Bob Dole: “I will take just a minute of the Senate's time to express my disappointment that we were unable to agree on any of the…”

“I will take just a minute of the Senate's time to express my disappointment that we were unable to agree on any of the unanimous-consent requests that we presented to my colleagues on the other side with respect to the pending gas tax repeal, the TEAM Act, minimum wage, taxpayer bill of rights, and the White House travel legislation. It was my hope that we could reach an understanding. I thought, based on conversations, we might be able to work out some procedure to ensure that the three main issues--the gas tax repeal, the TEAM Act, and the minimum wage were split into three separate bills--that the Senate would be able to reach an agreement on an overall consent that would include these issues in a relatively short timeframe. But unfortunately that does not seem to be the case. I think it is fair to say that we have offered pretty much what my colleagues had requested, with some minor changes, a consent agreement that does, in fact, divide the three issues into separate bills and limits time on each issue. I think they could be concluded in as little as 5 or 6 hours.”