Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, yes, I certainly will. There are a number of issues, and we will talk about it later this morning. We will be in next week, including Monday. I would like to have the Myers vote early Tuesday afternoon. We have the Defense Appropriations bill which will be coming back from the House. As soon as it comes back, that very important bill we have acted on in the Senate will be addressed certainly next week. In addition, the Democratic leadership and the Republican leadership have begun discussions. There is likely to be another conference report coming back from the House with regard to a tax package. Nobody in the conference has to determine what the package actually is, but it will focus on issues like the 10-percent tax bracket, extension of the child tax credit, marriage penalty relief, those sorts of issues that I suspect will be addressed on the floor of the Senate next week. We can discuss other business. Next week will be a busy one. It will be our last week before going on a very long recess. Finally, on Botswana, the Senator from Nevada mentioned two things. First of all, Senator Daschle and your delegation went about a year and a half ago. We followed that the next year with another bipartisan delegation to very similar countries. It takes that sort of direct participation on our part to go and see the travesty, the devastation, and to see that a large portion of these societies has been wiped out by this little virus which we can cure eventually. I am confident. It takes that participation on our part. I encourage our colleagues, even though people say Senators need to stay right here in the United States, to do traveling, interaction, dialog, observation. Since those two journeys, we have been able to come back and we can, with pride, say we are the world leader in addressing this moral public health challenge. That comes from action here, translated into action on the floor, which is what we have done. In Botswana, if we compare 1970 to today--and this article points it out--someone born in 1970 would have lived 16 more years if this virus had not been around. So it has cut 16 years, comparing 1970 to today, off someone's life expectancy in Botswana, where the assistant Democratic leader and I visited. It is a tough problem, one we can address together.

Mr. FRIST. Yes.

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, in part, the second paragraph in the article says: The devastating impact of the crisis can be seen most clearly in seven African countries, including Malawi and Mozambique, where babies born in 2002 are not expected to live past 40 years because of the prevalence of HIV. Without going into details of the causes, that dramatic impact demands, for a moral reason, a strong international response. I am proud that the United States is leading that moral response. This crisis is one of the great moral, humanitarian public health crises of our times. We need to address that.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I want to briefly comment on a headline from an article from the U.K. Daily Independent. It could have been really from any periodical, but the headline says, ``AIDS reduces African life expectancy to 33.'' That is 33 years of age. In my office this morning, I came across this, and it hits me that this little virus we have lived with since the early 1980s, when it was first described and detected in this country--in this country nobody had died of this little virus, but then 5 people died, 100 died, and now thousands of people in this country have died; and then it killed about 500,000 people, and then a million, and then 5 million, and then 23 million people have died. It is destroying the continent of Africa, where the life expectancy is 33 years of age. I ask unanimous consent to have the article printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today, we will be in a period of morning business. Last night, we were able to complete our work on the Australia Free Trade Agreement. We also finished the process for sending the JOBS bill, FSC/ETI bill, to conference; therefore, we will have no rollcall votes today. I do not anticipate a long session today, but several colleagues have asked that we be in morning business so that they have an opportunity to discuss certain issues. We have one piece of business on the Executive Calendar. We have tried to reach a time agreement on the judicial nomination of William Myers to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit. It appears unlikely that the other side will agree to a time limitation, and, therefore, I intend to file cloture on that nomination today. That vote will occur sometime early Tuesday afternoon at a time to be determined, which we will set certainly before the close of today's business.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk and I ask for their first reading, en bloc.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now ask for their second reading, and, in order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings of these matters, en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 606, S. 2479.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as in executive session, I would have asked unanimous consent that on Monday, July 19, at a time determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the nomination of William Myers to be U.S. circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit. That would have been objected to. The unanimous consent request would have gone on to say 5 hours of debate, to be equally divided, to be followed by a vote on the confirmation at 2:15 on Tuesday, July 20, with no intervening action or debate. That unanimous consent would have been objected to by the other side of the aisle.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived, that the vote on cloture occur at 2:15 on Tuesday, July 20, and further that the Senate now resume legislative session.

