Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Russell Ugone be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the debate on this bill.

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, this morning after our 60 minutes of morning business, we will resume debate on the Interior appropriations bill. Last night we reached an agreement which provides for debate and votes on the final amendments. We will start off with two amendments relating to pesticides. If all time is used on those two amendments, we will be voting at approximately 12:30. I hope we will not need all that debate time, but that we can expedite some of the votes in order to finish the bill at an early hour today. We will be voting on the bill throughout the day on the remaining amendments to the Interior bill. We will finish the bill today. As a reminder to my colleagues, we need to keep things moving as efficiently as we possibly can because we have a lot of other work to consider this week, including the Homeland Security bill, possibly the CAFTA legislation, a highway extension, in all likelihood a welfare extension, and there are other appropriation measures and nominations that may become available for Senate consideration. I know we have a lot of Members who are traveling and, specifically for BRAC reasons, are going back to their States. But we need to keep voting, keep the amendments coming forward to make progress for the American people. We have today, Thursday, and Friday to accomplish a great deal. I encourage my colleagues to come to the floor. If you don't need extended debate, please take into consideration that we have a lot to do to finish this bill today.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. That is my understanding.

Mr. FRIST. That is the plan, although right now the Interior bill is taking an extra day, a day longer than I thought, so we are going to have to adjust the schedule appropriately given the fact the Interior bill was not finished yesterday as we had anticipated.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in part in response to the distinguished Democratic leader, the week right now, with just Wednesday, Thursday, Friday--we have a lot to do. He looked ahead to next month. Again, that is the short list. We have a possible flag amendment, we have a possible gun liability, so July--in addition to stem cells and the others he mentioned, in addition to the appropriations. I say all that because we have Members who, on Mondays and Fridays say, We are not going to be there. This Friday, even though it is before a recess, we are going to be gone and we will have the opportunity to go back to our States and do all the things that are very important for us to do. But we need to keep plowing through, working Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I made it clear to my caucus if it is necessary we will be voting Friday. I don't want to give a time on Friday, but our colleagues right now in their minds say, well, it is Thursday, time to get out, we are on recess, and therefore we are not going to stick around. I want to put our side on notice, and I hope the distinguished Democratic leader will do likewise, because we have the appropriations bills--and I think there are several, Energy and Water--legislative branch should not take much time, but we have a number of others that will. Homeland Security is probably going to take some time to do. I again encourage our colleagues to offer amendments today, let's finish this bill, and then move on to other business. Then also, Friday, if we can't finish our business, we are going to need to be voting on Friday.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, a number of people have asked about the schedule. We will have two more votes tonight. We will have a vote on final passage and then on a motion to proceed to the CAFTA bill. We will be addressing CAFTA tonight, and we will be on it--there are 20 hours--tonight and through tomorrow. We will be completing two appropriations bills before we leave this week, which means tonight will be busy. We will have no rollcall votes after the two which will be back to back shortly. We will be debating CAFTA through tomorrow, and then we will do two other appropriations bills sometime before we leave. It means that we may well be here Friday to vote, which we talked about earlier this morning. In addition, as we said this morning, both the Democratic leader and I, when we come back after our recess, it is going to be important for people to recognize the huge amount that we have to do. We are competing with people going back to their States, people who are saying we need to work Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but not Fridays and Mondays because we have other things to do. We are going to have to have people here voting on Mondays when we announce that and also on Fridays. But with that, we have two votes tonight. They will be back to back, and no more rollcall votes after those two.