Editing Bob Dole (section)

== U.S. Senate (1969–1996) ==
In [[1968 United States Senate election in Kansas|1968]], Dole defeated former [[List of governors of Kansas|Kansas Governor]] [[William H. Avery (politician)|William H. Avery]] for the Republican nomination for the [[United States Senate]] to succeed retiring Senator [[Frank Carlson]]. He subsequently won the seat in the general election. Dole was re-elected in [[1974 United States Senate election in Kansas|1974]], [[1980 United States Senate election in Kansas|1980]], [[1986 United States Senate election in Kansas|1986]], and [[1992 United States Senate election in Kansas|1992]], before resigning on June 11, 1996, to focus on his [[Bob Dole 1996 presidential campaign|presidential campaign]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/06/dole-resigns-from-senate-to-focus-on-presidential-bid-june-11-1996-023593|title=Dole resigns from Senate to focus on presidential bid|date= June 11, 1996|work=Politico|access-date=June 6, 2018|language=en}}</ref>

While in the Senate, Dole served as chairman of the [[Republican National Committee]] from 1971 to 1973, the ranking Republican on the [[United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry]] from 1975 to 1978, and the chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on Finance]] from 1981 to 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senator-roberts-makes-history-becoming-top-republican-on-senate-agriculture-committee|title=Senator Roberts Makes History, Becoming Top Republican on Senate Agriculture Committee {{!}} The United States Senate Committee On Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry|website=www.agriculture.senate.gov|date=February 2011 |language=en|access-date=June 6, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-eisele/bob-dole-interview_b_1260703.html|title=Bob Dole: Still a Man to be Reckoned With|last=Eisele|first=Al|date=February 7, 2012|website=HuffPost|language=en-US|access-date=June 6, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/bob-dole-elected-as-senate-republican-leader-nov-28-1984-216193|title=Bob Dole elected Senate Republican leader, Nov. 28, 1984|work=Politico|access-date=June 6, 2018|language=en}}</ref> In November 1984, Dole was elected [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Leader]], defeating [[Ted Stevens]] 28–25, in the fourth round of balloting.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CQ Almanac Online Edition|url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/login.php?requested=%2Fcqalmanac%2Fdocument.php%3Fid%3Dcqal84-1151429|access-date=November 10, 2021|website=library.cqpress.com}}</ref>

[[File:U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS ROBERT DOLE, STANDS ON A PICK-UP TRUCK BED WHICH IS ONE OF THE PARADE UNITS IN COTTONWOOD... - NARA - 557059.jpg|thumb|Dole in [[Emporia, Kansas]], 1974.  Photo by [[Patricia DuBose Duncan]].]]
The continuing war in Vietnam was the dominant source of political division on Capitol Hill in the early 1970s; in 1970 Democratic Senator [[George McGovern]] of South Dakota took the Senate floor and condemned the role of the [[deliberative assembly]] in maintaining the U.S. presence in Vietnam, saying the Senate chamber "reeks of blood", soon followed by freshman Republican senator Dole on the floor, who vociferously attacked McGovern. Dole was appointed chair of the Republican National Committee the next year.<ref name="MannOrnstein2008">{{cite book |last1=Mann |first1=Thomas E. |last2=Ornstein |first2=Norman J. |title=The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and how to Get it Back on Track |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536871-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIE8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |language=en}}</ref> Over time in the Senate, Dole was seen by some as having a moderate voting record.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/slideshow/soldier-statesman-bob-dole-s-life-public-service-n837896|title=From soldier to statesman: Bob Dole's life of public service|publisher=NBC News|access-date=June 6, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> During the following years of the 1970s, Dole and McGovern worked together on the Senate Hunger and Human Needs Committee. They partnered to help pass legislation making [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program|food stamps]] and school lunches more accessible,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/opinion/food-stamp-politics.html|title=Opinion {{!}} Food Stamp Politics|last=Samuels|first=Dorothy|date=May 20, 2013|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 6, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="C.Q.Researcher2017">{{cite book |author1=C.Q. Researcher |title=Issues in News and Reporting: Selections from CQ Researcher |date=2017 |publisher=CQ Press |isbn=978-1-5443-2226-1 |page=162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udBEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 |language=en}}</ref> and fraud more difficult. They expanded the school lunch program and helped establish the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children ([[WIC program|WIC]]), a federal assistance program for low-income pregnant women, breast-feeding women and children under the age of five.<ref name="Henneberger2013">{{cite news |last1=Henneberger |first1=Melinda |title=Bob Dole honored for work in helping to feed the poor |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-dole-honored-for-work-in-helping-to-feed-the-poor/2013/12/12/667b36ac-635c-11e3-aa81-e1dab1360323_story.html |access-date=12 December 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=12 December 2013}}</ref>

