Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 2:00 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226 on ``Pornography, Technology, and Process: Problems and Solutions on Peer-to-Peer Networks.'' Witnesses Panel I: Linda Koontz, Director of Information Management, U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. John Malcolm, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Thomas J. Spota, Suffolk County District Attorney, Hauppauge, NY. Robbie Callaway, Chairman, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Alexandria, VA. Stephen Hess, Associate Academic Vice President for Information Technology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. Douglas W. Jacobson, President and Chief Technology Officer, Palisade Systems, Ames, IA. Panel II: William Barr, Esquire, General Counsel, Verizon Communications, Washington, DC. Cary Sherman, President, Recording Industry Association of America, Washington, DC. Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office, Washington, DC.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 10:00 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226 on ``Ensuring the Continuity of the United States Government: The Congress.'' Witnesses Panel I: The Honorable Brian Baird, United States Representative [D- WA]; The Honorable David Dreier, United States Representative [R-CA]. Panel II: Dr. Norman J. Ornstein, Senior Counselor, Continuity of Government Commission, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC. Mr. Doug Lewis, Director, The Election Center, Houston, TX. Mr. Raymond F. DuBois, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Installations & Environment, Department of Defense, Arlington, VA. Mr. Thad Hall, Program Officer, The Century Foundation, Washington, DC.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. on oversight of transportation security.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 9, 2003, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing on ``The Implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Restoring Investor Confidence.''

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 10 a.m., to receive testimony on U.S. military commitments and ongoing military operations abroad.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 9, 2003 at 9:45 a.m. to hold an all-Member briefing on North Korea.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 10 a.m., to hear testimony on ``The Alias Among Us; The Homeland Security and Terrorism Threat from Document Fraud, Identity Theft and Social Security Number Misuse.''

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 9 at 10 a.m. to consider the nominations of Suedeen G. Kelly to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Rick A. Dearborn to be Assistant Secretary of Energy, Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I believe we are ready to proceed. Thus, I ask unanimous consent that the vote in relation to the Byrd amendment No. 1543 occur at 5:50 this evening, with 15 minutes for Senator Durbin and 5 minutes for Senator Specter, and that there be no amendment in order to the amendment prior to the vote.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this is, in part, related to the Democratic leader's request about order of business. The Dorgan issue will be brought up at a mutually agreed time, and I think we will have an opportunity to do that this week. Depending on how things go tonight and tomorrow night, that means we have Thursday and Friday which, when we complete the bill tomorrow night, the agreement is we will not be voting Thursday or Friday. I think what we might well consider is doing the Dorgan bill Thursday or Friday. Again, I am a little hesitant because Thursday there is so much going on in terms of ceremonies, although I know we will be in session Thursday afternoon--we will be in session all day--but Thursday afternoon there is a block of time, or Thursday night or Friday. I would like to move to another appropriations bill on either Thursday or Friday. I think we can work that out. We would probably vote Monday night, if that is a reasonable time. We will have other votes Monday night because if we go to an appropriations bill, likely we will have several votes Monday evening.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, before we call for the regular order, again, a lot of what we are going over today, tonight, and tomorrow is on good faith that we are going to finish this bill tomorrow night and do everything within our power. A lot of people say: Why don't you put it in writing; get a unanimous consent agreement. We are not doing that because of this determination and good-faith effort as we go forward. Before going to the regular order, I ask the managers to make a statement that they understand what the two leaders have said in terms of completion of the bill; that we will start voting here shortly, offering other amendments tonight, stacking votes in the morning, having a full and productive day, and staying here as long tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night as it takes to complete the bill.

Mr. FRIST. I am happy to yield to the Senator from Iowa.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 65, submitted earlier today by Senators Miller, Collins, Inouye, Chambliss, and Warner.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 1 p.m., Monday, September 8. I further ask unanimous consent, 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 H.R. 2660, the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. The Presiding Officer. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. For the information of all Senators, on Monday the Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 2660, the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. The chairman and ranking member will be here Monday to continue working through amendments, and it is my hope that additional amendments will be offered and debated during Monday's session. Any votes ordered with respect to amendments to the Labor-HHS- Education appropriations bill will be stacked to occur late Monday afternoon. If we are unable to reach an agreement for votes on the pending appropriations bill, we may schedule a vote or votes on nominations that are available from the Executive Calendar. We will notify Members during Monday's session as votes are scheduled. It is still our hope to complete the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill early next week, and we will continue our discussions on Monday as how best to make that happen. As we enter the final weeks of this fiscal year, I do ask for all Senators' assistance as we try to schedule these appropriations bills and amendments.