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning, following the opening statement of the two leaders, we will proceed to passage of the Energy bill. A lot of work has gone into this bill at this point, and this upcoming final passage vote is one further step toward a national energy policy. We look forward to a good conference with the House to produce a final Energy bill for the President to sign. Following that vote, we will resume consideration of the Interior appropriations bill. Pending to that bill are approximately 40 first- degree amendments. The committee, over the course of the weekend and yesterday, had been reviewing those amendments and, hopefully, we can dispose of most of those amendments without rollcall votes. We will need to debate and vote on some of the pending amendments, and therefore we will have votes throughout the day. We would like to finish the Interior appropriations bill today, and I will be speaking shortly to the two managers with regard to progress that is being made. We will be recessing from 12:30 to 2:15 today. When we conclude the Interior bill, the Senate will begin the Homeland Security appropriations bill, and we will finish that bill prior to the start of the July 4 recess. In addition to funding the work of the Department of Homeland Security, that legislation begins the hard work of enhancing the security of our borders. We will complete action on this piece of border security legislation this week. It is also possible that the Senate could complete work on other appropriations bills beyond the two to which the minority leader and I have agreed. We will be working together with the chairman and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee to see what we can accomplish in addition to the Interior and Homeland Security appropriations bills. In addition, this morning, the Finance Committee is working on our free-trade agreement with several Central American countries. If the committee completes action on that, we would also take that up this week. Under the law, debate on the free-trade agreement would total no more than 20 hours equally divided, and we will do that later this week. As I mentioned last week, we will also consider any other available conference reports or legislative or executive items that are ready for action throughout the week--the highway conference report extension, a welfare extension, as well as a series of important nominations that could be resolved this week as well: Lester Crawford to run our Food and Drug Administration, Tom Dorr to serve in the Department of Agriculture, Gordon English to serve in the Department of Homeland Defense. All of these are possible for action before the recess. We are going to have a very busy final week and, I know, a productive week. We will be working through Friday. I want to announce to our colleagues once again, as I have before, that in all likelihood we will be voting on Friday, and intend to vote on Friday. In addition, I ask unanimous consent that I be recognized at 3:45 today, to be followed by Senator Bunning, to be followed by Senator McConnell.

Mr. FRIST. I will be happy to respond.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Senate will soon vote on final passage of the Energy bill. I want to applaud my fellow Senators for their hard work and cooperation. Senator Pete Domenici deserves special recognition. Senator Domenici's expertise on energy issues is unparalleled in the United States Senate, as he has demonstrated for a number of years on both the Energy Committee and the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. His determination to produce a comprehensive national energy policy, and his hard work with his ranking member, Senator Bingaman, as well as the other members of his committee, is the reason why we stand here, today, on the cusp of final passage of a balanced, bipartisan energy bill. I congratulate Chairman Domenici and Senator Bingaman. I am confident that they will continue to work together in conference to deliver a strong Energy bill that will provide the clean, affordable energy we need to keep America moving forward. Anyone who has filled a tank of gas recently, or paid an electric bill, knows that we've reached a crisis point. Energy prices are skyrocketing. Suddenly, instead of the lowest natural gas prices in the industrialized world, we have the highest. Because of high natural gas prices, manufacturing and chemical jobs are moving overseas. Farmers are taking a pay cut. Consumers are paying too much to heat and cool their homes. Communities across the country are suffering. And as many as 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost because of soaring prices. All the while, we have grown dangerously reliant on foreign sources of energy. And some of those foreign sources do not have America's best interests at heart. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the U.S. produced almost as much oil as we consumed. Imports were relatively small. But since then, U.S. oil production has been on the decline, while consumption has steadily increased. As a result, we've become more and more dependent on imported oil. As we remember all too well, in the early 1970's, large oil exporters in the Middle East adopted an oil embargo against many Western countries. This marked the first time that oil was used as a political weapon. At the time, the U.S. imported 35 percent of our oil needs. Since then, we have become much more dependent on foreign sources of oil and natural gas. We are more vulnerable than ever to the use of energy as a political weapon. In addition, many non-democratic countries and others maintain their hold on power through the redistribution of oil revenues. We see this happening in Venezuela. We currently import over one million barrels of oil a day from Venezuela. Meanwhile, its president, Hugo Chavez, actively opposes the United States, supports rogue states such as Cuba, and is working to destabilize Latin America. President Chavez maintains his political support with the aid of Venezuela's oil revenues. These revenues have also given him the ability to purchase arms and play a major role on the international stage. These dynamics are equally evident for energy suppliers in the Middle East. President Bush and many of my colleagues here