Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 2700, which was introduced earlier today by Senators Snowe and Kerry.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, 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. President, the Select Committee on Intelligence conducted a review in 2001 of United States assistance to Peruvian counter-drug air interdiction efforts, following the mistaken shootdown of a civilian aircraft by the Peruvian Air Force in that same year. The committee prepared a report in which it made factual findings detailing the shortcomings that led to this tragic incident. The committee report made a number of recommendations about requirements that should precede further U.S. assistance to a foreign government engaged in a program of interdicting drug trafficking aircraft. The United States Department of Justice is now conducting an investigation of the involvement of U.S. government officials in the Peruvian counter-narcotics air interdiction program, which has been operating since 1995. During that time the Senate Intelligence Committee has had oversight jurisdiction. As part of that investigation, the Justice Department is reviewing the testimony and briefings that CIA personnel gave to the congressional oversight committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, from the inception of the air interdiction program. To assist the Justice Department in its investigation, this resolution would authorize the chair and vice chair, acting jointly, to provide to the Justice Department, under appropriate security procedures, committee hearing transcripts and other committee records pertinent to its oversight of the Peruvian counter-narcotics air interdiction program.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 411 which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Department of Justice is conducting an investigation into whether false statements were made to a committee of the Senate in the course of responding to oversight inquiries by that committee. As part of that investigation, the Justice Department is seeking testimony about potentially relevant information from the Senate. Accordingly, in keeping with the Senate's usual practice, this resolution would authorize present and former employees of the Senate to provide testimony sought by the Justice Department, except for material as to which a privilege should be asserted, in order to assist the Department in this matter. Also in keeping with the Senate's usual practice, this resolution authorizes documentary production and representation by the Senate legal counsel in connection with this testimony, where appropriate.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 410 which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc, and that any statements relating to the bills be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar Nos. 642 and 643, and H.R. 2768, which is at the desk, en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now ask for their second reading and, in order to place the bills on the Calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings on these matters, en bloc.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand there are three bills at the desk, and I ask unanimous consent that they be read for the first time en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, last month, the Judiciary Committee reported the nomination of Henry Saad to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Sixth Circuit. I understand the other side will not agree to a time agreement for an up-or-down vote on this nomination. In addition, the Judiciary Committee reported two more Sixth Circuit nominations today. I hope that we could have the Senate vote on each of these judicial nominations prior to the close of this week. In addition to these circuit nominations, we have three district judges that are available on the Executive Calendar. I will be talking to the Democratic leader about scheduling these for consideration as well.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that tomorrow morning, immediately following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of S. 2677; provided further that the time until 11:30 be equally divided between the chairman or ranking member of the Finance Committee, and at 11:30 the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill with no intervening objection or debate, and all provisions of the governing statute remain in order; I further ask that when the Senate receives from the House the companion measure, the Senate proceed to its consideration, the bill will be read the third time and passed, with no intervening action or debate; provided further, once the Senate has passed the House companion, passage of S. 2677 be vitiated, and the bill be returned to the calendar.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, all four issues are issues important to the Senate. Progress is being made on all of them. With regard to Morocco, we will need to check with the chairman and the ranking member to see what their intentions are, which I will do and get back with the assistant Democratic leader. The conference report on the child credit, again I very much would like to see action on it over the course of the week. I know there was discussion over the last several days and over the weekend itself. I will be able to update him once people return to town in the course of the day. On the appropriations bills, we will see what progress can be made before we leave. It would be nice to be able to make progress on those appropriations bills. We will need to aggressively consider all of these appropriations bills, either now or in September, and finish before we complete the session.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Today the Senate will consider the nomination of Williams Myers III to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit. Last week we attempted to reach a time agreement on the Myers nomination; however, there was an objection from the Democratic side of the aisle. I filed a cloture motion on the nomination and that vote will occur at 2:15 on Tuesday. We will debate that nomination throughout today's session, and I expect a number of Members will come to the floor and speak on this nomination. As I announced on Friday, there will be no rollcall votes during today's session. This week we also expect the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense conference report. This is a very important piece of legislation that we will need to address before we adjourn for the scheduled recess. In addition, there is a conference report regarding some expiring tax provisions. We will consider that measure if and when it becomes available. This is the final legislative week prior to the August recess. With the cooperation of all Senators, we should be able to complete our work and begin the recess on time.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 1 p.m. on Monday, July 19. 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 for their use later in the day, and the Senate then proceed to executive session to consider Executive Calendar No. 603, the nomination of William Myers; provided further, that the time until 5 p.m. be equally divided for debate only between the chairman and ranking member or their designees.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. As we look ahead to Monday, we will consider the nomination of William Myers to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit. A few moments ago, I filed a cloture petition on the judicial nomination because of the objection to a time agreement that was expressed from the other side of the aisle. That vote will occur at 2:15 on Tuesday. Therefore, there will be no rollcall votes on Monday. Senators should come to the floor during Monday's session to debate this nomination. As we all know, next week will be the final week prior to the recess. It will be a very busy week. It should be a very productive week. I ask in advance for everyone's patience and cooperation as we wrap up our work for this legislative period.