Bill Bennett: “As we have a debate around here about ethics and congressional perks and all of the rest of those issues, I am…”

“As we have a debate around here about ethics and congressional perks and all of the rest of those issues, I am interested to find some Members of my own party, at least in the other body, boasting that they do not even have a passport, that they are so focused on their jobs that they don't do any foreign travel at all. When I was a newly elected Senator, the then-Republican leader, Bob Dole, took me and a number of other freshmen up to New Jersey to spend a day with former President Richard Nixon. Whatever you might think of Richard Nixon, I think you might confess he had a grasp of foreign affairs that was perhaps unparalleled. And he will be remembered, along with his other problems, for his opening to China, for his level of detente with Russia, and the other things he did in the foreign affairs field. As we sat with him, one of the first things he said to us was: You cannot do your jobs as Senators if you do not travel. You need to be overseas. You need to be in these other countries. He said: I know the press will criticize you for it, but it is essential that you do it. I have taken his advice. I have discovered he was right. The press does criticize us for it. There were articles in the Washington Post saying: What are these people doing viewing Inca ruins on a holiday at taxpayer expense, as if the whole purpose was some kind of congressional junket.”