Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the issue before us is an issue we have addressed on the floor of the Senate. Republicans felt very strongly that these tax extenders need to be extended and brought them to the floor prior to our recess. Yes, they were coupled with two other issues, one of which was a permanent solution to the death tax, which is a fair thing to do, overwhelmingly supported by the majority of the people, and an increase in the minimum wage by 40 percent, something that I feel strongly that we are in a position to do. We took those issues to the floor. The bill was defeated by the other side of the aisle. Again, it was very unfortunate. It was referred to as the so-called trifecta bill. I did switch my vote at that time, and it may well be that over the next couple of weeks, if we can continue to build support for these issues, we can bring that bill back to the floor. Thus, at this juncture, instead of breaking those bills up, we are going to keep those bills together, and thus I object.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of my distinguished colleague. Time is very short, I understand. That is why my colleague brings it to the floor now, because it is very important that we extend these tax provisions--sales tax, college tuition, and the R&D tax credit. It is very important. That is really the reason I took a bill I know my colleague supports, and that is a permanent solution to the death tax--maybe not exactly the way it is now, but he is somebody who supported that cause. Indeed, it has the majority support of the United States of America. It is the right thing to do. The minimum wage, again, I think is something that is broadly supported by the American people. And then the tax extenders. All three are broadly supported. The benefit is, if we can build that support and have it reflected on this floor--that is really on the Senator's side of the aisle--that would be the law of the land because it has already passed the House of Representatives. If we were to vote on these today, it would be signed by the President 3 days from now. That means people's minimum wage would go up 40 percent, the tax extenders would be done because it wouldn't have to go back to the House and it would be done 3 days from now, and we would have a permanent solution to the death tax, which is a fair and right thing to do. I am going to preserve that option for now. I appreciate my colleague's support because I think he probably does individually support each of those three issues.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, may I have the attention of the Senate. On rollcall vote No. 244, the distinguished Senator from Montana and the current ranking member of the Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus, cast his 10,000th vote in this Chamber. Senator Baucus now joins a very historic and select club of U.S. Senators who can claim this distinction. Only 26 other Senators have achieved this milestone. From his post on the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus has worked on a bipartisan basis on many issues important to Montanans, from tax policy to health care reform. Legislating is the art of compromise, and in his 28 years of service Senator Baucus has mastered it. A recent example that comes to mind is the Medicare prescription drug bill, which I sponsored. Without Senator Baucus's hard work and support, 31 million seniors wouldn't have the drug benefits they now enjoy. Back home in Montana, Senator Baucus is affectionately known for his ``Work Days''--days he spends working a full day alongside Montanans at a local business. Senator Baucus, I know I speak for all your fellow Senators, when I say congratulations on this achievement, but more importantly, thank you for your service to Montana, to your country, and importantly, to the United States Senate.

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, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 567, which was submitted earlier today.

