Angie Craig: “I rise to honor and remember our distinguished majority leader, our colleague, and our friend, Bob Dole, as he prepares…”

“I rise to honor and remember our distinguished majority leader, our colleague, and our friend, Bob Dole, as he prepares to leave the Senate. When you work with or around Bob Dole, you soon realize: He has consistent values and an unwavering commitment to them. He's been in there fighting for a balanced budget--not because of some green eyeshade interest in the numbers, but because he knows its a moral issue. He's been fighting for years, consistently, for a balanced budget constitutional amendment because he understands this is a principle of fundamental fairness, and he understands how the Constitution really works, protecting the basic rights of the people by preventing the Government from abusing its powers. I've worked with Bob Dole on other constitutional issues, from protection of second amendment rights to private property rights. When Congress passes the 28th amendment--the balanced budget amendment--some time in the near future, even though he will have left the Senate, it will be, in part, a monument to Senator Dole's years of hard work.”