Bob Dole: “Finally, Mr. President, we have now completed 6 months work in the U.S. Senate and the Congress. Mr. President, as we…”

“Finally, Mr. President, we have now completed 6 months work in the U.S. Senate and the Congress. Mr. President, as we prepare to return to our States for the July 4 recess, I wanted to take just a minute to review the last 6 months, and to look ahead to the 6 that remain in this year. When Republicans asked Americans to put Congress under new management for the first time in 40 years, Mr. President, we promised that we were a different way of doing business. We promised we would not stand for the status quo. We promised we would bring change to Capitol Hill. We have kept those promises. We have kept our word. We have brought change to Capitol Hill. One change we brought was in our work load. In past sessions, Congress would convene in January, and then take it easy for a month or two. This Congress put an end to that. We hit the ground running. From January 5 through June 28, the Senate has been in session for 106 days, meeting for a total of 933 hours and 52 minutes--that is 21 more days and nearly 350 more hours than the Senate spent in session from January 5 through June 30, 1993--the first 6 months of the fist session of the 103d Congress. What has the Senate accomplished in that time? Well, one thing we have not done is pass more legislation than the previous Senate. And that is a good thing. Because the people did not send us here to pass more laws that mean more regulations and more Government.”