Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 369, which was submitted earlier today by myself and Senator Daschle.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to the ``greatest generation''--the veterans of World War II who fought so valiantly to save the world from tyranny. This weekend, thousands of veterans from World War II gathered on The Mall to witness the dedication of a memorial to their heroism and to their sacrifice. Many of us had also the opportunity to join them after the celebration, the recognition ceremonies, with our families on that Mall in tribute to them at this wonderful memorial. As President Bush said in his remarks to this remarkable group, ``When it mattered most, an entire generation of Americans showed the finest qualities of our Nation and of our humanity.'' It is fitting that Saturday's event was the largest gathering of surviving veterans in 60 years, and perhaps more than coincidental that the spring weather cooperated so beautifully for this truly historic day. Nearly 60 years have passed since the ``greatest generation'' won that terrible war. It seems inevitable now that America would defeat the forces of Naziism and fascism. Our enemies were wicked and freedom was right. But as President Reagan put it so eloquently in his address on the 40th anniversary of D-Day: For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history. Those were the words of President Reagan. Sixteen million Americans served in the Armed Forces during that great battle. They hailed from every corner of the United States, from the countryside to city streets, from high school graduation classes to suburban family homes. Mr. President, 671,000 Americans were wounded and over 105,000 Americans were held as prisoners of war. More than 400,000 gave their lives to defend America and to preserve our freedom. The Senate is honored to have among us men who fought in that Great War: Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, who served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including service on Saipan and Tinian; Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina, who served in the U.S. Army as an officer in the North African and European campaigns, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons; Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, whose battlefield heroism earned him the highest award for military valor, the Medal of Honor, along with a Bronze Star, Purple Heart with a cluster, and 12 other medals and citations; Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, who enlisted in the Army Signal Corps and served in Europe; Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, who was a pilot in the China-Burma- India theater, for which he earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Air Medals, and the Yuan Hai Medal awarded by the Republic of China; Senator John Warner, who enlisted in the Navy in World War II and went on to fight in the Korean war in the Marine Corps. Senator Warner served as a Marine Corps reservist for 10 years and was promoted to the rank of captain. As newsman and author Tom Brokaw wrote in his best selling book, ``The Greatest Generation,'' They answered the call to save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front. They won the war; they saved the world. A veteran at Saturday's dedication on The Mall was asked by a reporter how they did it. How did ordinary young men set aside their fear in the face of extraordinary odds against fierce and determined enemies? The veteran had been a machine gunner on a pair of bombers that successfully outmaneuvered 12 Japanese fighter planes. He replied simply: There's nothing else you can do but do your best, and keep firing until the ammunition runs out. This afternoon, we salute these extraordinary Americans who did their best and kept firing to save America. If they are the ``greatest generation,'' we are the ``grateful generation.'' Their honor, courage, and valor will never be forgotten. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, the amendment list I sent to the desk is a large amendment list. Some of the amendments on the list do not have anything to do with the Defense authorization. I want to make it clear that I don't believe many of the amendments are appropriate to the Defense bill. This is indeed true on both sides, both the lists submitted from this side of the aisle and on the other side of the aisle. We are locking in this list so we don't find ourselves with twice as many amendments if we wait until later tonight or tomorrow. Having said that, we have a limited universe of amendments. We have not agreed to consider each and every one of the amendments, but we do have this limited universe. There is no reason, I believe, that we should not be able to finish the bill either late this week or early next week. I hope the Democratic leader agrees and will work with us to ensure the bill is completed in a reasonable time next week. All of this agreement has been reached through conversations with the Democratic leadership and the managers on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I further ask unanimous consent that at 5:20 today the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of calendar No. 558, the nomination of F. Dennis Saylor, IV, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts; provided further that be there 10 minutes equally divided for debate prior to the vote on the confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that following the vote the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislation session.

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I have discussed the upcoming schedule with the Democratic leader. We currently have a cloture vote scheduled for 5:30 today on the motion to proceed to the class action fairness bill. In a moment, I will ask unanimous consent to vitiate that cloture vote. As I mentioned earlier this morning, it has been our hope to finish both the Defense authorization bill and the class action legislation in a timely way. To expedite completion of the Defense authorization bill, we will need to limit amendments so the managers of the bill can begin to schedule amendments accordingly. In addition, we would like to reach an agreement to begin the class action bill immediately upon the conclusion of the Defense authorization with no need for the motion to proceed. Having said that, I am prepared to ask unanimous consent but will withhold for any comment. I now ask unanimous consent that the 5:30 cloture vote be vitiated and that the Senate begin consideration of S. 2062, the class action fairness bill, at the conclusion of the pending Defense authorization bill.