in the Senate have correctly argued that the spread of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law is essential for peace and stability, and for victory in the War on Terrorism. But regimes in the Middle East have been able to use their oil revenues to hang on to power and maintain non-democratic political systems. As a result, the conditions that breed hatred, violence, and terrorism often go unaddressed, and the problems of terrorism persist. Passing the energy bill today will be a major step forward in addressing these serious national security challenges. It will also be a major step forward for our economic productivity and prosperity. The Energy bill promises to deliver exciting new technologies. Hydrogen fuel cells are one example. If just 20 percent of cars used fuel cell technology, we could cut oil imports by 1.5 million barrels every day. The Senate Energy bill authorizes $3.7 billion over 5 years to support hydrogen and fuel-cell research, as well as the infrastructure we need to move toward this goal. Last week, Senator Hatch and I had the opportunity to attend a hydrogen car demonstration here at the Capitol. The cars were stylish. They drove well. The technology is very promising. Hybrid cars are already gaining in popularity. Just this past week, Nissan announced that its first hybrid vehicle will be built at the Smyrna plant in Tennessee. This is one example of how technology can simultaneously promote conservation and efficiency, and boost the manufacturing sector. In addition, the Energy bill's conservation and energy efficiency provisions far exceed those of other energy bills considered by the Congress in recent years. According to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Senate Energy bill will save 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas by 2020, equivalent to the current annual consumption of the whole state of New York. It will reduce peak electric demand by 50,000 megawatts by 2020, the equivalent of 170 new power plants. And it will reduce U.S. oil consumption by 1 million barrels a day by the year 2015. It encourages the use of home-grown renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, as well as wind and solar and geothermal energy. It provides incentives to facilitate the development of cutting edge technologies like coal gasification and advanced nuclear plants, which will produce clean, low-carbon energy to help address the issue of global climate change. And it will modernize and expand our Nation's electricity grid to enhance reliability and help prevent future blackouts. The Senate energy bill will help us both conserve more energy, and produce more energy. It will also help produce more jobs. It is estimated that the energy bill will save over two million jobs and create hundreds of thousands more. The ethanol provision, for example, is expected to generate 230,000 new jobs over the next 7 years. Incentives for wind generated energy are expected to create another 100,000 jobs in the next 2. The investment in clean coal technology will create 62,1000 jobs, and 40,000 new jobs in the solar industry will come on line. These are good jobs, well paying, and right here at home. The energy bill is good for America, It will move our country toward a more reliable supply of clean, affordable energy. I urge my colleagues to vote for this comprehensive, forward leaning plan. Casting a vote for the Energy bill is a vote for a safer and more secure America. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as I mentioned, the Central American Free- Trade Agreement is currently being addressed by the committee. That will be done today and possibly into tomorrow. Before we make any definitive scheduling beyond that, we will let it get through the committee. I will be talking to the Democratic leader. It is an issue that we could, through a fast-track mechanism, address before we leave for our July recess. No final decision has been made. I will be in discussion with the Democratic leader.

Mr. FRIST. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a leader in the Senate, a true partner in guiding the 109th Congress and my friend. Today, we mark a momentous occasion for the senior Senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell. With the opening of Monday's session, Senator McConnell surpassed the esteemed John Sherman Cooper as the longest serving Republican Senator in the history of his State. Sworn in on January 3, 1985, Senator McConnell has now served for over 20 years. For the last 2\1/2\ of these, I have worked side by side with Mitch in our capacities as leader and whip. I could not have asked for a steadier partner in guiding this Senate to accomplishment. Leading over 4 dozen strong- willed, independent Senators is not always easy. One of the things I like to say about the leader's job is that it is something similar to being the groundskeeper at a cemetery: You have a lot of people under you, but no one ever listens. But more than anyone, Mitch is able to impress upon his colleagues the importance of working together to move America forward. Mitch and I work side by side not only as leader and whip, but also as Senators from the great States of Kentucky and Tennessee. Committed to the Union only 4 years apart, our States share the common interests of agriculture and commerce, a common culture of southern ingenuity, and hospitality, and a border over 320 miles long. I have worked with Mitch on regional matters important to our States since I first entered this body in 1995. He is a fierce advocate for the people of his State, and I have watched him with admiration. Kentucky and Tennessee