Bob Dole: “let me say first of all that having served in the House for 8 years, in the other body for 8 years, a long time ago, I…”

“let me say first of all that having served in the House for 8 years, in the other body for 8 years, a long time ago, I have just come from the House floor where I have had the privilege of seeing something that I did not think might ever happen, where we have a Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives. I say to my Democratic friends as well that I think after 40 years, everybody would be fairly happy. We waited a long, long time. So I wish to congratulate Speaker Gingrich and Minority Leader Gephardt and the others on the House side who have tremendous responsibilities as we begin the 104th Congress. But I must say that as I sat there and thought about the days I was there in the sixties, in 1961 through 1968, and thought about all that has happened since and all that happened during those 8 years, even the fact that, in the Senate, it probably does not create the excitement-- even within this Senator--that we feel for the House after all of those years. So I salute my colleagues in the House and I wish them every success.”