Dole served on congressional agriculture committees throughout the course of his political career, and became the Republican Party's chief spokesman on farm policy and nutrition issues in the Senate. When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, Dole held the chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture Committee's Nutrition Subcommittee and the Senate Finance Committee. Together with McGovern, Dole spearheaded the elimination of the purchase requirement to receive food stamp benefits<ref name="Schuldes2011">{{cite book |last1=Schuldes |first1=Martin |title=Retrenchment in the American Welfare State: The Reagan and Clinton Administrations in Comparative Perspective |date=2011 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-90153-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8beGZfORDgIC&pg=PA528 |page=528 |language=en}}</ref> and the simplification of eligibility requirements.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/CAT87202100/PDF |title=A Guide To Understanding The 1977 Food And Agricultural Legislation, by Thomas A. Stucker and WUliam T. Boehm; National Economic Analysis Division; Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service; U.S.Department of Agriculture. AER-411. |page=2 |access-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-date=October 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025002246/https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/CAT87202100/PDF |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Facing a reluctant President and Congress as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 1982, Dole was the driving force behind a large tax increase, promoting it as a reform measure to collect money owed by tax cheats and under-taxed businesses.<ref name="Clark1982">{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Timothy B. |title=THE CLOUT OF THE 'NEW' BOB DOLE |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/12/magazine/the-clout-of-the-new-bob-dole.html |access-date=12 December 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=12 December 1982}}</ref> In December of that year, ''[[The New York Times]]'' referred to Dole as changing from "hard-line conservative" to "mainstream Republicanism".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/12/magazine/the-clout-of-the-new-bob-dole.html|title=The Clout of the 'New' Bob Dole|date=December 12, 1982|last=Clark|first=Timothy B.|newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2018|language=en}}</ref>  He became Senate Majority leader in 1985 initially serving in that position for two years. Democrats took control of the Senate following the [[1986 United States Senate elections]], and Dole became Senate Minority Leader for the next eight years.  Dole was a major supporter and advocate of the [[Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990]].

The Republicans [[Republican Revolution|took control]] of both the Senate and House of Representatives in the [[1994 United States elections|1994 midterm elections]], due to the fallout from President Bill Clinton's policies including his [[Clinton health care plan of 1993|health care plan]], and Dole became Senate Majority Leader for the second time. In October 1995, a year before the presidential election, Dole and Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] led the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a [[Appropriations bill (United States)|spending bill]] that President Clinton vetoed, leading to the [[1995–1996 United States federal government shutdowns|federal government shutdown from 1995 to 1996]]. On November 13, Republican and Democratic leaders, including Vice President Al Gore, [[Dick Armey]], and Dole, met to try to resolve the budget and were unable to reach an agreement.<ref name=MyLife>
{{cite book|last=Clinton|first=Bill|title=My Life|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]]|year=2004|isbn=0-375-41457-6|url=https://archive.org/details/mylifeclin00clin/page/n718 |pages=680–684|quote=Armey replied gruffly that if I didn't give in to them, they would shut the government down and my presidency would be over. I shot back, saying I would never allow their budget to become law, 'even if I drop to 5 percent in the polls. If you want your budget, you'll have to get someone else to sit in this chair!' Not surprisingly, we didn't make a deal.}}</ref> By January 1996, Dole was more open to compromise to end the shutdown (as he was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination), but he was opposed by other Republicans who wanted to continue until their demands were met. In particular, Gingrich and Dole had a tense working relationship as they were potential rivals for the 1996 Republican nomination.<ref name="Steinhauer">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/us/politics/03boehner.html|work=The New York Times|first=Jennifer|last=Steinhauer|title=John Boehner, New House Speaker, Will Face Tough Challenges|date=November 3, 2010}}</ref> Clinton aide [[George Stephanopoulos]] cited the shutdown as having a role in Clinton's successful re-election campaign.<ref name="George Stephanopoulos 2000. pp. 406-407">Stephanopoulos, George. ''All Too Human'' Back Bay Books, 2000, pp. 406–407. {{ISBN|978-0316930161}}</ref> In a January 3, 1996, Briefing Room address, amid the ongoing [[1995–1996 United States federal government shutdowns|United States federal government shutdowns of 1995–1996]], President Clinton noted Dole as a lawmaker that was "working together in good faith" to reopen the government.<ref>{{cite web|title=Remarks on the Impact of the Budget Impasse and an Exchange With Reporters|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1996-book1/html/PPP-1996-book1-doc-pg2.htm|date=January 3, 1996|first=Bill|last=Clinton|author-link=Bill Clinton|publisher=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States}}</ref>

From 1992 to 1996, Dole played a major role in mobilizing [[NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina|support for Bosnia and Herzegovina]] in the Senate, and pressuring the Clinton administration and NATO to resolve the war there.<ref>Hamza Karčić, "Saving Bosnia on Capitol Hill: the case of Senator Bob Dole." ''Journal of Transatlantic Studies'' 13.1 (2015): 20-39.</ref>

In 1996, Dole was the first sitting Senate Party Leader to receive his party's nomination for president. He hoped to use his long experience in Senate procedures to maximize publicity from his rare positioning as Senate Majority Leader against an incumbent president but was stymied by Senate Democrats. Dole resigned his seat on June 11, 1996, to focus on the campaign, saying he had "nowhere to go but the [[White House]] or home".<ref>{{cite news|last=Berke|first=Richard L.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/16/us/politics-overview-dole-says-he-will-leave-senate-focus-presidential-race.html|title=Dole says he will leave Senate to focus on presidential race|work=The New York Times|date=May 16, 1996|access-date=June 17, 2010}}</ref>