Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to consideration of H.R. 2984, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a 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, we are on our final stretch. Before we leave for our adjournment prior to the election, I do want to take a couple of minutes to talk about the pending nominations. The pending nominations have become an issue because it has gotten longer and longer and longer, in terms of the list. I am very disappointed. We have had a hugely successful session. The last 6 weeks and the last 3 days have been tremendously productive, but I am very disappointed that we leave here today stranding about, I believe it is 153 pending nominations that are on the Executive Calendar today. All of us have noted the calendar gets thicker and thicker, and it is because there are 153 nominations that are being held up. For my colleagues, all of them know, but for others listening, these nominations have all been received from the President. The President has made the nominations. All of them have gone through the committee process. All are now available for Senate consideration. That is our responsibility. But now in the last few moments before we finished our business--I am not going to go through the details why, I am not going to rehash why. But we find ourselves in a stalled position with 153 nominees right here who are being obstructed. Some on the other side of the aisle have said they have nominations which they want considered and until that happens everybody is going to be held up. Indeed, that is what has happened. It is a scorched-earth-type policy which should not be tolerated. I am troubled by it. I hear such words as, Well, if I can't have my person or the White House is not sending up the person that I asked for, I am going to punish everybody. That is what has happened. We have 153 people who are on the calendar who are ready and available to go. Many of them have put their lives on hold. They have dedicated themselves to public service. They have gone all the way through the system and they came to this point--to the floor right here--and they are obstructed. On the calendar, ready and available to go are ambassadorships, critical ambassadorships, for example, to Qatar, Estonia, they are representatives to the United Nations who are being held up, nominations to the Department of Housing and Urban Development positions, various positions at the Environmental Protection Agency, to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, to the Department of Education nominations, the Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary being held up, and nominations to African Development being held up. There are more than 25 pages of nominations being held up. These are real people. These are not just names on the calendar. These are real people. They have subjected themselves to the process. They said, Yes, I am willing to serve, but they are being obstructed. Most of these nominations have gone all the way through the system without any opposition and for most there is absolutely no controversy with their particular nomination. But they are being held hostage. They are being held hostage, I believe unreasonably, and it should not be tolerated. It is within a Senator's right to do that, but to me it is just wrong. These are people committed to public service. There is no controversy about them as individuals. They are being held hostage. I understand this is not the first time we failed to act on nominations or the first time nominations have been held up to unrelated issues. But I am disappointed that there are Members in this body who have taken to such an extreme position--25 pages of nominations. This whole concept of putting blanket holds on everybody and holding everybody hostage simply is not appropriate and I believe is a disservice to the country. But that is what is happening. To me it is not responsible. It is not legislating responsibly. Senators do have those individual rights, and, boy, we have seen individual rights being used today and yesterday and the day before. Those are the rules of the Senate. But again, I plea that people respect this process and be reasonable and allow these nominations to be considered and taken up in a way which allows us to act on these deserving people in a reasonable way--a way that would allow us to proceed with our constitutional duties. The Senate has to approve these individuals with advice and consent. We can't give advice and consent if there is this wholesale obstruction. Again, I wanted to make sure everybody is heard in the nomination process. But the obstruction of not being able to consider them is unreasonable. With all that said--I said I wasn't going to rehash the why's--I am very disturbed by the process and disappointed by Senate colleagues. With that said, we will return in November. I hope that once past the election--if that is why there is this wholesale hostage holding, if that is why it is, once we get past the election being settled--we will be able to focus our attention on the calendar. I hope we can return to the regular order and allow the Senate to act on these nominees. These are people who believe in public service. I believe public service and their consideration of public service is a noble cause. Let's not leave them on hold indefinitely. Many of them are listening to the fact that they will not get through to me right now.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Intelligence Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4548, the intelligence reauthorization bill, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 2386, as passed, be inserted in lieu thereof, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, the Senate insist upon its amendment and request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on behalf of the Senate consisting of the entire committee.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in a moment we will be adjourning until November 16. As always, the adjournment resolution provides for both Houses of Congress to be called back into session if the public interest shall warrant it. If it were necessary for the Senate to reconvene prior to this November 16 date, certainly Senators would be given ample time to make arrangements. If not called back, we would reconvene on that Tuesday, November 16. During that week, the Senate will try to finish up any remaining work prior to the official sine die adjournment. In addition, both parties will be conducting their respective leadership elections in the early part of that week as well as the orientation program for newly elected Members. Thus, the next rollcall vote will occur on Tuesday, November 16, around 5:15, if all debate is necessary, and that vote will be on the nomination to the position of Secretary of the Army. Again we have further business that week, including the remaining appropriations process. I do wish everyone a safe and hopefully restful few weeks. Many of our colleagues will be campaigning across the country and most have departed and started that process now. Hopefully, everyone in the Chamber will have well-deserved time to spend with family and with friends. We have had, as I said again and again, a very productive 6 weeks, and an unusual weekend and holiday session in order to complete our business. I will not review the bills we passed today, but the long list of bills that we passed today, the business we went through very quickly over the last 15 or 20 minutes, again, represents substantial work, thousands and thousands of person-hours of work with legislation that is to the benefit of men and women and families all over America. I thank the staff. Viewers can see us here now, but behind us are hundreds of people still here at this late hour. They have been here all day today and over the last 2 days, well into each evening. I thank them. I thank the police officers who protect us every day, and I thank the cloakroom staff, the doorkeepers, the legislative clerks, the reporters who were here throughout the weekend and today and tonight, especially the pages who are with us from early every morning from the time before we get here and stay until after we leave--really, everyone. The list goes on and on around the Capitol complex to keep this place running. I thank the Presiding Officer. I have been here a lot over the last 2 or 3 days and he has been here equal to me. Every time I am here, I see him here as well. I thank the Presiding Officer because we have run on probably about 3 hours after any Members anticipated. Very important comments needed to be made and I know we have inconvenienced a lot of people in staying around to allow everyone to speak what they felt to be important.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today is Columbus Day. When we look back on the history of Columbus Day and the history in this body, it was October 12 of 1492, the sailor onboard the Pinta landed, and the next day Christopher Columbus and his three ships landed at the Bahamian Island, ending a nearly 10-week journey across the Atlantic. Today, as we have been working here all day, people have been celebrating Columbus Day all over the United States. It is the day to honor Christopher Columbus's sense of bravery, his curiosity, his dream in making that dream come true, all of which are concepts that are still very much alive and well today in the spirit of Americans. The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day took place on October 12, 1792. That was to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Columbus's landing. A century later, the first official celebration occurred when President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation urging Americans to mark the day. And over the next decades, the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic fraternal order, lobbied State legislatures to declare October 12 an official holiday. Colorado was the first to so in 1907, followed by New York in 1909. The Federal Government declared Columbus Day an official holiday in 1971. As we have been working today and as we bring things to a close, we see all of the country marching in parades in our cities and towns, coming together to enjoy families and friends. When I finish, I will celebrate the birthday of my son, which has been put on hold until we adjourn, which will be shortly. It causes us to reflect a little bit about dreaming, curiosity, of the bravery that took place over 500 years ago.