have a history of friendly partnership, and I am proud that Mitch and I work in that same spirit in the Senate. Mitch and I have also both had the honor of being elected by members of our conference to chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the organization in this body charged with maintaining and building a Republican majority. Mitch chaired it from 1997 until 2001, and then he handed it off to me, from 2001 to 2003. Mr. President, there was never a smoother transition from one NRSC chair to the next than when Mitch turned over the keys to me in early 2001. Under his leadership, Republicans maintained control of the Chamber for over 2 election cycles under very extreme circumstances. When he passed the chairmanship to me, the NRSC was debt free, something almost unheard of, and in better shape than he found it. His legislative accomplishments are just as impressive. Through his chairmanship of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, Mitch has shaped America's policy on promoting freedom abroad so strongly that he has become literally a hero in oppressed lands throughout the world. He believes in using American might to support democracy and civil institutions in nations that know neither. He is not afraid to call the tyrants by their names. In Burma, an illegitimate junta has held Nobel laureate and democracy advocate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for the last 15 years. And 2\1/2\ years ago, she succeeded in sending a letter to Senator McConnell through a very, very circuitous route. Let me say that it didn't just arrive in his mailbox. She told him, in her words: You have been such a stalwart supporter of democracy. We have come to look upon you as a rock-like friend. Whenever Mitch gives a friend or a cause his support, you can count on him. Mitch has led the fight every year to impose import sanctions on Burma, to force its tyrannical government to free Suu Kyi and stop jailing and harassing the country's freedom fighters. His record on freedom, protecting our national security, and promoting democracy abroad has been crystal clear and consistent since his first days in the Senate. One of his earliest votes upon entering the Senate was in favor of sanctions against the apartheid regime then in South Africa. Through the appropriations process, he provided authority and funds to conduct democracy-building programs in Syria, Iran, and China. He has always been a staunch supporter of Israel which, along with Iraq, is one of the few models of democracy and liberty in a region plagued by tyranny and intolerance. Mitch was the author of language that forced Russia to withdraw its troops from the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in 1994. Throughout decades under Soviet rule, those three countries never formally surrendered, and they maintained their embassies here in Washington, DC. Thanks to Mitch McConnell, the home soil of Baltic states became just as free as those embassy grounds a little sooner than otherwise. Mitch is a solid rock when it comes to supporting freedom here at home as well as abroad. Take his fight in defense of free speech and against the changes to our system of financing political campaigns known as ``campaign finance reform,'' that was one fight he ultimately lost. But even in losing, he won the hearts of his comrades as we watched him doggedly champion what he believed in--the first amendment and the right of every American citizen to have a free, unfettered voice in our democracy. His good friend, Phil Gramm, our former Senate colleague from Texas, said on this floor: I don't know whether they will ever build a monument to the Senator from Kentucky, but he is already memorialized in my heart. Senator Gramm, you are not the only one. Mitch made his case with passion all the way up to the highest court. And when he lost there, he very graciously was the first to reach out and congratulate his long-time opponents and began healing the divide. Mr. President, when I look at the impressive career of Senator McConnell, studded throughout with so many successes--and, yes, a very few defeats, but always refueled again and again by his relentless energy--I have sometimes wondered, where does that drive come from? Perhaps the answer lies 60 years in the past. Mitch's dad, A.M. McConnell, was fighting overseas in World War II. While he was away, 2- year-old Mitch contracted the dreaded disease polio. In 1944, before Dr. Jonas Salk invented his vaccine, polio very likely meant paralysis, sickness or death. Mitch's mother, Dean, took her son to Warm Springs, GA, the polio treatment center that President Roosevelt established. Learning from the therapists there, she put him through a strenuous, tough regimen of physical therapy to save the use of his left leg. She made her son exercise his leg three times a day, and it was drilled into his head that to protect his leg, he had to refrain from walking on it. That hardly sounds like an easy reality for a typical 2-year-old. But she was successful. To this day, Mitch credits his mother with teaching him determination and tenacity. Today, the world is virtually free of polio, with only about a thousand cases diagnosed every year. Most of those are in the developing nations. Through his subcommittee chairmanship, Mitch has appropriated over $160 million in the last 6 years toward wiping out the deadly virus. Those funds go to the U.N., The World Health Organization, and other agencies that take Dr. Salk's lifesaving vaccine into the world's poorest countries and deliver it to people who need it, bringing us closer and closer to eliminating polio once and for all. No Kentucky history book would be complete without portraits of Henry Clay and Alben Barkley. Henry Clay dominated his State and this Senate in the 19th century and Barkley in the 20th. Well, I submit that Mitch will be viewed in the same light for the 21st century. Why? Because even with all of the accomplishments he has behind him, I predict that his greatest contributions are still ahead with his wife and life partner, who is a leader in her own right, Elaine Chao, at his side. Like Clay and Barkley, Mitch speaks with a voice of principle. He is a rocklike friend to his fellow Senators, to this institution, to his State, to his country, and to defenders of freedom the world over. I join my fellow Senators in congratulating my friend, the majority whip, on reaching this milestone. