Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, it is a little after 11:15 tonight. We have had a very long day, a long evening, but a very productive day and evening in that we have completed the homeland appropriations bill with a unanimous vote of 93 to 0. I thank all Members for their patience and for their willingness to continue late into the night to wrap up our work on the bill. We will resume business tomorrow morning and consider another appropriations measure. I will update all Members tomorrow as to what to expect over the course of the next couple of days. Again, I congratulate our colleagues, Thad Cochran, and the ranking member for all of their hard work on the homeland bill.

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 relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of H.R. 5008, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 425 submitted earlier today by Senators Daschle, Reid, and others.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate request the House to return the papers with respect to S. 2261.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September 15, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calender No. 674, S. 2674, the military construction appropriations bill; that the two managers' amendments at the desk be agreed to and no other amendments be in order. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 1 hour of debate equally divided and at the conclusion or yielding back of the time the bill, as amended, be read the third time and returned to the Senate Calendar. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate then proceed to Calender No. 690, H.R. 4837, the House-passed military construction bill; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 2674, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof; that the bill be read the third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on H.R. 4837 at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader, all without intervening action or debate. I further ask unanimous consent that upon passage of the bill, the Senate insist on its amendment, as amended, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business for debate only with Senators speaking up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Yes, when I finish. Let me try to get through the announcements, the statements. Let me go through the material, and then I will be happy to yield for a quick question.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, if I could get through everything, I would be happy to yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do wish to alert colleagues to a special event being sponsored by the U.S. Senate Commission on Art today. At 2:30 today, after the policy luncheons, in the Senate Reception Room, just adjacent to where we are now, the portraits of Senators Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan and Robert Wagner of New York will be presented. Members of the Vandenberg and Wagner families have traveled to Washington for this special event. Senator Daschle and I both will be on hand and will be making very brief comments. I encourage our colleagues to take a few moments to come by and help commemorate these two real giants of the 20th century. It is an opportunity for us to express our appreciation for two distinguished statesmen and their contributions. It is also a time for us to honor this great institution. We have the opportunity of being part of a very unique family, the Senate family, and today's presentation of portraits in the Reception Room is a reminder of the trust that is placed in us by our fellow citizens and, indeed, as we look to the past, by history. As a sidenote, I have to say I am very proud that the portrait of Senator Vandenberg was painted by a Tennessean, Michael Shane Neal.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I don't want things to be misrepresented. I want everybody to have a full understanding. The challenges in the HELP Committee do reflect the difficulty. When you are talking about safety, not just of cheaper drugs, if you give somebody a counterfeit drug that doesn't thin their blood and they have a stroke and they die, we have done a disservice. I don't want that to happen. I am not saying reimportation will cause that to happen, but I will say it is our responsibility to put safety No. 1. I promise you, I will do that. It is an important issue. We agreed on March 11 to put a process in place. Three attempts by the HELP Committee were mentioned that were canceled or postponed. Let me just say, on Thursday July 22, the Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs held a second hearing on purchasing prescription drugs. On July 21, the HELP Committee had planned to do the markup. It had to be postponed. That is correct. On July 14, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the implications--that is, safety. They also talked about intellectual property trade. But they specifically focused on the drug importation legislation. On June 23, the Senate GOP HELP Committee had a briefing to help educate us broadly. It was not