In a rare sign of bipartisanship, long-time Senate Republican leader Bob Dole and influential former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey have joined with the Washington-based Humane Society of the United States to push several legislative efforts to protect animals.

Dole, the former senator who was the GOP presidential nominee in 1996, and Kerrey, also a former Nebraska governor who ran in the Democratic primaries in 1992, have both supported animal welfare efforts before.