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, Senator Dole is unable to vote on amendments this evening because she is in North Carolina where she testified early this afternoon before the BRAC Commission, and this evening is with the President at Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC, where the President is addressing the Nation on the 1-year anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, obesity ranks among the most serious health problems facing America today. Since 1970, the percentage of overweight children between 6 and 19 has quadrupled. Today, nearly one out of three children is overweight and about one in six is obese. Obese children develop type II diabetes at an alarming rate and they can begin puberty as early as age seven. Over 70 percent of obese children become overweight or obese adults. And, obesity in adults can have catastrophic effects--including heart disease, cancer, and stroke at very high rates. The medical profession knows this. In the last several weeks, the American Medical Association has issued new guidelines for fighting obesity. And earlier this week, a group of economists reported that nearly 12 percent of all health care spending stems from obesity. Obesity threatens our health, it threatens our future. And successfully addressing it requires action. Dealing with it requires national leadership and community level commitment. Through continued public education campaigns, we have reduced youth smoking. And I'm convinced we can do the same with obesity. That's why I'm reintroducing two bills to confront the challenge. The first is called the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act: it will give the obesity crisis the attention it deserves. I am grateful to my colleague Senator Wyden for his work in cosponsoring it. The bill has two major components: first, it will establish a bi- partisan Congressional Council on Childhood Obesity which will evaluate plans to fight this health problem and give awards to ``Congressional Challenge Winners.'' Second, it will establish a private, non-profit foundation to fight obesity around the country. The second bill, the Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity Act of 2005, or IMPACT, will provide the resources we need to fight obesity everywhere in the country. This bill, which Senators Bingaman, Dodd, and Clinton have joined me in sponsoring, commits us to three policies: first, we'll train more health professionals in the problems associated with being overweight and ways that they can help Americans fight obesity. Second, we will mobilize America's community organizations to fight this problem. Through education, outreach, and intervention, schools, non-profits, and churches will get the resource they need to fight obesity. We will also give States more flexibility to use existing grant programs to fight obesity. Finally, we will redouble our efforts to collect information about obesity's extent, consequences, costs, and the ways we can deal with them. Obesity stems from a combination of behavior, environment, and genetics. We cannot and should not expect any single Federal effort to end it. Much of the work in fighting obesity will depend on families and communities. And both the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act and IMPACT 2005 bill will give this crisis the attention . . . and the resources . . . it deserves. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bills be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, obesity ranks among the most serious health problems facing America today. Since 1970, the percentage of overweight children between 6 and 19 has quadrupled. Today, nearly one out of three children is overweight and about one in six is obese. Obese children develop type II diabetes at an alarming rate and they can begin puberty as early as age seven. Over 70 percent of obese children become overweight or obese adults. And, obesity in adults can have catastrophic effects--including heart disease, cancer, and stroke at very high rates. The medical profession knows this. In the last several weeks, the American Medical Association has issued new guidelines for fighting obesity. And earlier this week, a group of economists reported that nearly 12 percent of all health care spending stems from obesity. Obesity threatens our health, it threatens our future. And successfully addressing it requires action. Dealing with it requires national leadership and community level commitment. Through continued public education campaigns, we have reduced youth smoking. And I'm convinced we can do the same with obesity. That's why I'm reintroducing two bills to confront the challenge. The first is called the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act: it will give the obesity crisis the attention it deserves. I am grateful to my colleague