a markup but a briefing to educate us broadly to discuss, specifically, importation. On June 17, the Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs held a hearing where GAO released two new studies that documented how American consumes are able to readily obtain prescription drugs, including controlled substances, over the Internet without a prescription. In that hearing they talked about erroneous dispensing labels, suspicious packaging. On May 20, the HELP Committee held a drug importation hearing to examine the challenges of developing and implementing drug importation legislation. The administration has a specific task force on drug importation that was set up as a product of the Medicare bill that we passed on this floor. They have not yet issued their final report. The report will incorporate testimony--this is what the administration is doing--by consumer groups, by professionals, by safety experts, by the FDA, by leading representatives from health care purchasers, from academic scholars. The task force has not yet released their report to us or to the American people. We await that. It is a very important initiative by the administration that we mandated to them. Off the Hill, a number of forums have been held since March. I mention all of this because I don't want the impression left that this issue, which is important to the American people--and we want less expensive drugs, but we want them to be safe drugs--is not being addressed by this body or other people concerned. I will continue to work with the other side. I know there will be a huge push in these next 17 days to get this up for a vote. I just don't think with the issue of safety and the amount of attention it is going to require on the floor of the Senate, when we are talking about the safety of those seniors and others who depend on these lifesaving drugs, I don't think we can address it adequately in the next 17 days. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I would be happy to respond. Really, we need to clarify because I know a lot of statements have been made to the press that I made a commitment to the distinguished Senator to have a vote on the floor. I think we need to go to the statement he just read and see what was actually both said and the commitment that was made. Let me read the statement again. He just read it. The statement was-- and this statement made by me--``the Senate will begin a process for developing proposals that would allow for the safe reimportation of FDA-approved prescription drugs.'' So I do not think it is right for Senators on the other side of the aisle to characterize that statement as a commitment to bring it to the floor, have a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate. So that is No. 1. No. 2, since that statement was made--and I think it was March 11--it was with the understanding to do exactly what was said; that is, to begin a process that is deliberate, that is thoughtful, that is inclusive, that captures the ideas of a whole range of U.S. Senators, with experts coming in to testify, to talk, to discuss, in committees, outside of committees. Since March 11, a tremendous amount has been done. Again, I will come back to this whole concept of the safe importation of FDA-approved drugs. Again, I was looking--because I knew it was going to come up again over the course of today--and vigorous process has begun in the Senate. If we just look since March 11, the Senate HELP Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee have all held hearings--and continue to hold hearings--on this matter since that statement on March 11. The HELP Committee, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the committee of jurisdiction, has not yet developed a consensus on any approach because they are struggling with this issue of putting safety first. We know there is broad appeal for people who say: Let's bring in cheaper drugs from Canada, maybe from Malaysia, Thailand, India, Brazil, because people want less expensive drugs. I am sure all the polls and surveys say: Bring in those drugs; that means I can get cheaper drugs. In good conscience, as someone who recognizes that a few bad pills-- think back to a Tylenol situation where we had five pills, back in the 1980s, that paralyzed our system, a few counterfeit drugs. The FDA tells us right now they cannot guarantee that 60 billion pills coming to this country every year can be safe, given the structures we have today. I say that because it is very difficult. That is the reason I don't think we ought to just bring it to the floor without that careful consideration which is underway today, working through the committee of jurisdiction. It is a popular issue. When people say ``politically driven,'' that throws it into partisanship, which I don't want it to be. I know that is not the intention of the authors. We have people on both sides of the aisle supporting specific legislation. Before bringing it to the floor, I want to make absolutely sure, in this time where we only have 17 days left, when we have an appropriations bill we are presently struggling to finish tonight that talks