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 provisions of H. Con. Res. 518.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 518 until 12 o'clock noon on Tuesday, November 16; 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 there then be a period of morning business until the hour of 12:30, with Senators to speak for up to 5 minutes each. I further ask consent that the Senate recess from the hours of 12:30 to 2:15 for the weekly policy luncheon; provided further that at 2:15 the Senate begin executive session for the consideration of Executive Calendar No. 915, Francis Harvey, to be Secretary of the Army as provided under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, last week, SpaceShipOne completed its third successful flight into space. Burt Rutan, Brian Binnie, Michael Melvill, and their colleagues on the Tier One Project team deserve a place on the honor roll of our Nation's greatest explorers and innovators. Their bravery, ingenuity, and hard work have launched the age of commercial space flight. I also commend the men and women who had the vision to establish the Ansari X Prize. They all had dreams-- and they, with American spirit, captured their dream. America has always been on the cutting edge of space travel. We landed the first people on the moon, performed the first docking in space, made the first successful soft landings on Mars, and built the world's first fleet of reusable spacecraft. We have explored eight of the nine planets and returned a treasure trove of information about our moon, asteroids, and comets. As I speak, our spacecraft beam back scientific data from Mars, Saturn, and the orbit of our own planet. Soon, a spacecraft will begin to send data from Mercury and another will return from a close encounter with a comet. Through NASA's Discovery Program, universities and research labs work in partnership with Washington policy makers to return valuable information about asteroids and our sun. And last, but not least, we have spearheaded the 16-nation effort to build and crew the International Space Station. America will continue to push the outer reaches of space exploration. We will return the space shuttle to flight, finish the International Space Station, continue our efforts to explore the Moon, Mars, comets, asteroids, and outer planets. We will also send more humans into space. In doing this, we will achieve the President's goal to ``extend human presence across the solar system.'' The successful launch of SpaceShipOne shows that the private sector can achieve spectacular successes. In the future, entrepreneurs will launch many of the routine spaceflight activities in low earth orbit. In time, privately financed, privately directed innovators will press forward with the exploration of the Moon and Mars. Space offers extraordinary potential for commerce and adventure, for new innovations and new tests of will. As Americans, we can't help but reach for the stars. It's our nature. It's our destiny. The President's Centennial Challenges program encourages the private sector's efforts to fulfill this dream. His program is providing incentives for inventors and entrepreneurs to develop less expensive spacecraft, improve robotic technology, and encourage future astronauts. The President supports a vigorous role for government in exploring places beyond our planet. He believes in the promise of space exploration. And he believes, as I do, that, in time, private citizens and entrepreneurs will lead humankind to the stars.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Agriculture Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3217, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 467, which was submitted earlier today by Senator Hatch.

Mr. FRIST. 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, and that any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Agriculture Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2856, and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third timed and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 2979 which was introduced earlier today.

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 that any statement relating to the matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendments at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 757, S. 2688.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar Nos. 761, 762, 764, 765, 767, 768, 769, and 776 en bloc, that the bills be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 113 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Smith amendments that are at the desk be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble, as amended, be agreed to, the title amendment be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 712 and S. 2042, en bloc, and the Senate proceed to their immediate consideration.