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that the only remaining first-degree amendments in order to the pending Department of Defense bill be limited to the list I have sent to the desk. I further ask unanimous consent that these amendments be subject to relevant second degrees.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Senate returns to business today following the Memorial Day recess. I hope everyone had a safe and productive break. Today, we will be in a period for morning business until 12:30 p.m., with the time equally divided between both sides of the aisle. At 12:30, we will recess until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly Republican policy luncheon. I understand the Democratic policy luncheon will occur tomorrow. As a reminder, prior to the Memorial Day break, we tried to reach consent to begin consideration of the class action fairness bill. I reiterate that it has always been my hope we could finish the Defense authorization and the class action bill in a reasonable and timely way. Unfortunately, after spending a week on the Defense authorization bill we were still unable to reach an agreement for an amendment limitation. In addition, there was an objection to proceeding to the class action fairness measure. A cloture vote is currently scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today on the motion to proceed to the class action bill. I hope it will not be necessary. I will be talking with the Democratic leadership to see if we can find a way to finish the Defense authorization bill and begin the class action fairness bill without unnecessary delay. We need to reach an agreement on how and when we will complete this important Defense authorization bill, and then we will begin the class action bill without the need for cloture. I hope to announce shortly that we have reached an agreement for vitiating the 5:30 p.m. vote and that we will continue on the Defense bill with the expectation that Members will cooperate with the two managers to allow us to finish this Defense authorization bill. I also should remind my colleagues that we will continue to work on judicial nominations as we proceed forward. I will be setting votes on those nominations each day. If we are able to vitiate the cloture vote today, we will schedule a vote on a judicial nomination today in its place as we will have a vote at 5:30 p.m. today. Again, I will announce the voting schedule shortly. Finally, we have 4 weeks during this legislative period. We have a lot to accomplish over that period of time. I hope we can use our time efficiently and get our work done.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I also very briefly want to comment on the drug discount cards that are being made available and which take effect this month. This is June 1 and they take effect beginning today. The discount cards, as my colleagues know, are a product of legislation signed by the President last December. The reality is that we have seniors today who are literally choosing between paying for their rent and paying for their food and obtaining prescription drugs. One of the objectives set out in this piece of legislation and set out by the President of the United States was that we need to get help to those people who need help the most in terms of their prescription drugs. Thus, although this is a more comprehensive approach, affordable access to prescription drugs for seniors does not begin to take place for about a year and a half from now. I am delighted that just several months after passage of this bill and the signing into law by the President these prescription drug cards are available. They are available today, and they will have an impact today. There are a couple of quick points that I would like to make: First of all, they are available to all Medicare enrollees who lack prescription drug coverage. Second, the card itself will give a discount on average of about 17 percent. Seniors who do not have access through affordable access to prescription drugs can get these cards and on average get a discount of about 17 percent, which is a huge discount that can start literally today. Third, and what I am most excited about, those seniors who really need it the most and who simply can't afford prescription drugs will get a value on this card in addition to the 17-percent discount of $600 for the remainder of this year, and another $600 for next year. Thus, over the next 18 months they will get $1,200 in value, like a voucher, to purchase prescription drugs. Again, that is a huge benefit for the millions of seniors who qualify for this low-income benefit as well. There are about 4 million low- income seniors whose incomes do not exceed the $12,500 level for individuals and about the $16,800 level for couples and who can have this direct and immediate benefit with this card. I am very excited about the fact that these cards are available. They are available today. You can call the 800 Medicare number or go on the Medicare Web site to get more information. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on today's Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 582, 583, 584, 618, 621, 663, 666, 668, 670, 671, 675, and 684. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, indeed, I will continue to work with the Democratic leadership to search for a way to confirm the remaining nominations. For those people listening who are not familiar with this process, as they can see, it is a give-and-take process that is a real struggle, but it does involve very important positions and, just as the distinguished Senator from Nevada said, individuals who are willing, who put themselves forward for public service in very important positions. We will continue to work on those who remain on the calendar and future nominations.