about the safety and security of the American people, where we have the issue of intelligence reform, where we know we have to look at it internally and reorganize this body, the huge task to make sure we handle intelligence matters appropriately here, where we have a call from the President of the United States over the next 17 days to totally reorganize 15 intelligence agencies in the executive branch, focusing on the safety and security of the American people as it applies to intelligence, I just don't think by bringing this vote up to the floor, because it will be sort of the popularly driven vote without sufficient attention to safety first, that that is the right thing to do, given these 17 days. We all want to lower the cost of prescription drugs. They are way too high. They are going up too fast. We want to use appropriate tools to do that. Reimportation, if it can be safe, may be one of those tools. Can it be done safely? That has to be the fundamental question. I know both sides of the aisle want the drugs to be safe. They don't want drugs coming in cheaply just so we satisfy the demand for cheaper drugs. The question is, How do we do that. We don't have the consensus yet, I believe, to bring it to the floor and have people voting up or down. And then we really don't have time on the floor as we look at safety and security, the issues of intelligence, intelligence reform, 12 appropriations bills, all due in the next 17 days.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow is the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, and it is also called the Jewish New Year. It is one of the holiest days of the year in the Jewish faith for the Jewish people. Rosh Hashanah marks the anniversary of the creation of the world. It is a day for contemplation and prayer, to look forward to the year ahead, to reflect on past deeds, and to ask for God's forgiveness. As our friends prepare to celebrate their holiday, I think it is appropriate for us to take time to reflect on our own deeds and the state of tolerance or, as I am pained to say, the rise of intolerance toward the Jewish people. A number of Senators will be speaking on the topic this morning, and I do urge my colleagues to listen and follow the issue closely. A sampling of anti-Semitic incidents just this summer really does paint a disturbing picture. In Paris, anti-Semitic inscriptions were found stamped into a dozen books in the main library. The perpetrators stamped the edge of the books with the words ``Against the Jewish Mafia and Jewish Racism'' and then gave the Web addresses of anti-Semitic sites. Anti-Semitic graffiti, including a sign saying ``death to Jews'' and a swastika, was found scrawled on a wall on the grounds of Notre Dame Cathedral. Sixty gravestones were desecrated with swastikas in a Jewish cemetery in Lyon. France was not alone. Last month, in Germany, thugs vandalized a Jewish monument. In Belgium, four Jewish teenagers were assaulted. One of the Jewish students was stabbed in the back and his lung was punctured. In New Zealand, a Jewish chapel was burned down and up to 90 Jewish headstones were pulled out of the ground and smashed. In Canada, a synagogue was vandalized with graffiti, swastikas, and anti-Semitic slogans. These are just a few of the incidents that have occurred in recent months. Leaders in the Jewish community are understandably concerned. I urge my colleagues and my fellow Americans to share their concern. We know the history. We know where anti-Semitism can lead. It is our duty to stand firm against bigotry and intolerance. We cannot allow history to repeat itself. Again, I make these statements in part because of the Jewish holiday tomorrow. A number of people have come forward to express their sentiments to us in leadership. I know further remarks will be made on the floor in morning business on that issue. Mr. President, at this juncture, I am happy to yield for a question.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I thank the Senator. Mr. President, I do again restate and reemphasize the importance of finishing this legislation, either this evening or early Wednesday morning, so Senators can observe the Rosh Hashanah holiday appropriately. We want to allow people to have travel time tomorrow as well. But we must finish this bill. Again, the plea for efficiency, for amendments to be brought forward, and that we vote on time is all to restate the importance of dealing with this very important bill and completing this bill in a timely way. We may well have, in addition to a busy session today, a busy session tonight in order to complete the bill. I know the Members continue to make inquiries as to whether we will finish tonight or in the morning. All I can say is we have to finish the bill. The holiday starts tomorrow, late afternoon, but it means, to give people appropriate travel time, we need to finish it, and we have time to finish it tonight or tomorrow. But I think how things go today and tonight will determine the schedule over the course of the day, tonight, and tomorrow. I will have further updates on that as we progress on the bill.

