of his around-the-
clock filibuster, Senator Dole ad libbed, ``And that is why you are not 
often invited to be an after dinner speaker.''
  There is far more than just humor in that there is real affection 
from Senators of both parties--affection for a man who earned it. He 
earned it as one of the finest Senators I have had a chance to serve 
with. I have been here with great majority leaders, such as Senator 
Mansfield, Senator Byrd, Senator Baker, Senator Mitchell and, of 
course, Senator Dole. I was thinking how good it was to be in a Senate 
led by Senator Dole on the Republican side and Senator Daschle on the 
Democratic side. It is not just his leadership, but his role as a U.S. 
Senator that earned him respect and affection from both sides of the 
aisle.
  I began serving on the same committee with Bob Dole when I came here 
as a junior member of the Agriculture Committee. I watched how he 
worked with Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern, as well as key members 
on the Republican side, on nutrition matters--school lunch, school 
breakfast, and food stamps. After Senator McGovern and Senator Humphrey 
were gone, it fell on me to pick up our side of the aisle on that.
  Throughout the years, there were a number of Dole-Leahy and Leahy-
Dole amendments on nutrition that passed. I have worked with him on 
major farm bills. This last one was the Dole-Leahy-Lugar farm bill in 
the Senate.
  When Senator Dole was ready to leave the Senate, I went to see him, 
and I spoke to him and told him that it had been a privilege to work 
with him and that there were an awful lot of people who were fed--
hungry Americans--because of legislation we were able to work on 
together.
  It certainly was not just me, by any means. I think of another giant 
in the Senate, Pat Moynihan, who stood in the well of the Senate, with 
Senators milling around, and had a conversation with Senator Dole. It 
was in the early 1980's when we thought the reform of Social Security 
was dead. Senator Moynihan said to Senator Dole, ``Let us try one more 
time.'' And because the two of them worked first on what was best for 
the country--not necessarily what was best for each other's political 
future or the future of the parties--and they worked in a nonpartisan 
fashion, they saved Social Security. It required two Senators of that 
stature, with respect on both sides of the aisle, to do it, and 
Senators who were willing to put everything else aside.
  So much will be written during this year, and each of our parties 
will support our nominee for President. No matter which way the 
Presidential election comes out, the country should understand that it 
benefited by Senator Dole being in the Senate. I say this as a Member 
of the other party. I hope that all Senators, Republicans and 
Democrats, will realize that the Senate itself is bigger than any one 
of us. We owe a duty not just to our political fortunes, but to the 
U.S. Senate and to help be the conscience of this great Nation. We have 
to work together, first and foremost, for what is best for the Nation, 
not each other.
  I salute the good Senator, my good friend, Senator Bob Dole, and I 
will miss him here in the Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gorton). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

[[Page S6680]]



                     CONCLUSION OF MORNING BUSINESS

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, morning business is 
closed.

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