Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to, the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to this measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 83, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I now ask for its second reading in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV and object to further proceedings on this matter.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand that H.R. 218 is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. FRIST

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. FRIST. I, too, congratulate both of the managers. It has been a long month. It has been 16 days, but since March 17 we actually started the bill. There was a lot in the background people did not see in terms of progress being made, setbacks along the way and negotiations and discussions, both inside each caucus as well as debate on the floor. It is a real privilege to be the leader of both managers and of both caucuses, working together to produce a bill that a few minutes ago we passed, a bill we can all be very proud of. I appreciate everyone's cooperation, participation, diligence, and focus throughout.

Mr. FRIST. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, 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 statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to consideration of H.R. 4635, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the House passed an African Growth and Opportunity Act extension by voice vote last week. This is an important bill for the continued economic development of sub-Saharan Africa. To date, AGOA, as it is known--the African Growth and Opportunity Act--has created 150,000 jobs, some believe even many more than that. We cleared that House bill on our side of the aisle last week. We are waiting for some other clearances from the other side of the aisle. Initially, we were going to ask UC this evening to call up the bill and pass the House bill today. I think we are making tremendous progress. We have had discussions on the floor on both sides of the aisle today, and therefore I will withhold making that unanimous consent request. I am very hopeful, based on progress, that with some further discussions we will be able to clear this bill tomorrow. Our intention is to clear the bill or, if not, to formally ask unanimous consent to pass the bill before we adjourn for the July 4 recess, given the importance of this bill.

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, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 390, which was submitted earlier today by Senator Murkowski.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that immediately following the next votes, the Senate proceed to executive session and votes on the following nominations on today's Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 592 and 609. I further ask consent that following the votes, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session, with no intervening action or debate. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that there be 4 minutes of debate equally divided prior to each of the votes.

Mr. FRIST. We have no objection on our side to 10-minute votes.

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, this morning we resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill. The agreement last night provides for debate on five amendments prior to the votes in relation to those amendments. Those amendments are the Corzine amendment on Reserve retirement, the McConnell amendment and Kennedy amendment on an Iraq report, the Reed amendment on missile defense, and the Byrd amendment on troop cap. If all debate time on these amendments is used, we will proceed to a series of votes at approximately 11:15 this morning. I had originally hoped and expected we would be voting on final passage of the Defense bill this morning. Unfortunately, we have not been able to reach an agreement providing for the Senate to complete the bill. Therefore, last night I filed a cloture motion in the event we don't complete the bill. Our intention is to complete the bill this afternoon. If we are unable to complete the Defense bill, that cloture vote would occur tomorrow. This is the fourth week of consideration of the Defense authorization, and it is time for us to finish the bill. I think we are proceeding along those lines. I remind my colleagues that if a cloture vote occurs and the Senate votes cloture, germane amendments will still be in order in addition to an additional 30 hours of debate. It is vitally important that we consider the Defense appropriations bill this week, which will ensure our troops have the appropriate resources available to them. We need to begin this appropriations process, and I will be seeking an agreement on the Defense appropriations bill this week before the recess. I add we will have additional judicial nominations today and into the evening, if necessary. We need to have those votes. We still have nine nominees who are to be considered on the floor and voted upon. These unanimous votes clearly will consume valuable Senate time and it may be necessary to have these votes into the evening to ensure we process these judicial nominations. Finally, we have an additional 23 ambassadorships and U.N. Representatives which are now available on the calendar. Included on this list is the nomination of one of our former colleagues, Jack Danforth, to be our Ambassador to the U.N. These are vitally important nominations to act on. We need to do that expeditiously. We have had a blanket objection to executive nominations, but I believe these diplomatic nominations should not be held up for unrelated issues. I have heard there may be debate necessary on the Danforth nomination. I hope we can look at a reasonable amount of time, or we will be here late at night, or we will have to delay the start of the recess in order to vote on these important nominations. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST. Yes.

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, tomorrow we will begin the day with the consideration of the nomination of our former colleague to be Representative to the United Nations. The nomination will require a little debate but then will not need a vote. We will also consider judicial nominations tomorrow. Therefore, rollcall votes will occur throughout the day. Also, Chairman Stevens will be here to begin consideration of the Defense Appropriations bill. We hope to begin that bill and finish that legislation prior to the recess. Therefore, Senators can expect a busy day with rollcall votes.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 24. I further ask consent 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 proceed to executive session for the consideration en bloc of Calendar Nos. 715 and 731, the nomination of John Danforth to be Representative to the United Nations.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in response, through the Chair, that discussion continued last night with the managers as to how that particular amendment is handled. What we did do last night, so we can continue business, is agree upon the five we laid out. No commitments have been made, at least from the leadership level, in terms of particular amendments that are out there. So I suggest right now, or after you complete your remarks, getting together with the managers of the bill. Right now the only agreement is we will continue straight ahead with these five amendments and keep the ball rolling.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, briefly I have a consent regarding the class action legislation which has been cleared on both sides. Before proceeding, I remind everyone that an earlier order provided we would proceed to the class action legislation following completion of Defense authorization, which I expect we will be able to complete today. However, we now have a Defense appropriations bill available and it is vitally important for us to proceed with that bill to ensure no disruption in funds to our troops. Having said that, this agreement will allow us to proceed to the class action legislation without any procedural hurdles following the Defense appropriations bill. Therefore, I now ask unanimous consent that the previous order with respect to Calendar No. 430, S. 2062, the class action bill, be vitiated and further that the Senate proceed to its consideration following the disposition of the Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, that is correct. The clarification I made was that initially we would follow the Defense authorization with class action. Now in effect what we are doing is we are going to finish the Defense authorization today, go to Defense appropriations, to be followed by class action.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. We yield back the remainder of our time.