Senator Wyden for his work in cosponsoring it. The bill has two major components: first, it will establish a bi- partisan Congressional Council on Childhood Obesity which will evaluate plans to fight this health problem and give awards to ``Congressional Challenge Winners.'' Second, it will establish a private, non-profit foundation to fight obesity around the country. The second bill, the Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity Act of 2005, or IMPACT, will provide the resources we need to fight obesity everywhere in the country. This bill, which Senators Bingaman, Dodd, and Clinton have joined me in sponsoring, commits us to three policies: first, we'll train more health professionals in the problems associated with being overweight and ways that they can help Americans fight obesity. Second, we will mobilize America's community organizations to fight this problem. Through education, outreach, and intervention, schools, non-profits, and churches will get the resource they need to fight obesity. We will also give States more flexibility to use existing grant programs to fight obesity. Finally, we will redouble our efforts to collect information about obesity's extent, consequences, costs, and the ways we can deal with them. Obesity stems from a combination of behavior, environment, and genetics. We cannot and should not expect any single Federal effort to end it. Much of the work in fighting obesity will depend on families and communities. And both the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act and IMPACT 2005 bill will give this crisis the attention . . . and the resources . . . it deserves. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bills be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we will begin consideration of the appropriations process by turning to the Interior appropriations bill. Senator Burns and Senator Dorgan are our two managers, and we expect to begin consideration of amendments. Last night, following completion of the Energy bill, we reached an agreement on the Interior bill that first-degree amendments are to be offered today and Monday. We have commitments from several colleagues that they will be available today to offer amendments, and therefore we will make progress on the bill over the course of the day. I announced last night that no votes would occur today as well as Monday. However, we will be in session both days working through the Interior bill so that we can finish that bill very early next week. We will start voting on amendments to this appropriations bill on Tuesday. As a reminder, we have scheduled a vote on passage of the Energy bill at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. Next week, in addition to completing the Interior appropriations measure, we will also complete work on the Homeland Security appropriations bill. It may be possible to consider other appropriations matters as we move through the week. As always, we will be turning to additional legislative and executive items that can be cleared for action during next week. Again, I thank everybody for their cooperation on the Energy bill. It is a tremendous success for this body. Members on both sides of the aisle came together in order to finish that bill, as we had planned, within 2 weeks. I will be returning to the floor of the Senate later today with several statements, including one on the Interior appropriations bill. I yield the floor.

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, as we bring this week to a close and look back, I am pleased with the progress that has been made on the Energy bill which we have completed, in essence, except for final passage which we will do Tuesday. Then we are ahead of what I initially anticipated, having proceeded to our first appropriations bill, the Interior appropriations. The bill, as has been mentioned, is an excellent bill. I congratulate both the leaders on that bill, the chairman and the ranking member on the Interior Subcommittee, for their superb shepherding of this bill through their subcommittee, and now bringing it to the floor. I also thank the committee for reporting a bill that keeps to the spending allocation under this year's budget resolution. As we travel back home, and as we will see when we go back during the Fourth of July recess, the American people expect us to adhere to that budget, a very strict spending budget, a budget on which Chairman Gregg led, and we passed, the fastest budget we have ever passed but, more important than that, a budget that shows fiscal discipline. Indeed, the ranking member and chairman of the subcommittee adhered to that allocation throughout. Senators Burns and Dorgan have worked hard to be responsible stewards of American taxpayer dollars. At the same time it is reflected in the bill the importance of being stewards of the natural wonders and the heritage and the beauty of our great country. I thank Senator Burns and Senator Dorgan for their hard work. It is our first bill as we approach the appropriations process. It is the first of 12 newly constituted appropriations bills that we will consider. It is my hope to see all 12 of these bills passed. We need to do our very best to avoid the scenario that has unfolded all too often in recent years. Come November or December, we should not have to resort to an omnibus bill that lumps all of these individual bills that we wouldn't have been able to pass into a single bill. We are going to do everything possible to systematically address each one of these bills as they come along, and then be able to pass them to avoid coming to what has almost become customary, and that is an omnibus