Bob Dole: “I find it strange that our colleagues on the other side are filibustering minimum wage. We are prepared to have that…”

“I find it strange that our colleagues on the other side are filibustering minimum wage. We are prepared to have that vote right now. We will not even need 30 minutes of debate. We are prepared to have the vote on TEAM Act, prepared to have the vote on gas tax. Again, the TEAM Act is just a very little piece of the pie or the puzzle. I hope we could find some way to reach an agreement. If there are amendments, I know the Senator from North Dakota--I have written him a letter, Senator Dorgan, if he has any way to tighten up the effort to make certain that the 4.3 cents will go to the consumer. I had a letter from Texaco, and we will have a response from ARCO. Somebody raised a question about ARCO in the press conference. I did not have the answer, but we are getting the answer from ARCO. I think we will have the assurances that some would need before they act on the gas tax repeal. As I said at the press conference earlier, we do pay for it. This is really an effort--the President's spending is why we have to have it. He wanted to spend more money, so we had to raise the gas tax. We will not let the deficit grow any larger. We will make certain we offset any loss. I hope that this is a reasonable agreement, and I would like to proceed with it. If not, I do not see any reason to stay in later this evening.”