Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Monday, October 11. 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 resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 4520, the FSC/ ETI JOBS bill; and the time until 12 be divided as follows: Senator Boxer, 15 minutes; Senator Landrieu, 30 minutes; Senator Baucus or his designee, 15 minutes; Senator Grassley or his designee, 60 minutes.

Mr. FRIST. Through the Chair, that would be for tonight?

Mr. FRIST. I will do that shortly.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on the bill (S. 643) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, in cooperation with the University of New Mexico, to construct and occupy a portion of the Hibben Center for Archaeological Research at the University of New Mexico. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.J. Res. 57.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be considered read a third time and passed; the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and any statements relating to the joint resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

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, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 455 through S. Res. 462, which were introduced earlier today, en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, finally, 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, following up to 20 minutes to be used in morning business by our colleague from the great State of Missouri.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I welcome everybody this morning. It is unusual to have to meet on a Sunday, but in order to complete the Nation's business, we are doing just that. I know that it has interrupted a number of people's schedules, but we are forced to do so in order to complete business which does affect the safety and security of the American people. This morning, we will continue debate on the conference report to accompany the FSC, or JOBS bill. We have controlled debate time until the cloture vote, which will occur at 1 p.m. today. If Senators desire to debate the conference report prior to that cloture vote, there will be a limited amount of time and therefore they should notify us early this morning of their request. We hope and expect cloture to be invoked at 1 today. If invoked, we would hope the Senate would then act expeditiously on the conference report. As a reminder, not that many hours ago but when we closed last night, I filed cloture motions on the two conference reports to accompany the Military Construction appropriations bill and the Homeland Security appropriations bill. As I said last night, I regret having to file those cloture motions. However, there was an objection from the other side of the aisle. I understand the Homeland Security appropriations bill passed unanimously in the House of Representatives. I know of absolutely no issues in that conference report to cause this delay. Therefore, once again, I ask my colleagues to take that into consideration so we can proceed on this very important Homeland Security appropriations bill. That is money to be invested in our security and safety and it is time for us to act. It is unfortunate that because of the action on the other side of the aisle we are holding up money that will be used to further secure this country. Having said that, I hope the Members on the other side will rethink this objection and allow us to proceed. I further hope that we can get the disaster package passed in short order as well. It is time to pass this package. We are talking about money to respond to emergencies, to drought, to hurricanes. We are ready to deliver all of that money if we can remove the objections from the other side of the aisle. Again, I remind my colleagues that the vote will occur at 1 on the cloture motion on FSC/ETI.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask for the consideration of the modified version of my amendment No. 4035, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared on both sides. I urge its adoption.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, it has been a long day, and I thank those Senators who have been here, and especially the presiders who we have had throughout the evening. We now have two appropriations conference reports at the desk ready for consideration. They are military construction appropriations and the homeland security appropriations, obviously two enormously important pieces of legislation, especially given the disaster relief package that is part of the military construction legislation. It had been my hope to act on these as quickly as possible. I understand there are objections to these and that we will need to file cloture motions to bring these to a vote. I understand there is an issue relating to the military construction bill, but I am unaware of any issue with the appropriations bill relating to homeland security. Homeland security clearly has important resources that address just what the title says; that is, the safety and security of the American people. I believe the American people, indeed, deserve that we act on this bill in a timely way and in an expeditious way, but it looks like we are being stopped from doing so. I will file the cloture motions on both of these measures, but I would ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are objecting to proceeding to please consider their objections overnight and allow us to proceed. I urge them, do not force a cloture vote on the homeland security bill, which addresses the security and safety of the American people. I ask that they consider allowing us to vitiate this cloture and move forward tomorrow.

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 object to further proceedings on the measure at this time in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the committee amendment, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time, and the Veterans' Affairs Committee then be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3936, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask consent that all after the enacting clause be stricken, and the text of S. 2485, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof; the bill, as amended, be read a third timed and passed, the amendment to the title, as amended, be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record. I ask unanimous consent that S. 2485 be returned to the calendar.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 718, S. 2485.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 788, S. 2938.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, all with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements related to this measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 10. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 4520, the FSC/ETI JOBS bill; provided that the time until 1 p.m. be equally divided between the two managers, with the exception of 20 minutes under the control of Senator Byrd, who will speak as in morning business.

Mr. FRIST. Yes. And provided further that if cloture is invoked, Senator Landrieu be recognized immediately following the vote to speak for up to 1 hour.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to the conference report to accompany H.R. 4567, the homeland security appropriations bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will resume consideration, in an unusual session on Sunday, of the FSC/ETI JOBS conference report. Under the previous order, we will vote at 1 p.m. on cloture of the FSC bill. I hope cloture is invoked and that we could then reach an agreement for a time certain for passage. In addition, moments ago I filed cloture on two appropriations matters: Military Construction and Homeland Security. Both are very important bills. It was necessary to file cloture because of the obstruction that has played out over the last 2 days from the other side of the aisle. The votes will likely occur on Monday. We have those three remaining issues prior to our adjournment. When we complete action on the FSC/ETI bill and the two appropriations bills, then we will have concluded our work that was set out by the Democratic leader and myself days ago; we will be finished. It has been a tough several days, with a very unusual session today, a full day on Saturday, with votes. Because of these cloture votes, which have certain time limits, we are really forced to come back tomorrow in order to complete our business. It looks like we will be going into the holiday on Monday as well, which is mutually agreed upon between both sides of the aisle in order to complete our business. The bills before us, such as Homeland Security, we need to get through this body. A lot of people watching are wondering, why in the world can't the Senate move more quickly? I hope we can do so. Right now, we will stay on course and we will enter tomorrow with the schedule that we have outlined, and I think we can make continued progress and complete our work, hopefully, Monday morning. We will continue to consider other legislative or executive items that can be cleared as we go forward. Again, I thank Members for their participation over the course of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This is all vitally important work. That is why we were here all day today and well into the evening tonight, and that is why we will be here tomorrow morning in this very unusual session. I understand that the Chair has an announcement.