Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 527, S. 3709, the U.S.-India nuclear bill. I further ask that a manager's amendment to be agreed upon by Senators Lugar, Biden, and Frist be agreed to as original text for the purpose of further amendment, and that the only other amendments in order be: Ensign regarding inspection, to be considered in closed session; Reed, Levin, Obama, two Dorgan amendments, Feingold, Boxer, Feinstein, Harkin, up to seven Bingaman, Kennedy, and Dodd. I further ask that all amendments except Senator Feingold's be subject to relevant second degrees and that all be related to the subject matter of the bill. I further ask that once the bill as amended has been read a third time, the Senate then proceed to the consideration of H.R. 5682, the House-passed companion, that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 3709 as amended be inserted in lieu thereof, and that the Senate then proceed to a vote on passage of H.R. 5682 as amended with no intervening action or debate. I further ask that following passage of the bill, the Senate insist upon its amendment and request a conference with the House, the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees, and S. 3709 be returned to the calendar.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this is the unanimous consent about how we will handle the U.S.-India nuclear cooperation bill. We are currently in discussion with a number of other agreements that we are attempting to reach in order to plan out activity both today and tomorrow and possibly Friday. With that, we expect to complete our business this week and then following that we will be out until December 4, or that week of December 4. As we look ahead, because we have a number of issues to address, we will be keeping our colleagues notified on both sides of the aisle. There are a number of issues the Democratic leader and I have outlined that we would like to do before we leave in December.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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 move to instruct the Sergeant at Arms to request the presence of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST. No, all rights will be preserved for Senators as we go on the Agriculture bill tomorrow. My understanding is the Senator from North Dakota will withdraw--in fact, why don't we go ahead and do that. The pending amendment will be withdrawn, and we will proceed with the MILCON bill.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in the last hour or so we have had numerous discussions on the floor, as our colleagues have observed, and many participated in the discussion. My understanding and the general agreement that we have is to go to the Agriculture Appropriations bill tomorrow. That does facilitate the progress we need to make on the current bill that is on the floor, which I hope and expect to be able to finish tonight. If that is the case, we plan on going to the Agriculture bill tomorrow. All rights will be reserved for all Senators, of course. We don't have an agreement, but that is the intention. The disaster ag relief bill is very important and has been talked about by Republicans and Democrats and we expect to debate it tomorrow. It is a more appropriate place for this amendment. So I think this is a good understanding. Other bills, such as Energy and Water, we want to come to very soon. We have a number of appropriation bills--10 of them--out there. I have not talked to the Democratic leader specifically about the Energy and Water bill. I am not sure if the chairman has, but it is a bill that I hope we will be able to go to quickly, as well.

Mr. FRIST. I don't think there is a formal UC on the floor, but I have to object to that only because as leader, I am going to have every chairman coming out putting bills in order. I want to be able to keep that flexibility a bit, just as we have today, because if we don't reach some sort of agreement working together, we are not going to finish even the first MILCON bill on the floor of the Senate. What I can say is what I intend to do tomorrow--again without any UC; I guess we can write up something--is complete this bill that is on the floor tonight and then tomorrow go to the Agriculture bill, finish that bill, and then very high on the list would be Energy and Water. What I don't want to do is get in the overall sequencing of bills when I don't know how long this bill is going to take--hopefully tonight--or the Agriculture bill.

Mr. FRIST. I hope so.

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 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 understand there is a bill at the desk and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. FRIST. I now ask for its second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my request.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. As in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that Executive Calendar No. 995, the nomination of John Peyton, be recommitted to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday, November 14, 2006, at 11 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to consider pending nominations.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, November 14, 2006, at 10 a.m. to consider the nominations of the Honorable James H. Bilbray to be Governor, U.S. Postal Service, Thurgood Marshall Jr. to be Governor, U.S. Postal Service, and the Honorable Dan G. Blair to be Chairman, Postal Rate Commission.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Competition in Sports Programming and Distribution: Are Consumers Winning?'' on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 9 a.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Witness List Panel I: Roger Noll, Professor, Economics Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; Jeffrey Pash, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the National Football League, New York, NY; Daniel M. Fawcett, Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs and Programming Acquisition, DlRECTV, Inc., Washington, DC; Landel Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer, Time Warner, New York, NY.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Judicial Nominations'' on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 2 p.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Witness List Panel I: The Honorable Arlen Specter, United States Senator [R-PA]. Panel II: Thomas Michael Hardiman to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third District.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, November 14, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., for a hearing entitled ``Failure to Identify Company Owners Impedes Law Enforcement.''

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceeding.

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 November 14, 2006, by the President of the United States: Treaty with Malaysia on Mutual Legal Assistance, Treaty Document No. 109-22. 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.