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. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further action on S. Res. 210 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the amendment to the resolution be agreed to and the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the amendment to the title be agreed to; further, that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask that we now be in a period of morning business.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I have a few comments to make about the fall and some of the progress we have made to date, and then I plan on closing the Senate for the weekend. Not having had the opportunity this week, the first week back after our August break, I did want to comment a bit on the agenda. Over the course of the week, we have had time to have our conference, and I talked to the Democrat leader as well, and I think over this week we have made good progress. There has been not quite as much progress today as I would like. I am very hopeful we will make more progress on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. But after discussions with our own conference and the leaders on the other side, I am optimistic and very excited about the agenda for the next several weeks and into the fall. Over the course of this week, we have made good progress. We have had seven rollcall votes. We have disposed of a number of other amendments, and I remain hopeful we can complete action on this bill early next week so we can continue with other appropriations bills. In addition, this week we passed several important banking reforms under Chairman Richard Shelby's leadership, including hospital mortgage insurance and the FHA mortgage commitment. I thank Senator Shelby for his tremendous leadership on both of these issues. Next week, once we complete Labor-HHS, we will go, as I mentioned, to other appropriations bills. Chairman Stevens this week was able to process all of the remaining appropriations bills. We have done three of the 13 bills. We are on our fourth appropriations bill. The rest of those bills were processed in committee and, indeed, all of them now are awaiting Senate action. That is why again and again, as majority leader, I will be encouraging our colleagues to work together and continue to make progress because all of this we are directed to do over the next 30 days. So I ask for patience, cooperation, and partnership so we can continue to move in the direction of completion of these bills. Next week, we will continue working with the Democrat leader on the commemoration we will have in this body for the anniversary of September 11. With all of these efforts and the accomplishments of the last 8 months, if you put it all together, the Senate has made steady, consistent progress. That is what the American people want, that is what the American people deserve, and that is what they expect. So I think we are on course. If we look back over the last several months at issues such as our jobs-and-growth package to tax relief to global concerns, such as HIV/ AIDS and the commitment we have made and the legislation we have passed, we see a whole range of policies that directly impact people's lives, at a very personal level, a very intimate level, both here at home and, indeed, across the globe. Over the August recess, I had the opportunity to spend much time in Africa, to be able to look firsthand at the ravages of HIV/AIDS and the devastation that this greatest of all humanitarian causes has inflicted upon a people, but also the great hope that can result and is resulting from the commitment of the United States of America in this regard. We will continue into the fall season with a very clear mission. It is the mission that I have stated on the floor, in our leadership meetings, and in our caucus: to move America forward and to do it in such a way that serves the cause of the freedoms that we all cherish, the freedoms for which we fight, the freedoms upon which this country was founded. That mission is coupled with forging a path of security in a whole range of fields--in military, defense of the country, and health care-- and to forge a path of strength and opportunity as reflected in my statement just a few minutes ago for the American dream of the people in the District through expanded school choice. As we look at this mission of moving America forward, I very quickly think of the issue of energy. We left before the August recess having passed very important legislation, the energy legislation under the leadership of our colleague from New Mexico, Chairman Pete Domenici. Little did we know that within 2 weeks of that we would have the August 14 blackout that blanketed the Northeast and Canada and dramatically brought home to us, in a concrete way, the importance of that legislation and the importance of completing that legislation which addresses the issues of the energy supply, abundancy, and a more secure energy policy. Although I am not sure if they are finished now, a few hours ago the conference committee on energy between the House and Senate were meeting. Going into that meeting, I talked to Senator Domenici. He said how excited he is that we have an opportunity now that we have tried to realize in the past, an opportunity to realize something that the American people again deserve and expect and that will impact the lives of every single American in such a positive way. The chairman and members on the conference committee have been hard at work with the administration in developing a policy that is consistent with what we are working towards today, and that is solutions to the energy crisis which address everyday Americans, whether we look at production, consumption, or transmission of electricity. So as we look into the fall and project ahead, I am confident we will have an Energy bill on the President's