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, indeed, we just confirmed about 12 of the 96 pending nominations on the Executive Calendar, and I do thank my colleagues for allowing us to proceed on this list. These ambassadorial appointments and other nominations are all very important. It reflects a lot of work on both sides of the aisle to make this progress. We appreciate the cooperation of those to date. Again, that is 12 of 96 nominations on the Executive Calendar that I mentioned earlier this morning. Mr. President, thus, I now ask consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following nominations, en bloc: Calendar Nos. 429, 594, 595, 610, 611, 612, 613, 614, 615, 617, 622, 623, 628, 629, 630, 631, 632, 633, 634, 635, 636, 641, 642, 643, 654, 655, 656, 658, 687, 688, 689, 690, 691, 694, 695, and 696.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the consideration of S. 2062, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, let me briefly say I have had the opportunity to talk to the manager of the bill, and we feel very strongly that it is critical that we address this bill. The best way to do it is to allow the managers to work together over the recess and see if they can come back with amendments that are identified so we have some kind of certainty as to how we are going to bring this to closure. In the meantime, while those discussions are underway, we will hopefully be able to proceed with class action. cloture motion

Mr. FRIST. We are happy to make it 5:30, June 1. We modify the unanimous consent request to be 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the text of H.R. 1350, as amended by the Senate, be printed.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that during this adjournment of the Senate, the majority leader or the assistant majority leader be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the Senate's adjournment, committees be allowed to report legislative and executive matters on Wednesday, May 26, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the adoption of the motion to proceed, the pending Department of Defense authorization bill not be placed back on the calendar, and that it remain the pending business.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I know the chairman is here and will respond in terms of particulars of the underlying bill. We made good progress. It is an important bill and a bill which we will finish. My intentions are to in all likelihood move to the class action bill the week we return and address that. Then if we can come up with a reasonable way of finishing this bill--which I am confident we can--I think ultimately when people sit down and say what is important to have on this bill, we will be able to put together amendments on our side and the other side and pull those together and have an orderly way of dealing with those. I will say that in the big picture the last 2 weeks have been very positive weeks in terms of governing in very difficult times, many of which have been overseen by the chairman of this particular bill, Senator Warner. It is very tough oversight in terms of what is going on both in Iraq and indeed around the world in the war on terror. At the same time that has been conducted in a very professional way. This institution can be quite proud; we have done some very good things in terms of national security. Three days ago, we passed bioshield legislation. That is a national security issue, one we have worked on for 14 months. A few days ago, we passed the important education bill, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which affects 6.5 million children with disabilities. If you look at the field on jobs and taxation, 2 weeks ago we passed a bill that will impact hundreds of thousands of manufacturing workers called the JOBS bill, a Euro tax that is placed on this country which we have in the Senate effectively eliminated once the House acts. And 2 weeks ago, we passed an international tax relief bill to make sure broadband knowledge can proliferate in this country. All of that is part of governing which has taken place in 2 weeks of very difficult times. I have been very pleased over the last 2 weeks. It shows we can work together and govern--plus the judges on top of that. I think we will see that on this bill and we will see it on the class action bill. I am very optimistic about where we are going. I am also pleased about what we have done in the last couple of weeks. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we will return to consideration of the Department of Defense authorization bill. Senators Warner and Levin are here to consider cleared amendments from both sides of the aisle. Also, some Members will wish to speak on the pending amendment which was offered by Senator Graham of South Carolina. That amendment was offered yesterday morning. Unfortunately, we were unable to vote on that amendment during yesterday's session. I had hoped we would be able to vote on that amendment and move forward with the bill. However, that appears unlikely. Therefore, no rollcall votes will occur during today's session. Once again, I hope we could limit amendments to the overall bill. I know the chairman has a list of Republican amendments he will begin to work through. It would be helpful if we could lock in the list on both sides of the aisle, to give managers an idea of what to anticipate, both in terms of making progress and ultimately finishing the very, very important bill. We did make good, reasonable progress on the bill this week. I hope Members will alert their respective chairman or ranking members about their amendments so we can continue to move ahead on this bill. When we return from our recess, I do still plan to go to class action. As I have