Mr. FRIST. I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the Senate on July 16, 2004, by the President of the United States: Protocol Amending Tax Convention with the Netherlands (Treaty Document 108-25.) I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed, and that the President's message be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2261 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the DeWine substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this week we began with the consideration of a constitutional amendment on the institution of marriage, an important dialog, I felt, for this body. We had a good debate on both sides of the aisle on the definition of marriage. I thank my colleagues for keeping the debate on the subject, very civil, and handled in a very respectable way. I personally was disappointed we did not succeed in getting to the consideration of the text of the amendment. As to the timing of the amendment, people kept questioning again and again, Why did you bring it up now? It was clearly determined by the fact that we had activist judges, beginning in the middle of May, in Massachusetts who radically redefined what marriage over the thousands of years has been interpreted to be. Right now there are lawsuits pending in 11 other States, and it is just a matter of time before the definition of marriage between a man and a woman will be destroyed in all 50 States. Amending the Constitution to protect marriage is the only viable option left to Congress. It is a debate we did not seek, but it was one that was brought to us by another branch of Government by activist judges who determined what that definition is. It is important for the legislative branch, directly elected by the American people, to express itself on this issue. We simply are not going to shirk from our responsibility to protect marriage, and we deserve to have a say in the matter. Although we were blocked from bringing it to the floor, I can assure everyone it will be back. The issue is not simply going away. In addition, we completed last night the Australia free-trade bill, a very important bill managed by Chairman Grassley. The outcome of the vote was 80 to 16 last night on final passage. The significance of this bill was stated on the floor last night and it centers on the fact that two-way trade between the United States and Australia is at a level of about $28 billion each year. We have a little over $89 billion surplus with Australia, which is the greatest with any nation. More than 99 percent of our exports from Australia will enter duty-free once this agreement goes into effect. The agreement we approved yesterday in this body is expected to produce an increase of about $2 billion annually in trade for both nations. That means the bill we passed last night will result in the creation of about 40,000 new jobs in my own State of Tennessee. Australia is a very important market. Tennesseans exported more to Australia than to France last year. Tennessean companies exported $225 million to Australia, which is approximately a 10-percent increase from 1999. The bill itself is even more than increasing business opportunities. Australia indeed is one of our most steadfast allies and a key partner in the war on terror. I had the opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister of Australia last night after completion of the bill and thanked him for that support of the broad coalition that has been assembled across the world to fight this war on terror. Australians have fought beside Americans in every major conflict in the last 100 years, and this agreement strengthens that already close bond forged between two old friends. Thirdly, this week the Senate took an important step with respect to the FSC/ETI, the JOBS bill, by sending it to conference. The Senate had passed a bill. The House had passed a bill. There had been obstruction to going to conference, but we came to an agreement yesterday and the bill has been sent to conference. It is timely legislation. Every month we do not pass the legislation there is a 1-percent Euro tax or a tariff increase each and every month. It is now at 9 percent. That is unfair. It is unfair to consumers and it is unfair to manufacturers. Once we work this bill through conference and the President signs it and it becomes law, it will create jobs. So there has been real progress in that regard. Fourthly, this week we passed H.R. 4363, the Helping Hands for Homeownership Act. This bill came out of the Banking Committee, which is chaired by Senator Shelby, and it will go to the President's desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate request the House to return the papers with respect to S. 2589.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk that is due for its second reading.

Mr. FRIST. I object to further proceedings on the measure at this time in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, before I commit to no votes tomorrow, these two bills we are voting on today are very important and I would think we would not have votes tomorrow, but before people take that and sort of run with it, let me have some conversations over the next 30 minutes or so.

Mr. FRIST. We will. There are a lot of Members whose schedules very much depend on when we vote either tomorrow or later tonight--hopefully not later tonight, but earlier tonight as well as on Monday night or Tuesday morning. We will work all of that out within the next hour or so, so we can notify Members.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Friday, July 16. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then begin a period of morning business for statements only with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will be in a period of morning business throughout the day. There will be no rollcall votes during tomorrow's session. During tomorrow's session, I will have more to say about next week's schedule. However, there will be no votes during Monday's session as well. Senators can expect the next vote at approximately 2:15 on Tuesday. We had a productive day today. We will be closing in just a few moments. I just had the opportunity a few moments ago to talk to the Prime Minister of Australia, who expressed his gratitude to the American people and to this body for the vote we took about an hour ago with regard to the Australia trade bill. We expedited consideration of that bill, brought it to the floor in a very quick fashion, but had a very good debate over the course of the day. There was broad support for that bill as reflected in the vote, with 80 people voting for that piece of legislation. In addition, we made real progress considering an amendment with regard to tobacco and the FDA. Unusual in the fact that those two bills were put together in one bill, but by considering that bill with an overwhelming vote, we are able to go to conference on the FSC/ETI bill, an important bill to jobs and manufacturing in this country.