{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11814-3", "2000-12-15", 106, 2, null, null, "THE HISTORY OF OLDSMOBILE", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S11814", "S11815", "[{\"name\": \"Spencer Abraham\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "146 Cong. Rec. S11814", "Congressional Record, Volume 146 Issue 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S11814-S11815]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                       THE HISTORY OF OLDSMOBILE\n\n  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, today I rise to comment on a development\nthat took place in my State this week. It was with great sadness that I\nheard of the phasing out of the Oldsmobile line of cars within the\nGeneral Motors family. Over the last 105 years, Oldsmobile has been a\nLansing, MI, and a State institution and, obviously, a national and\ninternational one as well. It was started 105 years ago when Ransom Eli\nOlds of Lansing, MI, teamed with Frank Clark, the son of a small\ncarriage shop operator, to achieve what many believed impossible. They\nsuccessfully produced a self-contained gasoline-powered carriage, and\nwith it Oldsmobile was officially born in 1897.\n  Throughout its history, Oldsmobile has enjoyed a number of firsts:\nthe first assembly line; and with the production of the curved dash,\nthe first mass producer of gasoline cars; in 1905, two Oldsmobiles\nfinished the very first transcontinental race from New York to\nPortland, OR, in 45 days; in 1940, models featured the Hydra-Matic\ndrive, making this lineup the first vehicles with fully automatic\ntransmissions; in 1966, Oldsmobile introduced the Toronado, the first\nmodern-day front-wheel drive car; in 1974, that Toronado became the\nfirst American car to offer a driver's side airbag.\n  Millions of Americans have come to love their Oldsmobiles. An Olds\nconvertible was the standard for transporting a Homecoming queen or a\nfloat parade when I was growing up. And an Oldsmobile sedan was the\nepitome of the middle-class family dream. All of this was made possible\nby the hard work and the commitment to affordable quality that was the\nhallmark of Oldsmobile in that division of General Motors.\n  On a personal level, I have a special stake in all of this, as well.\nNot only did I grow up in Lansing, MI, the home of Oldsmobile, but for\nalmost 20 years my dad worked on the line at the Oldsmobile main\nassembly plant there. It is\n\n[[Page S11815]]\n\nwhere he got his start, where my family came to truly appreciate how\nmuch the automobile industry means, not just to families such as ours\nbut to our State, and especially how much the Oldsmobile meant to\nMichigan--Lansing, in particular.\n  I am sad, therefore, to see the Oldsmobile go, as we have known it,\nbut I am confident General Motors will continue to make quality, safe\nautomobiles for generations to come. As we bring down the curtain on\nthe Oldsmobile, I rise today to offer my praise to that company, to\nthose who started it, and their families and descendents who still\nremain in the Lansing area and in Michigan; also, to all those workers\nwho, as my father, worked over the years for that Oldsmobile division\nof General Motors. I think each and every one of them took to their\njobs a great satisfaction, a commitment to hard work, and a tremendous\npride in the craftsmanship that went into making the automobile for\nmany generations one of this country's favorite lines of vehicles.\n  I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.\n  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.\n  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order\nfor the quorum call be rescinded.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.\n  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I inquire of the Chair, are we still in\nmorning business?\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair informs the Senator from Michigan we\nare in a period of morning business until the hour of 2:30.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11814-3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 12.520595919340849, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}