process. It has been a decade, 10 years, not since 1995, since all appropriations bills were wrapped up before beginning the fiscal year. Over that last decade, the average was sending only 2.1 appropriations bills to the President for his signature before the beginning of the fiscal year, only 2. Actually it was 2.1, as I mentioned, appropriations bills. We need to do better. We can do better, and we will do better. We need to get the job done--get every bill done right and done on time. I am very optimistic we can do that. This year, we passed the budget, as I mentioned, in the fastest time in history. That budget establishes an overall 2006 spending ceiling for all appropriations bills. And because of that ceiling, because of all of us working together, and by working together, I am hopeful that the process will proceed smoothly. We have initiated that process today with the Interior Appropriations bill. As we considered the bill before us today, I want to leave with a special place I think of when I contemplate what my vote on this bill means for America. On a second issue, as we look to the appropriations bill that is likely and almost certain to follow the Interior Appropriations bill, I want to comment very briefly and introduce what we will see at the end of next week, and that is a comment on homeland security. As September 11 so tragically demonstrated, protecting our borders-- whether by air, by sea, or by land--has taken on a level of urgency and importance as never before. When you are talking to people at home, it arises again and again--it is almost the first, second, or third question at every town meeting we hold--border security. Border security is no longer just an immigration issue or a customs issue. Border security must be a unified and coordinated strategy to thwart terrorism, which is something we didn't think about prior to September 11 nearly as much as we do today--thwarting terrorism and enforcing the laws. Next week, we will debate the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, and we must include the necessary resources to meet these challenges. This bill will address concerns regarding insecurity of our borders, which we know in fact does threaten national security. It is time to address that issue. We will again do that next week. As we all know, each year thousands of people cross our borders illegally. The vast majority seek little more than better lives for their families, which we understand. But some do bring drugs. Some do traffic in human beings. Some may even have ties to terrorist groups. We don't know exactly how many come or will come. We don't know exactly what their backgrounds are. We don't know who might harm us. In today's time, that is wrong. We know one thing: If drug dealers and human traffickers can operate on our borders, terrorists can as well. Our national security requires a safer and more secure border, and it is up to us to deliver that. We face a crisis. Over 7,000 miles of land stretch across our borders. If you look at our ports, they handle as many as 16 million cargo containers; and 330 million noncitizens--students, visitors, and workers--cross our borders each year; 330 million noncitizens go back and forth across the borders. An unprecedented flow of illegal immigrants, criminals, terrorists, and unsecured cargo crosses our borders. As representatives of the people, we need to focus on the rule of law. We will be focusing on that rule of law. This Nation is founded on the concept that all men are created equal and all have the inalienable right to be free. But those freedoms are protected by our institutions and these institutions require respect for the rule of law. Those illegal immigrants who may wish us no harm have still violated our rule of law. We must remember this as this debate unfolds on border security next week. Finally, America has always opened our doors to immigrants. We must continue to do so and we will continue to do so. People come to America looking for a better life, and we live better lives because of them. They contribute to our economy. They help weave that rich cultural fabric that makes up our society. But we must ensure that immigrants who come to America come here legally. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for the information of Senators, in all likelihood the next vote will be the last vote tonight. We cannot say with certainty, but in all likelihood this is the last vote. The plan is to have final passage on the Energy bill at 9:45 on Tuesday morning. We will complete the bill tonight. We still have the managers' package. That is why I cannot say absolutely no votes. But there is a 99-percent chance that the next vote will be the last vote. We will be working on the Interior bill on Friday and Monday. We will be stacking the votes on Interior, hopefully, for Tuesday and complete passage of the Interior bill. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 902

Mr. FRIST

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 June 23, 2005, at 9:30 a.m., to receive testimony on U.S. military strategy and operations in Iraq. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, June 23, 2005, on pending Committee business at 10 a.m.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Thursday, June 23, 2005, at 10 a.m., to hear testimony on U.S.-China Economic Relations.`

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 Thursday, June 23, 2005, at 10 a.m. to hold a hearing on HIV/ AIDS.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, June 23, 2005, at 9:30 a.m. in SH-216. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. committee on the Judiciary