Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the live quorum be waived.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we have a lot to do in the next week and a half. DOD authorization, as the Democrat leader and as my colleagues know, is a high priority. We also are doing our very best to come to an agreement on how to bring stem cells to the floor of the Senate, to bring the native Hawaiian issue to the floor of the Senate, and gun liability issues we talked about earlier this morning. We are making progress. We did not quite finish foreign operations today but we will tomorrow. As we complete that bill and we finish with the Dorr nomination, we will hopefully be able to accomplish all of those bills. It is asking a lot.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2385, and that the bill be referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we vitiate that last request on the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 202, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. FRIST. Mr President, I have submitted this resolution with regard to Sudan, a country in Africa I have personally spent a lot of time in and participated with, both in the south and the north, in promoting peace there. There have been 2 million people who have died in the Sudan as a product of a civil war that is now about 24 years old, and about 5 to 6 million people have been displaced. The Sudan Peace Act looked predominantly at the north versus the south, although it is much more complicated than that oversimplified comment. It is a separate issue than the Darfur crisis in western Sudan, which this body has also paid a lot of attention to. Real progress is being made in that part of the world, but continued focus will be required to bring peace to that part of Africa. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 3332 received from the House.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 31.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the purpose of this resolution, expressing the sense of the Senate with regard to August 7 being designated as National Health Center Week, is to raise awareness of the tremendous health services that are provided by homeless health centers and migrant care centers and community health centers, and other purposes. I commend Senator Coleman for this resolution. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 20. 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, and the Senate then begin a period of morning business for 60 minutes, with the majority leader in control of the first 30 minutes and the Democratic leader in control of the second 30 minutes; provided further that following that time, the Senate resume consideration of Calendar No. 158, H.R. 3057, the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, as provided under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will complete action on the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. We have several pending amendments to dispose of tomorrow morning. Although that list is longer than I would like, it is hoped that most of those amendments can be worked out and will not require rollcall votes. We also, a few moments ago, filed a cloture motion on the Dorr nomination. That vote will occur on Thursday morning.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 45 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today, we will begin consideration of H.J. Res. 52, which approves the renewal of import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003. We have shortened the statutory time limit. There will now be a 1-hour-20-minute period of debate on the resolution. Thus, Senators can expect a vote on the Burma resolution sometime between 12 and 12:30 today, probably closer to 12:30. Following that vote, we will recess until 2:15 for the weekly policy luncheons. Following the recess, we will resume consideration of the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. Our intentions are to finish that bill, the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, tonight. We have been on the bill Friday and Monday, and will be now today, with plenty of opportunity for our colleagues to come forward, offer their amendments, and debate their amendments. So our plans are to stay today to finish the Foreign Operations bill. I do want to encourage Senators to contact the cloakrooms right now, early this morning, if there are other amendments to be considered. The two managers will be here to consider those amendments. Again, our intentions are to finish that appropriations bill. Over the course of the week, and into next week, before our recess, but most immediately this week, we have a highway extension that will have to be done later today. We have an issue concerning native Hawaiians that we are working very aggressively on in order to bring it to the floor. We will continue to work over the course of the next several hours to determine how best that can be brought to the floor and debated. We have the Department of Defense authorization, an important bill that we will be addressing before the recess. All of this is dependent on us first completing the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. So there is much work to do. We will keep our colleagues informed as to what the specific plans are, but we have a lot of business before we depart for the recess.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs has received requests from various law enforcement and regulatory agencies, and other Government entities, both here and abroad, seeking access to records that the Subcommittee obtained during its investigation into the United Nations ``Oil-for-Food'' Programme. This resolution would authorize the chairman and ranking minority member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, acting jointly, to provide records, obtained by the subcommittee in the course of its investigation, in response to these requests.