desk by the end of the year. This week, there has been much discussion on the supplemental to our efforts in Iraq. Although we do not know what that figure from the White House will specifically be, it is clear, at least to my mind--and there will be debate and discussion and points will be made, but at the end of the day, we will stand behind the President and the request of the President of the United States, and we will provide those resources and provide them proudly because we must win. We will win. There is no question in my mind we will win, but we must be fully behind that effort to make sure that those freedoms, which are the very freedoms upon which this country was founded, are preserved for our current generation but also for the future. Our work around the world and with the world community to bring Iraq into that world community of nations not only advances freedoms across the globe but a safer and a more secure Iraq indeed makes Americans safer and more secure. We have the challenges before us, but there is no question that we will win that war on terrorism, that we will win those battles for security in Iraq, and that we will provide those appropriate resources. As we look at moving America forward, we started by passing a Medicare prescription drug bill in this body, but our full impact has not been felt and will not be felt until we have a final product in the conference report, which is currently underway. Meetings among colleagues have taken place this week on both sides of the aisle to help develop that final product in Medicare and really to develop a Medicare system that, for the first time in the almost 40 years of its existence, will offer help to people who need that help for prescription drug coverage. There is a lot of talk about: Can it be done? Is there going to be a backlash to it? It is going to cost too much. It is too complicated to do now. There is still a lot of partisanship. Some say it is going to get mixed up in elections. I hear all of that again and again, but this is a particular issue that this body has spoken on strongly and overwhelmingly. There were over 70 votes in favor of this legislation. It is legislation that will have an impact, again, on millions of seniors' lives. It leaves me to fairly confidently say we are going to have a bill that is going to be on the President's desk sometime this year--I cannot predict exactly when it will be--that will represent the most significant legislative change, and I should also add the most significant increase in resources applied for health care security for seniors and individuals with disabilities; this gets lost a lot, but a bill that focuses on low-income people who simply do not have the resources to buy what we know are very expensive drugs, lifesaving drugs, quality-of-life-improving drugs. This bill will cut the burden of prescription drugs by over half on people who are low income or simply have no health insurance or no access to those lifesaving drugs. It is a bill that will provide immediate relief. We are not talking about 5 years from now or 10 years from now but literally within probably around 8 to 9 months after the President signs that bill, every senior will have a prescription drug card that will give them help immediately with the purchase of those prescription drugs. We have a challenge. The challenge is basically to take the very best of the Senate bill and the very best of the House bill, bipartisan, bicameral, and put it together to accomplish those goals. I am confident we are going to be able to do that in spite of the naysayers, who--and I am not sure what drives it--basically say it cannot be done, it will not be done. I am confident it will be done. It will be challenging, but it will be done. When I think of security in Iraq and the security of our freedoms or energy security, it comes back to health care security because if one is a senior or a near senior, their greatest fear is something is going to happen to them or to their mom or spouse, and it is going to wreck their life. They are going to die, their spouse is going to die, or their mom is going to die because of lack of access or lack of ability to access that can be lifesaving. Looking at other areas of health care, these are all things that we will be addressing very directly over the coming weeks. There is the issue of frivolous lawsuits. People will say, well, we addressed this 3 months ago, or tried to address it, and therefore we do not need to come back to it for another 3 or 4 years. That is not the way we are going to approach it. We are not going to approach it because it is a problem that affects access to health care to people all over the United States of America with now 22 of the 50 States in what can be classified as a health care crisis because these frivolous lawsuits have now--maybe unlike 10 years ago--come to the point that it affects health care for everybody who is listening to me. Frivolous lawsuits are increasing in number every year--frivolous, unnecessary lawsuits. The lawsuits that are legitimate need to be there and there needs to be fair and just compensation. I am talking frivolous, unnecessary lawsuits which are driving up the cost of health care, premiums to doctors, causing doctors to leave their practices and causing doctors to leave certain communities and move to other States, thus affecting--for everybody listening--access to quality health care. When it gets to that level, it becomes a crisis. It is our job to respond. Although when we brought it to the floor 3 months ago we were unsuccessful in transforming the system, it will come back in the next several weeks. We will bring it back. Until we educate those who do not fully understand access and quality of care are being affected by the unnecessary, frivolous lawsuits--until people are fully educated, we will keep bringing it back