{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=87B7072F-BB8B-4DF8-90E2-44ED10EFF2EE", "McConnell Delivers Rotunda Tribute to Senator Bob Dole", "2021-12-09", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today paying tribute to Senator Bob Dole:\n\n\u201cOn April 14, 1969, Senator Bob Dole delivered his first floor speech.\n\n\u201cHe said, \u2018the task ahead is monumental.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd this was before Bob knew he\u2019d end up leading a conference of 53 Senators!\n\n\u201cYears later, after he had become Leader, Bob described his Senate management challenges with his trademark wit.\n\n\u201c\u2018If I\u2019d known,\u2019 he said, \u2018we were going to win control of the Senate\u2026 we\u2019d have run better candidates!\u2019\n\n\u201cI swear, Bob could have made it as a stand-up comic.\n\n\u201cBut in that maiden speech, Bob was earnest.\n\n\u201cHe was already championing a signature cause: helping Americans with disabilities.\n\n\u201c\u2018The task ahead is monumental,\u2019 he said, \u2018but I am confident that there are forces in America ready and willing to meet the challenge.\u2019\n\n\u201cBob Dole himself was certainly proof of that.\n\n***\n\n\u201cThat maiden speech came 24 years to the day after he sustained his combat wounds in Italy.\n\n\u201cBob had already risen to a monumental task. He\u2019d taken the fight to the Nazis. And he\u2019d nearly paid for it with his life.\n\n\u201cThrough all his decades in public service, Bob Dole knew exactly where he came from.\n\n\u201cA son of Dustbowl hardship \u2014 who was laser-focused on food security and rural issues.\n\n\u201cA wounded warrior \u2014 who spent decades carrying fellow veterans and Americans with disabilities on his shoulders.\n\n\u201cBob was the last of the Greatest Generation to run for president. But he was never stuck in the past.\n\n\u201cHis roots ran deep\u2026 but he was always looking to new horizons.\n\n\u201cFrom that first speech\u2026 through his years in leadership\u2026\n\n\u201cThrough Bob\u2019s incredibly active retirement-in-name-only\u2026\n\n\u201cHe built brighter futures for millions.\n\n***\n\n\u201cBob was blessed with long life to watch this legacy take effect.\n\n\u201cBut that was no accident!\n\n\u201cBob liked to joke that he planned for longevity by closely studying our most senior colleagues.\n\n\u201cHe had a whole comedy routine about how he\u2019d tried to copy Strom Thurmond\u2019s eating habits:\n\n\u201cIf Strom takes a shrimp, I take a shrimp. If he eats a banana, I eat a banana!\u201d\n\n***\n\n\u201cBut the real engine behind Bob\u2019s 98 remarkable years was his love.\n\n\u201cHis love for Elizabeth and for Robin; for public service; for Kansas and for America.\n\n\u201cToday we honor the amazing life that love created.\n\n\u201cAnd we thank God, the source of all love\u2026\n\n\u201cBoth for Bob\u2019s incredible journey here in this life\u2026\n\n\u201c\u2026and for the fact that he has entered his eternal reward in the next.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=87B7072F-BB8B-4DF8-90E2-44ED10EFF2EE"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4200229197740555, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}