stated on numerous occasions, starting actually a couple of months ago, I will be talking to the Democratic leadership about proceeding to that bill. We will say more at the close of business today, after we see what progress can be made on the Department of Defense authorization bill in the course of today. This week I was pleased we were able to reach an understanding on judicial nominations, I think a very fair and balanced approach to 25 of these nominees. We will vote on these pending nominations and we will continue to press on for votes for all of the judicial nominees in addition to those 25. We also need--and I mentioned it last week and the week before--we need to press on for nonjudicial nominations as well. There are approximately 60 nonjudicial nominations, including very critical Ambassadors, that remain pending on the calendar. I know there have been a lot of discussions back and forth about how best to proceed on these nominations. We must find a way to schedule consideration of these individuals. We need to continue to work to do that. There are 60 of them on the calendar. We need to proceed in good faith. The fact that we made such good progress on the judicial nominations this week leaves the door open to a good way of addressing many of these nominations that are on the calendar. We need to allow the Senate to begin a process to confirm these people. When you look at the calendar itself, these nominations are page after page--14 pages of these nominations that are awaiting our action. I look forward to bringing them to the floor at the appropriate time, with discussion with the Democratic leadership. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, first of all, I want to make some comments on the issue of the Abu Ghraib abuses and the role of Secretary Rumsfeld and some of the statements that he has made, but also the tremendous leadership he has given over the last several weeks in what have been very difficult times for us as a nation, as we have witnessed, through both report and visual images, the occurrences that happened at Abu Ghraib prison. First and foremost, I thank the Secretary for, ever since these abuses became apparent, being available to us in the Senate, the appropriate committees, and providing the appropriate resources and personnel to keep us informed of the abuses, the response to the abuses, and the many investigations that are underway. Yesterday, Secretary Rumsfeld came to the Capitol for an all-Senators briefing on Iraq, and with him were a number of the generals and other men and women in our Armed Forces to help us better understand the events as they have unfolded over the last several weeks and months. The Secretary, as always, was forthright and direct and complete, sharing with us everything that was known, and being very clear that there is, at any point in time, a lot that is not known that will hopefully soon be known. He addressed a whole range of issues, in particular our efforts to secure peace, to fight boldly in this war on terror, and also shared with us his views, his observations, on the Army's investigation of the Abu Ghraib abuses. He reiterated again and again his absolute commitment to thorough and complete and timely investigations. For that, we thank him. Secretary Rumsfeld has appointed, also, an independent panel to review allegations of abuse at the DOD detention facilities. This particular panel will also review other matters related to detention operations. The panel consists of four individuals who have been involved in public service in the past. I believe all those names have been announced publicly. These experts will provide an independent and professional analysis to the Secretary, and they will make recommendations to address any problems they identify. I had the opportunity to talk to several members of this panel, and I look forward to their report and bringing together many of the other reports that are currently underway. Secretary Rumsfeld has made it very clear that all DOD, Department of Defense, agencies and the military services will be cooperating with this panel. The panel was to begin its work on May 20 and will report its findings in early July. That report will be shared with all of us in the Senate and throughout the Defense Department. As I said, Secretary Rumsfeld is displaying tremendous leadership. He is devoting, rightly so, a huge amount of time and resources to make sure that we, the American people, and the world get all the facts; that everything is transparent; that those people who are guilty are brought both to trial and punished appropriately. That is the American way. He made it clear that he is seeing that that is being done. He is committed to preventing such abuses and such incidents from ever happening in the future. I know the Secretary's resolve, and he has expressed that to the Senate. Secretary Rumsfeld has proven himself over and over again, through a long and distinguished career, to be a man of great integrity and results. We, as a nation, express our gratitude to him. These are difficult times for all Americans. The abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison continue to shock us--the photographs, the fact that such incidents, that we would have never thought possible, actually did occur. For some, the ugly behavior of a few made them question our overall mission in Iraq and fighting this war on terror. But while all this is going on we should not lose hope, we cannot lose hope, and we must not lose sight of that big picture. The vast majority of our troops--and, again, over 130,000 men and women are fighting for us overseas right now--the overwhelming majority of those troops are serving us each and every day with courage and with honor, of which we are all very proud. And we need to send