Mr. FRIST. I am happy to yield for a question.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we have a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes, with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. As I understand, there are approximately five pending amendments the chairman will review to determine when we will be disposing of them. Therefore, Senators should expect numerous rollcall votes over the course of the day as we move toward completion of that bill. We do have our recess between 12:30 and 2:15 for the weekly party luncheons. While I mentioned we will have numerous rollcall votes, and I see the assistant Democratic leader, one thing we must do over the course of today and tomorrow is limit the amount of time for Senators to vote in the specified time. We have Senators who straggle in. Everyone has an excuse. We have been too liberal in allowing people to come in late. In order to finish the bill, especially as we want to pay appropriate respect to the Jewish holiday tomorrow, I plead with our colleagues that they come as soon as they are notified there will be a vote. We give everyone a heads-up when there will be a vote. Come and vote and leave and efficiently use that time.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do want to bring people up to date--and I will be brief--on where we are with the Senate intelligence reform initiatives in light of the 9/11 Commission. Over the next several days, we will have a very busy week. It is cut a little bit short by the Jewish holidays. I believe our central focus in this body, given the fact we have so few legislative days, must be on the security of the American people, and that means the bill that is currently on the floor that we are turning to and will be voting on one of the amendments at 5:30 p.m. today, the Homeland Security appropriations bill. It says ``Homeland Security'' appropriations. We have had good debate. We all hope to pass that bill late tomorrow night or Wednesday morning for sure. Second, we need to focus on reforming our intelligence community, something people do understand--broadly the American people understand--that is reflected in the 9/11 Commission recommendations, the update of that report, the discussion of that report, and we have responded aggressively in terms of hearings, recognizing that reform should be done now, not knee-jerk but deliberate reform, and begin it in a way that will have an impact to make our intelligence better, to make our intelligence sharing among our various entities better, that makes our oversight better. Last week, the leadership on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the Capitol, met with the President of the United States, who presented his plan for reorganizing the intelligence community. It was a good meeting. It was a productive meeting. There was a good discussion by the participants. The general consensus was we need to respond quickly but also very responsibly, and that really is our charge. We are responding to the reform we all know needs to occur, but it was spelled out by the 9/11 Commission. It does not mean we should take every recommendation and do exactly what they said, but it means we need to look at those recommendations, study them, get new information, make them even more current, and then act on many of those recommendations. The President mentioned that they in the administration have addressed 36 of the recommendations. There are really two recommendations that apply to reorganization of this body, 39 to the executive branch, and the administration has addressed 36 of those 39 recommendations. Before we recessed in July, Senator Daschle and I announced that the Governmental Affairs Committee would be the vehicle, that they would have the responsibility for leading the reorganization of the executive branch, the branch outside the legislative branch. For our internal reorganization, we announced a task force that is led by the leadership, represented by the majority whip, Senator McConnell, and the minority whip, Senator Reid, that would address the recommendations of Senate oversight. The McConnell-Reid task force is meeting to discuss the whole range of options that have been put on the table, several of which were put on the table by the 9/11 Commission. Indeed, there are a lot more options that are available to be discussed and debated, and then to make a proposal as to what, based on all of this input, would be most appropriate, most responsible for this body to do, to accomplish that Senate oversight of intelligence and homeland security. It is a bipartisan effort. When we talk about safety and security of the American people, politics falls aside pretty quickly. Senator Daschle and the Democratic leadership and the leadership on our side are working closely together to address the challenges before us. We have tapped into the expertise of the Congressional Research Service and other outside experts in a search for additional or other ways and means to improve Senate oversight. The McConnell-Reid task force will meet several more times over the coming weeks. They will be assessing the 9/11 Commission's proposals, as well as other proposals. Our goal is to get a resolution to the floor before the Senate adjourns on October 8. Meanwhile, the arm that I mentioned, the Governmental Affairs Committee arm, led by Senators Collins and Lieberman, continues to make steady progress. Last week, the Governmental Affairs Committee held a briefing with Robert Mueller, who is Director of the FBI, and John McLaughlin, who is Acting Director of the CIA. This morning they held another hearing with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. I mention