Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3038 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. Friday, November 21. 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 resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act, and that there then be 60 minutes equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee; provided that the final 10 minutes be divided between Senator Bingaman or his designee in control of the first 5 minutes, and the chairman or his designee in control of the final 5 minutes on the motion to invoke cloture on the conference report.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a 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. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 367, H.R. 3166.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a 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. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 397, H.R. 3185.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, 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. 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, all with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 379, S. Res. 256.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. Thursday, November 20. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed to have 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 that the Senate then resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2003.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, just to add to the comments of the distinguished assistant minority leader, the Medicare conference, I believe, will be held tomorrow, and most probably tomorrow morning, although I am not sure if a final announcement or determination of the time has been made. It will be made a little later tonight. Substantial progress has been made on that conference as well. There are a few numbers coming in from CBO over the course of tonight. Once they are back, that conference will be held. What our colleagues have just heard is that, on the omnibus, substantial progress has been made. And on what we are addressing on the floor--energy--real progress is being made. Also, in terms of Medicare prescription drugs, real progress is being made. People are collaborating. Everybody understands that we will be here probably each day, every day until we finish the Senate's business. After a long day today, we have made real progress.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, first, I very much appreciate our colleagues talking on two very important issues this morning in morning business. In a very productive way, it highlights the issues that we will continue to debate and discuss over the next several days. As I mentioned earlier this morning, the plans are to address the issues of the Energy bill, as well as the Medicare bill, as well as the appropriations bills, over the next several days and bring them to the floor as soon as possible, as soon as they are ready, so we can proceed with this debate in an orderly fashion. As I mentioned earlier this morning, the plans will be to work through this week and through the weekend and, hopefully, that will be it. Possibly, we might go into the early part of next week.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, responding through the Chair, we very much appreciate that because we are very eager to get to this Energy conference report and want to do it as soon as possible this morning. I have a couple of colleagues to talk to. A final decision will be made whether or not a vote will be required. If so, I would expect to have that vote very shortly after morning business.

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 measure be printed in the Record. The bill (S. 1895) was read the third time and passed, as follows:

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. 1895, introduced earlier today by Senator Snowe.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, at this point, I move to proceed to the conference report to accompany H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. This morning the Senate will conduct a period for morning business until 10:30 a.m. Following morning business, we expect to begin the Energy Policy Act conference report. If we are unable to reach consent for a time limit on the Energy conference report, it may be necessary to file cloture during today's session. In all likelihood, the Senate also will be taking up other conference reports as they become available, as well as nominations NOTICE If the 108th Congress, 1st Session, adjourns sine die on or before November 21, 2003, a final issue of the Congressional Record for the 108th Congress, 1st Session, will be published on Monday, December 15, 2003, in order to permit Members to revise and extend their remarks. All material for insertion must be signed by the Member and delivered to the respective offices of the Official Reporters of Debates (Room HT-60 or S-410A of the Capitol), Monday through Friday, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. through Friday, December 12, 2003. The final issue will be dated Monday, December 15, 2003, and will be delivered on Tuesday, December 16, 2003. None of the material printed in the final issue of the Congressional Record may contain subject matter, or relate to any event that occurred after the sine die date. Senators' statements should also be submitted electronically, either on a disk to accompany the signed statement, or by e-mail to the Official Reporters of Debates at ``Record@Sec.Senate.gov''. Members of the House of Representatives' statements may also be submitted electronically by e-mail, to accompany the signed statement, and formatted according to the instructions for the Extensions of Remarks template at http://clerkhouse.house.gov/ forms. The Official Reporters will transmit to GPO the template formatted electronic file only after receipt of, and authentication with, the hard copy, and signed manuscript. Deliver statements to the Official Reporters in Room HT-60 of the Capitol. Members of Congress desiring to purchase reprints of material submitted for inclusion in the Congressional Record may do so by contacting the Office of Congressional Publishing Services, at the Government Printing Office, on 512-0224, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. daily. By order of the Joint Committee on Printing. ROBERT W. NEY, Chairman. on the Executive Calendar during tomorrow's session. Therefore, rollcall votes should be expected throughout the day. Leadership on both sides of the aisle has notified Senators that in all likelihood it will be necessary for us to work through the weekend. We are on target to complete our work this week, but it looks as though we will be in session working on Saturday and perhaps Sunday to complete action on the Energy and Medicare conference reports, as well as the appropriations measures.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on today's Executive Calendar: Calendar No. 321.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, tomorrow the Senate will resume consideration of the Energy conference report. A number of Senators did come and participate in the debate today on the Energy conference report, and the Senate will continue that debate into tomorrow's session. I remind my colleagues that a cloture motion was filed on the conference report during today's session, and that cloture vote will occur Friday morning.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I recognize how well things have gone today, and although I haven't talked with Senator Domenici, I assume that will be fine for him. Obviously, I did not object. I suspect we will handle the day just that way--going back and forth making sure there is an appropriate amount of time on both sides.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this cloture vote will occur on Friday of this week unless changed by unanimous consent. I hope that cloture is invoked and that the Senate can then act expeditiously to vote adoption of the conference report. Until that time, Members will be allowed to come to the floor to express themselves with regard to this legislation. We encourage them to do so.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 313, which is at the desk.

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