that message to our troops. We do not say it nearly enough. And now is the time for us to do so, when the world is focused so much on the abuses, terrible abuses, caused by these very few people. The men and women overseas, every day, are improving the lives of Iraqis, of citizens throughout that country. They are bringing freedom. They are fighting for freedom. They are sacrificing for the freedom of the Iraqi people who have lived under merciless tyranny over the last several decades. By doing all this, our troops are there defending our security so we can live in this great country, enjoying the freedoms and democracy that maybe all too often we take for granted, but in these times we simply cannot. And that gratitude we express to those men and women who are overseas right now fighting for us with boldness and courage and integrity and unselfishness. I implied that elemental point of defending our security. Every day we see the pictures of the terrible abuses. We need to recognize that all this effort that our U.S. Government and the American people are directing is to defend our security. That is an elemental point that we need to keep coming back to. We are fighting a shadowy enemy that seeks nothing less--their goal is to have destruction of our way of life, of the freedoms that we enjoy. They take pleasure in wanton murder. They hide behind innocents and then slaughter them. They do so without hesitation. We can see the character of our enemy in the brutal slaughter last week of Nicholas Berg. We saw it in the slaughter of Daniel Pearl, and we saw it in the slaughter of 3,000 innocent people on September 11 in this country. As our President reminds us, we did not ask for this conflict. The war was brought to our doorstep. The battle against terror will last for years, and we all know that. That is the new reality. It may last for decades, but fight we must. It is a war we cannot afford to lose, and it is a war that we will win. To his credit, Secretary Rumsfeld has shown vision and resolve in preparing us against these new threats. At the very beginning of the administration, Secretary Rumsfeld resaw the need to modernize our military. From focusing at the time on what was an outdated cold war strategy to now this current era of adjusting to new threats, which are posed by terrorism, to be able to address issues as we did in the Senate this week on bioterrorism, using viruses and bacteria and microorganisms that know no boundaries or borders and can spread rapidly--this is the new reality. He recognized that not all future threats to America will come from enemy soldiers in uniform. And before he became Secretary of Defense, he chaired a commission that identified the growing danger of a missile strike against the homeland. Secretary Rumsfeld has been a strong and innovative leader. He has done a tremendous job in preparing our military for successful operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are grateful for the tremendous service he demonstrates every day. America is, indeed, fortunate to have such an exceptional Secretary of Defense in these times of crisis. Every day he is on the job, he is helping to make America safer and more secure.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, before closing, I want to mention several things that have occurred over the past several weeks on a different topic. We are an evenly divided body in the Senate, and people say they haven't seen more partisanship ever in their lives than over the last several years. I know that is true, but at the same time all of us, both sides of the aisle, recognize we were sent here to govern and to serve the national interest. As we prepare to enter into our weeklong Memorial Day recess, very quickly I want to look back and share what progress we have made. Two days ago we passed Project Bioshield. It was supported by 99 Senators with a resounding yes. Project Bioshield, proposed by the President in his 2003 State of the Union Address, is comprehensive legislation that encourages research and encourages the development of new cutting-edge countermeasures to fight biological terrorism, chemical warfare, terrorism used with radiological or nuclear weapons. It is critical to our national security. This body came together and 2 days ago passed this important piece of legislation. We also passed the JOBS bill which will protect more than 1 million high-quality manufacturing jobs in the United States. It cut taxes, a Euro tax that was going up at $40 million a month in this country on 100 American-made products. Last week we passed, in terms of education, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. That special education bill refocuses our Federal law on outcomes for disabled children. It affects over 6.5 million children in this country and well over 400,000 special education teachers. In the field of taxation and technology, we passed an Internet access tax moratorium extension which makes sure that we will be able to continue to access and promote broadband technologies. We are going to conference on the bill. We had agreement last week, actually last night, to go to the highway bill with the appointment of conferees. We have been able in the past week to come to an accommodation on the appointment of the President's judicial nominations. We confirmed the nomination of Marcia Cooke. We confirmed John Negroponte to become American Ambassador to Iraq. The Senate has been productive, and I thank my colleagues for their hard work and cooperation. When we return following Memorial Day we will go straight to class action reform. We will also return to the Department of Defense reauthorization. We have a lot more to do, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in a productive, collaborative way as we move forward.