all these hearings so my colleagues and the American people know we are aggressively addressing these issues. We can expect more hearings to be held this week and in the weeks ahead, culminating in a draft bill that will be marked up that week of September 20. The bill will address the 9/11 Commission's key recommendations dealing with the establishment of a national intelligence director--we are using that little acronym NID--as well as the creation of the National Counterterrorism Center, as well as the proposals of the reorganization of the executive branch. The committee's bill will reflect the views and the input of a number of Senate committees and Members of Congress, as well as proposals that are put forth by the President and the White House. I am confident that the Governmental Affairs Committee product will serve as a strong, comprehensive, and serious bill that will be the baseline for our deliberations on the floor of the Senate on September 27. There will be a continuation of hearings. The main action on the Senate floor will begin soon. I do want to show my colleagues and the American people that the Senate is moving deliberately, quickly, and in this bipartisan manner to address these national security needs. As I said at the outset, our highest responsibility is to the safety, the security of the American people. We are working hard to meet that responsibility to move America forward, and I am confident we will get that job done. Over the course of this week, we will continue with the appropriations bills and, as I mentioned in my opening statement a few minutes ago, we are working out an agreement to address the next appropriations bill. Hopefully, we will be able to announce that either later today or tomorrow. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I thank our distinguished colleague from Florida for his leadership. We were on the floor talking last Tuesday and Wednesday and will continue talking every day about the real tragedy that has gone on with the people of Florida and that whole part of the world as a result of the assault by Mother Nature again and again. I pledge to him we will continue this dialog. He understands our commitment from the leadership--Democrats and Republicans--to address the issue of the flow of funds and that the resources necessary to respond in a responsible and quick way are first and foremost and that we will be right there and will continue to work over the course of today and will update each other as to the best, quickest, and most responsible way to address the issue.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I wish to make some comments on intelligence reform, an issue that is a real focus for the Senate, with activities both on the floor as well as off the floor and most of it in committee and task forces right now. Before doing so, I thank my colleague from Texas, who so carefully and deliberately and comprehensively laid out a huge problem that, as he said, affects access to health care now. As he described it, obstetricians and gynecologists are leaving the practice of delivering babies and getting out of taking care of women who need it because they simply cannot afford it any longer. Trauma surgeons and centers are stopping doing surgery, not because they want to, but they cannot afford to and still provide for their family. The driver for those OB/GYNs, the trauma centers, neurosurgeons, and orthopedic surgeons is the liability system that is out of control. It used to be that people would talk about it and it didn't have much traction with the American people because they would say those doctors make so much money and they can take care of it. But when you have neurosurgeons paying $400,000 a year just for liability insurance, you simply cannot keep delivering care. If it is $100,000 or $200,000, you can pass it on to the patients. But remember, the skyrocketing premiums are costing the American people--you, the people listening to me, who are having to pay more for health care--because it drives the cost up. I very much appreciate him coming to the floor and addressing that issue. Health care costs right now are increasing each and every year. We all know that and it is our obligation to address that. It is about 15 percent of our gross domestic product right now. Whether that is too much or too little, the point is, it is going up, and one of the big drivers of that is the medical liability cost. Americans deserve affordable health care, reliable health care, accessible health care, and good quality health care. We are getting to a point where we simply cannot afford it; thus, as we look to the future, and whether it is in individual Senate races or the Presidential race, I encourage the American people to ask these questions: Who is addressing the root causes of these escalating costs in health care? Is it Democrats or Republicans? Is it the nominee or the incumbent? Is it President Bush or nominee Kerry? Who is addressing the root causes of driving these costs sky high and out of everybody's control, when ultimately the American taxpayer pays it, and your premium is going to go up, whether or not you are involved in a lawsuit, because that cost is passed on to you. As my colleague pointed out on the floor, on three occasions, we have addressed the root cause--these frivolous lawsuits, the personal injury lawyers, who are putting money in their pockets instead of the pockets of the victims who may have been hurt; or the predatory personal injury lawyers--not all of them but the ones filing frivolous lawsuits, in order to hit that litigation lottery and line their pocketbooks. We have tried to do this three times unsuccessfully basically because