Bob Dole: “we have just passed in the last hour and a half the Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1996. I think we have…”

“we have just passed in the last hour and a half the Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1996. I think we have dealt a big blow to the era of big government. My view is the Americans--whether Republicans, Democrats or Independents--wanted us to make changes, and we have delivered a true victory for all of America's taxpayers. We have saved $23 billion over last year's level of discretionary spending. That is $23 billion less Washington spending, and $30 billion less than the President requested. That is a lot more savings than many people predicted. I think we probably could have done more had we had a little more time. It is the biggest decrease in Washington spending in more than half a century, according to some who have been around. It has been a long and difficult process and has taken a lot of bipartisanship in many cases, working with the White House in other cases, but it covers five separate appropriations bills, nine Cabinet agencies, and appropriates over $160 billion. There has been a lot of back and forth with the White House. A lot of negotiations. A lot of give and take. Both sides had to give a little. Certainly nobody got everything they wanted in the final version of this bill. But what the American people got was a spending bill that is $23 billion less than last year and $30 billion less than President Clinton's request. We did our duty for the taxpayers of America.”