and, indeed, make a difference. Another health care issue, although it is as much a jobs issue and an issue of the economy, but also health related, is asbestos. It is interesting because as a thoracic surgeon, a chest surgeon--which is what I did before coming to the Senate--when I thought of asbestos, I thought of a disease called mesothelioma, a disease of the chest which is encasement of the lung, probably one of the most difficult operations a thoracic surgeon can do. People think transplants are difficult. That is fairly straightforward compared to trying to resect and fix a mesothelioma of the lung, chest cavity, which is caused by asbestos. The asbestos legislation was reasonable, and the intention was to have adequate and fair and equitable reimbursement for asbestos-related disease. That is positive, that is good, and good legislation. The problem today is a little bit like the medical liability issue. We have unnecessary claims being filed. People see there is a big pot of money out there. We have around 600,000 people who filed claims because they think there is a pot of money and because the legal system has gone awry. They know that by filing a claim, they will be able to claim some of the pot of money. Again, like the medical liability issue, we need to, in a rational and balanced way, fix the system. It is a system that has gone awry because of certain incentives. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch, has done a fantastic job and said let's get everybody together, from the left, right, Democrat, Republican, union, nonunion; let's all get together--business, workers, patients, consumers--and develop legislation, work through the committee. That is the first step. Now we need to take that legislation, improve it, strengthen it, educate this body broadly. People will soon realize it is health care in many ways but it is also a jobs and stimulus package. Since the early 1980s, 70 good-sized companies have gone bankrupt because of the liability that has been thrust upon them. Some OK, probably, but a lot not OK. A lot has been irrational that has been thrust upon them, and they have gone out of business through nothing intentional, because of the way the legislation is written. Of those 70 companies over the last 20 years, a third of them have been in just the last 2\1/2\ years. So the problem is getting worse as we go forward, although the estimates of the cost of asbestos with the runaway lawsuits vary, and they are very rough. I recall one figure, that over 420,000 jobs have disappeared because of these inequities associated with asbestos and the legislation that was originally written. It is a health issue, it is an equity issue, a fairness issue, and also a jobs issue. If we fix the problem, and fix it appropriately, we are going to have jobs actually created in the future. As people spend more time with this legislation, they will understand that. Class action litigation, although I don't know exactly when we will address it in the Senate, is an issue we will address on the floor of the Senate. Frivolous lawsuits are clogging the system. When they clog the system and we have this use of resources, it is dollar resources, it is also person power resources. When we use the resources in a wasteful way, we cannot use the resources in a way that is productive, that will help individuals in whatever realm of life. The class action suits have clearly gotten to that point with frivolity, the waste, the unnecessary suits. That is something we on this floor sometime in the next several weeks will address. If we have the frivolous lawsuits, it is obvious they clog the system. They stifle innovation, they stifle creativity, they cost jobs, and they can even endanger the lives of our fellow citizens--all of that, as we talk about the proposal which is before the Senate, a bipartisan proposal that can bring more order and efficiency to the system. This will become more obvious to both colleagues who do not focus on this and also to the American people. We can bring order, we can bring efficiency, and we can bring balance and rationality with the best use of resources to the system. I add that we will be able to protect Americans listening right now, Americans and American consumers, from unscrupulous and exploitative litigators who are out there in many ways grubbing for that dollar to take advantage of the system. Environmental concerns. We had the opportunity to meet with the President this week, and we talked about a whole range of issues, starting with Iraq and the security issues, moving quickly to the importance of jobs and the economy, and talking about several of the issues I mentioned, but very early coming to a range or group of environmental issues. It is very obvious that in the West, the long drought and dry timber have created a dangerous situation, a perilous situation. We see on television and hear from those Senators who represent the States, when you fly over the country, you foresee the mammoth fires that can start with just a single spark. Overnight they threaten property, threaten communities, and threaten lives. The President of the United States, President Bush, has proposed legislation that will reduce the danger of fire. How? By sensibly and rationally managing forests with a better balance of forests-- conservation on the one hand and citizen safety on the other. I have to mention that tax issues will likely come up in the next several months. People clearly on our side believe strongly we need to make the tax relief that the President has put on the table permanent so people can plan for the future, so citizens can have more money--or at least do not increase taxes. Citizens will have more money to be able to spend and invest the way they wish rather than send it to Washington, DC, and let Washington, DC, decide how to spend that money. That does give economic