of the Democrats--not all because one voted with us. They said they were not going to discuss it on the floor of the Senate. So I think it is an issue that we must address, and I appreciate our distinguished colleague bringing it to the floor. It is an important issue that we have to address on this floor and I think will play out in races across the country. Who is for reasonable, commonsense medical liability reform which allows obstetricians to keep delivering babies, trauma centers to stay open, and allows doctors to do what they want to do, and that is to practice medicine and take care of patients, instead of driving them away. It is as simple as that. We are going to try to get it before the Senate, probably not in the next 18 days we have left in our legislative session, but we will bring it back again and again until we are successful. I should mention as an aside as well, in the Presidential race, it is important, as we look at who is addressing the root causes in terms of a vision for health care, we do need to take a look at the health care plans. The American Enterprise Institute released today a very good paper--I am sure there will be other papers--that looked at the Kerry health care plan and said it is going to cost $1.5 trillion. That is twice what the Kerry campaign has said. Mr. President, $1.5 trillion is huge. The only way it can be paid for, obviously, is by increasing taxes on everybody--everybody. I encourage people to look at that document.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we have a period of morning business until 3:30 this afternoon. At 3:30, the Senate will resume consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. It is my understanding that several Members will be here to offer amendments to the legislation; therefore, we hope to make good progress on the bill over the course of the day. Under the order from Friday, at 5:30 today, the Senate will vote in relation to the Schumer amendment related to HAZMAT trucks. It would be my hope that we would have an additional amendment ready to be voted on immediately after the 5:30 vote. Therefore, Senators should expect two votes beginning at 5:30 today. I remind my colleagues that we need to finish this legislation either tomorrow evening or early Wednesday morning so that Senators may observe the Rosh Hashanah holiday, which begins Wednesday. Given that time constraint, I encourage Members to show restraint during the amendment process. We will need to have a full day and possibly a late evening tomorrow in order to complete the Homeland Security appropriations bill. I know my colleagues concur that this is an important piece of legislation that we should not, will not, delay. I also inform Senators we are working on agreements with respect to other appropriations measures, and I will continue to consult with Democratic leadership in an effort to expedite those bills as well. I thank everyone for their attention as we begin these busy days of the session. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Yes. It is something we have been working on back and forth for the last 24 hours, and that is the intention. We will try to get that early on Monday; we still have that goal for amendments to be filed. That is the intention. Because of various schedules today and the managers leaving at certain times, we didn't have everybody here to agree upon that, but that is the intention. When we come in early Monday, hopefully we can get that consent. I think both sides of the aisle agree that is the objective.

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 following the remarks of Senator Daschle and Senator Byrd for up to 30 minutes.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. For the information of all Senators, on Monday, following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. The chairman and ranking member will be here on Monday to work through the remaining amendments. There are currently four amendments pending. Additional amendments will be offered on Monday. Under the previous order, we will vote in relation to the Schumer HAZMAT truck amendment at 5:30 p.m. Any other votes ordered during Monday's session will be stacked to occur immediately after the vote in relation to the Schumer amendment. Therefore, Senators should expect more than one vote on Monday afternoon. Again, I remind my colleagues that next week the Rosh Hashanah holiday begins Wednesday. It is imperative that we finish the bill prior to that time. Senators should expect busy days during next week with numerous rollcall votes. Finally, I thank every one for their hard work this week. Earlier this week we were able to expedite and pass an emergency supplemental appropriations bill to help fund FEMA's efforts in Florida. Last night we passed S. 1368 relating to awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King. Chairman McCain secured passage of H.R. 361, the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act. Yesterday the Senate passed S. Res. 421, which condemned the terrorist attack in Beslan, Russia, and sent condolences, on behalf of the leaders and the U.S. Senate, to the families of those victims. Earlier this week we confirmed three additional district judges, and I hope we will continue that pattern of considering judicial nominations before we conclude our work this year. Finally, on a personal note, our colleague, Senator Smith of Oregon, who is occupying the chair now, was on the floor of the Senate last night to ensure that the Senate passed S. 2634, the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, which the Democratic leader, our leadership, and both sides of the aisle joined together to unanimously support.