Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the pending motion to recommit.

Mr. FRIST. I now move to recommit the bill with the instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment which is at the desk, and I send a motion to the desk.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Tuesday, April 6. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed to have 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 begin a period of morning business until 11 a.m., with the first half of the time under the control of the majority leader or his designee, and the second half of the time under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee; provided that at 11 a.m. the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 462, S. 2207, the Pregnancy and Trauma Care Access Protection Act of 2004.

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, following the remarks of Senators Harkin, McConnell, and Domenici.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow, following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the Pregnancy and Trauma Care Access Protection Act of 2004. There will be no rollcall votes tomorrow, but I do encourage all Members who wish to speak on this important legislation to come to the floor during tomorrow's session. The next rollcall vote will occur on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. The vote will be on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the Pregnancy and Trauma Care Access Protection Act. As a reminder, a few moments ago I filed a cloture motion on the motion to recommit the FSC/ETI JOBS bill. If cloture fails on the motion to proceed to the Pregnancy and Trauma Care Access Protection Act, the cloture vote relative to the FSC/ETI JOBS bill will occur immediately thereafter. Therefore, Senators should expect the possibility of two back-to-back rollcall votes on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. In addition, the pension equity conference report is at the desk, having passed the House at the end of last week. I will be asking the Democratic leader to allow us to schedule a vote on that conference report this week prior to adjourning for the recess. Finally, I add that the indecency legislation will be reported today by the Commerce Committee, and we will be looking for an opportunity to get that bill finished this week as well. As my colleagues can tell, we have a very busy week, even though it is short. We are honoring Passover as we go into the Easter holidays. Again, it is a short week, but we are in session today, tomorrow, and the next day, and we will be voting on Wednesday and Thursday.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the adjournment of the Senate, it be in order until 4:30 today for committees to file reported matters.

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 therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this is a matter I have referred to on several occasions in the last several weeks. In fact, I referred to it last Friday; that matter being that we have an asbestos litigation crisis that is brewing today. It is a crisis we in Congress have a responsibility to fix. That is the assessment of the Supreme Court which on two occasions has in essence said the system is broken and Congress has the responsibility to fix it. I rise to reiterate my goal to resolve this asbestos litigation crisis and also to announce that we will file a revised bill later this week so people and all of our colleagues will have the opportunity to look at what is in the bill and study what is in the bill itself. We have made tremendous progress toward enacting Chairman Hatch's Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act; we call it the FAIR Act. I, as majority leader, have made all of this a personal priority in the sense that I want the Senate to be able to address and resolve this issue. Indeed, the magnitude of the asbestos litigation crisis is staggering. The torrent of asbestos litigation has wreaked havoc on victims, on American jobs, and indeed on our economy. The 600,000 claims that have been filed have already cost $54 billion in settlements and judgments and litigation costs. And even with the billions already being spent, the asbestos tort system today has become nothing more than a litigation lottery. A few victims receive adequate compensation, but far more suffer long delays for unpredictable and indeed inequitable awards if they receive anything at all. It is a system today with only one real consistent winner, and that is the plaintiffs' trial lawyers, who, I should add, by the way, are taking home half of every dollar that is awarded to the victims. The system is broken. We have the responsibility--in fact this body, the Congress, has the obligation and the responsibility--to fix this broken system. As I mentioned, we will be introducing the revised bill later this week and giving Members substantial time to review the changes we are proposing that came out of the committee. We have made real progress toward closing the gaps that separated the insurers from the defendant companies, from organized labor. Chairman Hatch, the minority leader, Senators Leahy, Dodd, and Specter, and many others have invested heavily in reaching consensus on many of these issues. I hope my colleagues will very carefully consider what is in this bill and engage in meaningful debate. Member after Member from both sides have voiced their agreement with that assessment by the Supreme Court, that the system is broken and Congress has the responsibility to fix it. With the help of my colleagues I am confident we can fix it. As I have outlined many times in the Senate, we have a process whereby we can consider that bill and bring it to the floor and indeed fix it.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 462, S. 2207, the Pregnancy and Trauma Care Access Protection Act of 2004.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President I now ask unanimous consent that the live quorum under rule XXII be waived, and further that notwithstanding rule XXII the vote on the motion to invoke cloture occur at 2:15 on Wednesday, April 7.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now withdraw my motion.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, over the course of the morning, we will be continuing our discussions on how best to proceed with the JOBS bill, the manufacturing tax bill on which we spent part of last week and this week. Those discussions will continue, and we will be addressing that issue, I hope, in the next week. Medical liability we will be addressing next week. Discussions continue to go on with regard to the budget, which is in conference. Those conferees were mentioned on the floor of the Senate. We passed the budget under Senator Nickles' leadership. It was the earliest budget ever passed in this particular body. It is now in conference. I look forward to the product of those conferees at some appropriate time. As my colleagues know, we have, under the regular order, 10 hours of debate on that before we will be voting on the budget itself. Next week, we will be voting--and I will talk about this later--on Wednesday and Thursday. This will allow appropriate observance for Passover in preparation for the recess, which will be the following week. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, with that objection, I now move to proceed to the consideration of S. 2207, and I will send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today the Senate will be in for a period, briefly, for morning business. As I stated last night in closing, there will be no rollcall votes during today's session. I also mentioned in closing last night some of the important issues that need to be addressed that will be considered next week. One of those bills is the Pregnancy and Trauma Care Access Protection Act of 2004. I have repeatedly stated my concern about the current liability system and the fact that physicians are having to leave regions and States and even leave the practice of medicine altogether. That has a direct impact on care for women who are about to deliver children, as well as trauma services and specialty physicians. We absolutely must find a way to achieve appropriate tort reform and bring common sense back into our court system. Having said that, I hope the Senate can begin the debate on this issue.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4062, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the joint resolution be read a third time and passed, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S.J. Res. 28 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

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, this morning there will be a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes. I want to have the attention, just very briefly, of the assistant Democratic leader. We are going to have a period for morning business for 60 minutes. Under the previous unanimous consent agreement, we will finish the welfare reauthorization bill and allow that bill to go to conference in order to reach an accord with the House. That bill will be followed by the final passage of the FSC/ETI legislation. Upon completion of the FSC/ETI bill, we will proceed to the nominations and agreement to the 22 judicial nominations that are available on the calendar. Votes will occur on the confirmation of those judges. I thank all Members, especially the assistant Democrat leader, and other Members on their side of the aisle, for their cooperation in meeting these consent agreements.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to remark on a truly historic moment that just took place about 15 seconds ago, a moment we all witnessed which is special in United States history in a way we will shortly lay out. Senator Robert Byrd is already recognized as an American icon. In 1917, he began life as a virtual orphan. His mom passed away when he was a year old. His aunt and uncle brought him to West Virginia to raise him on their own. Hard working, enterprising, Robert Byrd made the most of every single opportunity along the way and rose to become the third longest serving Member of Congress in U.S. history. Among his many distinctions, Senator Byrd has held more leadership positions in this body, the U.S. Senate, than any other Senator in American history. Over the course of eight consecutive terms, Senator Byrd has cast more votes than any other Senator in the history of the Republic. Today, just a couple minutes ago, Senator Byrd cast his 17,000th vote in this Chamber. I applaud Senator Byrd for his commitment to public service. This vote is truly a milestone in his career and the history of the U.S. Senate. Without question, when history is written, Senator Byrd will hold a prominent place as a Senate legend.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. On cloture.

Mr. FRIST. Debate for reauthorization.