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today, we return to the consideration of the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. We began that bill last Friday with opening statements. Senators McConnell and Leahy are ready for Members to offer their amendments during today's session. They are not encouraging amendments, but if Senators do want to offer amendments, we do ask they come forward as soon as possible. I am very hopeful we can complete this bill tomorrow. I think it is likely we can do that if Senators will come forward today and offer amendments, if they have any. We will be voting this afternoon at about 5:30, and we will be announcing a little bit later today what the nature of that vote will be. Senators will be notified once we lock in the time. It will be around 5:30 today. As a reminder, tomorrow, at 10 o'clock in the morning, there will be a joint meeting with the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, will be speaking to both Houses of Congress at that joint meeting. We have 2 weeks remaining before our next recess. We have a lot of business over the next 2 weeks to conduct. The Democratic leader and I were just talking, going through our objectives, and will be sharing that and consulting with our colleagues as to how these next 2 weeks will play out. The floor schedule is going to be very busy. It will take precedence over other schedules, so we do ask Senators to keep their schedules flexible so we can accomplish the many tasks before us. Health Information Technology Mr. President, on another issue, briefly--but it is an issue that means a lot to me as one who sees the real advantage in legislating in this arena--I want to comment on the issue of electronic medical records and the increasing necessity, if we are going to eliminate the waste and abuse in our health care system today, of focusing on ways to share information throughout our health care system, which has been too fragmented and too disjointed in terms of communication. I want to share with our colleagues that we have worked a lot on this issue over the last 4 to 5 days, including the weekend, and that we have made real progress and have come very close to achieving the goal of having privacy-protected electronic health records legislation come before this body. Senator Clinton and I introduced legislation last June. Senators Enzi and Kennedy have been working on legislation. Our goal has been to pull this legislation together. Indeed, we have made real progress in agreeing to outlines of strong legislation, which I am absolutely convinced will eliminate a lot of waste in the system, will improve quality, will increase efficiencies in the delivery of health care, will empower payments, and will improve patient safety throughout our health care system. So I am very excited about it. We promote the use of electronic health records by adopting standards. You have to have similar standards throughout the system if people are going to come in and participate and share information. So we approached standards. We ensure quality measurement. We eliminate barriers to the adoption of this technology of electronic health records. And we incentivize providers and those throughout the system who use this information to actually adopt the standards with lowered barriers so the advantages can be realized. I thank Senators Clinton, Enzi, and Kennedy for all of their tremendous work. Chairman Enzi plans to take that legislation to the HELP Committee, I believe, on Wednesday morning. Following that, I look forward to working with my colleagues for Senate passage. Mr. President, we have a very busy week before us. Again, we will be turning to the foreign operations legislation shortly. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, it is all new money. It is not being taken from other programs.

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 Rules Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 26 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be agreed to, the concurrent resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today, we return to the consideration of the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. We began that bill last Friday with opening statements. Senators McConnell and Leahy are ready for Members to offer their amendments during today's session. They are not encouraging amendments, but if Senators do want to offer amendments, we do ask they come forward as soon as possible. I am very hopeful we can complete this bill tomorrow. I think it is likely we can do that if Senators will come forward today and offer amendments, if they have any. We will be voting this afternoon at about 5:30, and we will be announcing a little bit later today what the nature of that vote will be. Senators will be notified once we lock in the time. It will be around 5:30 today. As a reminder, tomorrow, at 10 o'clock in the morning, there will be a joint meeting with the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, will be speaking to both Houses of Congress at that joint meeting. We have 2 weeks remaining before our next recess. We have a lot of business over the next 2 weeks to conduct. The Democratic leader and I were just talking, going through our objectives, and will be sharing that and consulting with our colleagues as to how these next 2 weeks will play out. The floor schedule is going to be very busy. It will take precedence over other schedules, so we do ask Senators to keep their schedules flexible so we can accomplish the many tasks before us. Health Information Technology Mr. President, on another issue, briefly--but it is an issue that means a lot to me as one who sees the real advantage in legislating in this arena--I want to comment on the issue of electronic medical records and the increasing necessity, if we are going to eliminate the waste and abuse in our health care system today, of focusing on ways to share information throughout our health care system, which has been too fragmented and too disjointed in terms of communication. I want to share with our colleagues that we have worked a lot on this issue over the last 4 to 5 days, including the weekend, and that we have made real progress and have come very close to achieving the goal of having privacy-protected electronic health records legislation come before this body. Senator Clinton and I introduced legislation last June. Senators Enzi and Kennedy have been working on legislation. Our goal has been to pull this legislation together. Indeed, we have made real progress in agreeing to outlines of strong legislation, which I am absolutely convinced will eliminate a lot of waste in the system, will improve quality, will increase efficiencies in the delivery of health care, will empower payments, and will improve patient safety throughout our health care system. So I am very excited about it. We promote the use of electronic health records by adopting standards. You have to have similar standards throughout the system if people are going to come in and participate and share information. So we approached standards. We ensure quality measurement. We eliminate barriers to the adoption of this technology of electronic health records. And we incentivize providers and those throughout the system who use this information to actually adopt the standards with lowered barriers so the advantages can be realized. I thank Senators Clinton, Enzi, and Kennedy for all of their tremendous work. Chairman Enzi plans to take that legislation to the HELP Committee, I believe, on Wednesday morning. Following that, I look forward to working with my colleagues for Senate passage. Mr. President, we have a very busy week before us. Again, we will be turning to the foreign operations legislation shortly. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Recognition of the Minority Leader