stimulus and creates jobs. We will most likely examine in the Senate, under the leadership of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the marriage tax penalty. Once again, the complexities of the Tax Code, combined with peculiarities of our budget laws, have created a tax, a penalty for people who are married. Maybe a teacher and a policeman are married and they are paying more if they are married than if they were not married. It does not make sense. People do not understand it. We know these couples have been unfairly taxed. We will argue that it is unfair. I hope this inequity that we have made some progress in addressing in the past we can really permanently erase. In the area of family--partial-birth abortion is something we have debated on this floor. We passed it in this body. It was vetoed by President Clinton in the past. We have passed it in the body, and the House has passed it in the past. Now we have to pull those two together in conference. The problem is, we can't appoint and can't fulfill appointment of the conferees until we have another debate on the floor of the Senate. I am working very hard to get that scheduled so we can go to conference, have a bill and send it to the President so we can finally, finally ban partial-birth abortion. We don't need to get into the issue right now, but it has been described by Members on both sides of the aisle as close to infanticide as you can get. Yet we still have not been able to come to agreement on both sides of the aisle about the conferees, go to conference, and send the bill to the President. We are going to bring this to closure sometime here in the next several weeks. Senator Mike DeWine from Ohio and Senator Lindsey Graham--I can't come to this floor without them saying, What about our Unborn Victims of Violence Act? It is something we debated on this floor, we made the case for, and now is the time for us to complete our legislative activity so we truly can protect unborn victims of violence. All of this is ambitious, but it is time to be bold and it is time to be ambitious. I think this body demonstrated this again for the most part in a bipartisan way over the last several months. But each of these issues that I have mentioned will be addressed on the floor of the Senate. Yesterday an event happened. Again, I don't need to rehash that today, but the withdrawal of Miguel Estrada's nomination yesterday was a tragedy. It was a sad day for this body. At the end of the day I had the opportunity to call and talk to Miguel Estrada, and there is just simply nobody to my mind who is better qualified for the position for which he was nominated and who was more unjustly treated by this body. These blocked judicial nominations are maybe the biggest challenges we have before us--unprecedented filibusters, unprecedented partisan filibusters on the floor of this Senate are unpardonable, I believe. We are going to stay focused. We are going to do our very best to educate, to break these filibusters. I think one day the consequences of the minority blocking highly qualified nominees without good reason will come home to roost. Other issues, reauthorization issues, and then I will close. I know it is late on this afternoon and we need to move on. But reauthorization I at least wanted to mention. There are many so I don't want to mention them all, but reauthorization of welfare, of the highway bill--again, a lot of discussion this week as we look forward to addressing these sorts of issues in the coming weeks. There are a lot of opportunities. It is a huge responsibility for each of us in the coming weeks. But I am absolutely confident that by pulling together, by working as a team, by working across the aisle, we will be able to advance the mission I mentioned of moving America forward and to do it in a way that celebrates the freedoms we all enjoy. We will be able to make meaningful progress in our Nation's economic life. We will be able to make meaningful progress in our Nation's moral life. We will be able to make meaningful progress in our Nation's civic life. We are going to have a very busy and we are going to have a very productive fall.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 64, submitted earlier today by Senators Miller, Collins, Inouye, Chambliss, Levin, Daschle, Nelson of Nebraska, and Warner.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we will resume consideration of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. Beginning at 9:30 this morning, there will be two consecutive votes in relation to amendments to this appropriations bill. The first vote will be in relation to Senator Clinton's amendment on a bioterrorism workforce, and the second will be in relation to the Harkin amendment on school renovation. Following those votes, the chairman and ranking member are prepared to remain and debate further amendments. As we have indicated previously, we need and plan on finishing this bill as soon as possible. There are additional appropriations bills that are now ready for full Senate action, and once this bill is completed we will be proceeding to those bills. We need to continue to work in an orderly way, which has been demonstrated over the course of this week. Today I know will be a very productive day, as will Monday. It is my hope we can finish Labor-HHS, this appropriations bill, no later than Tuesday, and with the cooperation of Members working together, this is indeed still possible. This will require votes this morning. There will be just these two votes this morning. Again, debate will continue throughout the course of the day. We will be voting late Monday afternoon. Specific times will be set later today. There may be multiple votes on Monday. I will have more to say on Monday's schedule later today, as we see what amendments are offered and which will be appropriate to vote on on Monday.