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, there is a second issue I want to mention that I addressed 2 weeks ago on the floor of the Senate and want to follow up on. It has to do with a tragic situation in Sudan, in the western part of Sudan in the three states of Darfur, Sudan. The situation there, even over the last 3 weeks, has steadily deteriorated. We have hundreds of thousands of refugees that are currently at risk. We are entering the rainy season there, and that makes the delivery of relief supplies very difficult. Since my comments on the floor of the Senate, Secretary of State Powell, in the first week of this month, went to the Darfur region and made observations and certain requests. At about the same time, Secretary General Kofi Annan also visited the region and made certain requests. Senator Brownback, our distinguished colleague from Kansas, subsequent to their visit, also visited the region and made observations and with a video camera took some traumatic footage of the devastation going on there. Another delegation from the House will be going shortly. We have to take action to address this humanitarian problem. The administration is working hard to get relief to these people who are suffering, but there is systematic violence that is going on against the civilian populations in Darfur by the government and by the militias that are supported by the government. That violence must come to an end. I spend a lot of time in the Sudan and each year go to southern Sudan as part of medical mission work that I do. In the coming weeks or months, I will be returning to Sudan as part of this medical mission work. I look forward at that point in time to seeing if we are having an impact in both the southern part of the Sudan but also in the Darfur region and will report back to this body. Hopefully we will be able to report that we are making progress. Two million people are being affected by this crisis, so it is a large crisis. I do ask the Government of Sudan to take immediate steps to end the violence in that part of the world.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in a few minutes we will be closing out for the weekend. I will briefly comment on a couple of current issues before addressing some of the business before the Senate. The first issue is a brief comment on President Bush's decision or his administration's decision yesterday to have the Federal Medicare Program recognize obesity as a disease. Earlier today, we were talking about public health issues, and I mentioned in some African countries, because of an HIV/AIDS virus, the total length of life will be 33 years of age. In Botswana, if you were born in 1970, you would live 17 years longer than if you are born today because of that little virus. I mentioned that. That has gotten worse over the last 30 years, which we probably did not know anything about in this country until about 20 years ago. And it is getting much worse. Another problem, very similar to that, is one that is apparent to anybody who has kids today and picks them up from school. If you just watch, you see the kids are much heavier than 20 years ago, 30 years ago. And that has lifelong consequences. It comes down to obesity. There are many reasons for obesity, and I am not going to address all the reasons now. But there are things we can do, and we have a real obligation to do. It is a brand-new problem--or new in the last 20 years. It is getting worse and worse, and it condemns these kids to a life of poorer quality and shorter length. It is something we absolutely must address. I applaud the administration's decision yesterday. What they did is said obesity--which before was this kind of vague syndrome or observation--is a disease, and when you call it a disease, people recognize it as a disease, and then you start looking at prevention, care, and treatment to reverse it. That is the significance. Two things: First, for the first time, a major Federal health program recognizes obesity as a disease. It is a treatable disease--preventable but also treatable. The second is that it demonstrates, once again, that Secretary Thompson and the administration are taking extremely seriously the obesity epidemic which is occurring in this country. The administration is attacking obesity on a multitude of fronts. It is needed. In my mind, it is long overdue that this Nation address this new but rapidly growing epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--or the CDC, as we all know it--reports that because of poor nutrition and lack of physical activity, obesity is on its way of surpassing smoking as the leading killer in the United States of America. Obesity is on its way of surpassing smoking as the leading killer in the United States of America. Obesity contributes to other diseases, the diseases in which I specialize; that is, heart conditions, heart disease. It also affects a whole range of issues: orthopedic, pulmonary injuries as well. The immediate impact will be twofold. First of all, it will be easier for Medicare beneficiaries and individuals with disabilities who are Medicare beneficiaries to get treatment. The barrier to treatment will be lowered. When Medicare makes a decision, it has a spillover impact to the private sector. I think the spillover impact will be substantial, although the private sector has already moved ahead. They have already increased reimbursement for appropriate treatment for obesity in many areas. But the fact that the Federal Government speaks with a loud voice will have an impact on the private sector. The public and private sector have to be very cautious. We talk about this on the floor of the Senate every time there is a new definition of something that needs to be treated. We have to be very cautious in deciding which specific treatments to cover. We need to make sure the interventions are effective, but we need to also make sure they are cost effective. There are several treatments now for obesity that are available. Science will allow us to determine which of these treatment modalities are most effective and which are most cost effective. Also--this applies to the HIV/AIDS virus, which I mentioned earlier today, and to obesity, which I mention now--prevention is a critically important aspect of the equation. Early intervention, especially among children, is the key to preventing lifelong obesity and obesity-related illnesses. Nonetheless, I want to applaud the administration for this bold step. It will help prevent obesity and greatly improve strategies for helping not only seniors and individuals with disabilities but all Americans.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, we were talking about Africa, but this little virus right here in Washington, DC, is killing people every day. When we talk about Africa, we use that as a model, at least for me. It could equally be Russia where the rate is probably the fastest growing in the world, or Haiti. Senator DeWine constantly reminds us how Haiti has been devastated. When we talk Africa, HIV/AIDS, we are really talking about a virus that knows no boundaries--Washington, DC, Nashville, TN, across the world--and that is important to research and development. If we kill the little virus, it helps people here in the District, it helps people across this country, Haiti, India, Russia, and that is why it is so important; that is why we are pulling together the great science we have today. Once we get rid of the virus, it goes away across the world. I did not intend to talk about this little virus except that it is so devastating. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.