The Role of Congress

In this first of the series, Lee Hamilton and Senator Bob Dole appeared on Close-Up, aired on C-SPAN, to discuss the role of Congress. Following are excerpted quotes from the program.
	What are your observations looking back at your time in Congress? I?m a Republican; Lee?s a Democrat, but we respect each other. I served in Congress 35 ? years; he served 34. Nothing gets done unless you have people in both parties willing to work together for the common good. That?s what we?re really sent here for. Senator Bob Dole   People don't fully understand the complexity of the job. If you sit down and list the 10 toughest problems in America in your judgment, I can almost guarantee you that the Congress will vote on them in the next 6 months. What always impressed me was how rapidly these issues come at you. You vote 400-500 times a year in the House, and on every tough issue facing America. Representative Lee Hamilton
	On what issue did you have the most influence during your career? The proudest achievement I had was in 1983, working with Senator Moynihan [D-NY] in rescuing social security. That, and the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which we celebrated the 10th anniversary of this year. They were both non-partisan efforts and things we should have been doing together. Senator Bob Dole   I do feel I had some small role in helping the United States adopt a leadership role in the world and consistently argued for engagement and American leadership across the world. Representative Lee Hamilton
	What was the toughest issue you worked on? No one issue stands out. Deciding how to vote on so many tough issues wasn?t easy. You look for guidance from the President?s position, the House and Senate leaders? positions, you think about how your constituents will react to your vote, how they feel about it ? but on the tough issues they?re not usually united on it. So you look at a number of guideposts. Now if all of them line up in the same way, it?s relatively easy to decide. But it?s when they split that it gets tough. But at the end of the day I think it is your responsibility to be true to your own conscience. You have to be comfortable with the position you take. Representative Lee Hamilton   Also, debate in Congress is important. You look to your colleagues who are experts in that field and you hope that they are exercising their best judgment when they vote. Senator Bob Dole
	What do you see as the challenges for Congress looking ahead into the future? The challenge will be for the Congress to keep solving the problems of this country ? a country of 270 million and enormous diversity ? in a manner that keeps us all working together unified and peaceful and prosperous. Representative Lee Hamilton For people to recognize that Congress can't do everything for everyone. We also have to look at personal responsibility. Young people like you have to have responsibility. The government can't assume all responsibility for you from cradle to grave. Senator Bob Dole
	What's the best advice you can give young people who want to run for office someday? Pretty basic ? get involved in a campaign of someone you have confidence in and would like to see serve on the city council, the state legislature, or in the U.S. Congress. It's not always about being President. That's the big league. You can learn a lot at the local level and you meet a lot of good people. A lot of young people are involved in campaigns in both parties. You make contact with the candidate, you lick a lot of envelopes, all that hard stuff, but that's how you learn. Senator Bob Dole   My first job was polling the precinct ? figuring out whether people were going to vote; whether they were Democrat or Republican. I volunteered for that. The precinct was the building block of politics. You must know precinct politics before you can understand county politics and know them well before you can get to know state politics, and after that, national politics. And you have to get good communication skills. Not just giving that big speech, but one to one; one to fifty; one to 150. Get good oral skills, good writing skills. Learn how to talk to people. Representative Lee Hamilton
	How do you think Congress is doing in its oversight role? You have two roles as a Member. You are a legislator, drafting bills, and you have to oversee the laws that have already been passed. I have an uneasy feeling that Congress doesn't do as good a job today as it should on oversight. It's not very attractive to the media, and constituents don't talk about it very much. But I believe the role of Congress is to look into every nook and cranny of the federal government and to make sure the laws are working as they should and are carried out without corruption or abuse. Representative Lee Hamilton   We pass these laws, say in 1975 ? and then no one looks at them for 25 years. There may be waste there. They may not be reaching the right people. People may not be getting their benefits. Oversight is an important function, but so many other priorities seem to get in the way of it. Senator Bob Dole
	What you think of the role of lobbyists? I don't look upon lobbying as some sort of nefarious activity. They often educate Members of Congress on issues. As a Member of Congress you have to learn, that's part of the job, and you figure out where these lobbyists are coming from, what their angle is. But most lobbyists are good, educated, sophisticated people and they can often educate you on certain aspects of a bill. Representative Lee Hamilton   The Constitution gives the right to petition the government and that's just exactly what lobbyists do. You find out very quickly who you can trust and I would say that's about 90% of those who call upon the Congress. If they throw us a curve ball, or give us misinformation, or mislead us, they're finished. No trust. Most lobbyists are good, solid people. I know they're made fun of and often attacked, but in my view they serve a useful purpose. Senator Bob Dole
	What about the role of women in running for office? When I first came to the House, we had only a handful of women and there was only Margaret Chase Smith in the Senate. I think you have over 60 now in Congress, and it's growing steadily as it should. Women have done a lot of good educating of the rest of us. Women came to Congress and pointed out that the health research that was being done was largely directed at male health problems ? because of the ?Old Boy? network, we just weren't smart enough to figure out that a lot of the money ought to go to women's diseases as well. It took women entering Congress to make that point . . . women's involvement has enriched the Congress and our country. Representative Lee Hamilton I think we should have a women Vice-President or President, and I know a good one! And we have two women Senators from California now [and from Maine]. I think they're coming along pretty good now. Senator Robert Dole
	What about the role of Third Parties in bringing about more moderation? In the Congress, it's still a two-party system - there's only one Independent in the House. The Reform Party is in the states but it still has some years to go. The role of parties overall has diminished and I think that's an adverse development. I'd like to see the parties strengthened because it's within the party that you can develop consensus, and the more consensus, the better for governing. Representative Lee Hamilton I can recall in the early days, party organizing meant you met with people a lot. We had town meetings, parties, singing and entertainment. We had a lot of fun getting together. We've lost a lot of that sense of community. Now it's all through the mass media and not as much personal contact. Senator Robert Dole
	The second in the Center on Congress/Close-Up on C-SPAN series will air Febuary 18, 2000, and will feature a discussion about the impact of Congressional action on the daily life of the average citizen.