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 on the table, and any statements related thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today, following 30 minutes set aside for morning business, we return to the port security legislation. Yesterday we were able to adopt the McCain rail security amendment, as amended, and today we have scheduled a vote, to begin at noon, on Senator DeMint's amendment on a national alert system. The vote at noon will be the first vote of the day. Following that vote, the Senate will recess for the weekly policy meetings to occur. For the remainder of the afternoon and evening, we will make further progress on the bill, with additional rollcall votes expected. It is my hope Senators will continue to work with the managers on their amendments, and that will allow us to schedule votes as necessary. I do want to thank all Senators for participating in yesterday's east front observance of the anniversary of September 11. It was an emotional day across this country, and I was proud to stand with my Senate and House colleagues during that important tribute. Mr. President, I will be happy to turn to the Democratic leader for any announcements, but I do have a short statement to make.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do want to briefly comment on a very short trip I took on Sunday, when I visited Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, along with Senator McConnell and Senator Specter. It was my first visit to the detainee facility there. We received extensive briefings over the course of the day from Admiral Harris and other base administrators. We took that opportunity to tour five of the detainee camps, as well as visit the medical facilities and visit with the health personnel there. Bottom line, I left there very impressed with the care and the respect our military affords the detainees kept at Guantanamo. As most of my colleagues know who have visited there--and I am glad to report that many have visited there over the last several years--each detainee receives a copy of the Koran. Arrows in each of the detainees' cells point to Mecca. You see arrows throughout the prison grounds. That makes it easier, and it is a reminder that these individuals have that opportunity to practice their faith, with prayer time occurring five times every day, where everything stops, and that time is set aside so that prayer can be offered. It was interesting from a health standpoint. The meals themselves are nutritious meals. And I looked at a lot of the charts, aggregate charts, and, indeed, detainees gain weight from these meals. They get regular exercise. It might be as much as 2 hours a day--but 1 to 2 hours a day. They receive mail from their families. They visit privately with their lawyers. They have medical care, which again was amazing to me, which is 24/7, acute care as well as preventive care literally 24 hours a day. When the camp first opened, much of the medical care was centered around the treatment of acute care or injuries that may have occurred in the battlefield or the like. Prosthetics were made. I think they said 22 prosthetics had been made for the detainees who have been at the facility. The nature of health care has shifted a bit. There is still acute care 24 hours a day, in which surgical procedures, everything, can be performed right there in the detainee camps, but as those wounds healed and as the detainees got further and further away from acute injuries, there has been increasing emphasis on preventative care. Indeed, the immunization rate there is higher than in the United States of America. I think the report is they have had fewer than 500 detainees, but all have been immunized appropriately. Things such as screening for cancer have taken place there. Colonoscopies--a procedure which, as we all know, is used commonly in this country to screen for colon cancer--are performed there on a routine basis. The health personnel-to-detainee ratio is 1 to 4--remarkably high. That is all health personnel who are there. And I guess, as I left this briefing and the opportunity to talk to the doctors and the nurses and the psychologists and the psychiatrists, I left with an impression that health care there is clearly better than they received at home and as good as many people receive in the United States of America. Also, I have to comment on the courageous men and women who are our military personnel there, working every day, 24 hours a day. They are doing a tremendous job. I commend them for it. As you walk through the cells, it is clear they are at least verbally abused in just walking through those cells. I know they are under a great deal of stress in carrying out their activities every day. Our men and women, in spite of that sort of verbal abuse--and clearly at risk of physical assault--remain focused on their mission to provide the detainees there safe and humane treatment but, at the same time, simultaneously protecting Americans from the deadly plots that have been hatched by many of those detainees who are there. As we all know from the President's comments and speeches over the last week or so, on that island today are some of the world's most hardened enemy combatants, terrorists. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is there, the man the 9/11 Commission described as the ``principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.'' The fact that we have the presence of them--we did not see them, we did not even ask to go to their facility--but the fact that they are there is a vivid reminder that the detainees at Guantanamo do remain locked up for a critical purpose: to protect Americans. We were reminded of that again and again as we listened to the stories about the backgrounds of the types of people who are there. I left there with no question in my mind that many would return to what they were doing before they were captured; that is, plotting new ways to attack us. We know some who have been released have, indeed, returned to the battlefield. And that has been well documented. There has been a lot of debate recently on how we should prosecute these terrorists, these enemy combatants. Soon we will be addressing that issue once again on the floor of the Senate, as we should. But I think we should all be very clear in our own thinking that these men are dangerous terrorists who remain a threat to the safety and well- being of every American. They are militant extremists whose goal in life is to kill Americans, is to destroy our freedom and security. Mr. President, as we were reminded through remembrances and through the ceremonies of yesterday and through the discussions yesterday, 9/11 shattered our longstanding illusions of safety and security in this country. As we learned then and have since learned--on no less than 11 occasions--safety and security are not static states, but they are dynamic, they are constantly changing, in constant flux. That means we cannot just enact a bill and then move on and say that is sufficient. We have to continuously, in this body, take stock of where we are, assess and reassess and implement changes when necessary. We have done just that over the last 5 years. As of August, we passed 71 laws and other bills related to the war on terror. The next step is the bill we are debating today; that is, the Port Security Improvement Act. It provides additional authorities and tools critical to improving our port security and our maritime security--and to foil plots to injure us or to destroy our ports, to the detriment of hard-working Americans and to the detriment of our economy. Very soon we will take up legislation that strengthens and modernizes our foreign intelligence surveillance laws, as well as legislation that authorizes military commissions to prosecute terrorists for war crimes, such as those who are currently detained at Guantanamo Bay. Without these tools, we simply cannot guarantee the safety and security of the American people. That is why they are being addressed on the floor right now. That is what hangs in the balance: the safety and security of the American people. On this floor, we are not going to always agree on the approach, but it is a goal I believe every one of my colleagues shares. As we move forward in this body over the next couple weeks, I hope we do remain focused on that goal, ensuring the safety and security of the American people. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

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

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we began consideration of the very important port security bill on Thursday of last week, and earlier in the week we addressed the Department of Defense appropriations bill. We generally agreed as a body that we would address the security issues first and foremost over the course of these 3 to 4 weeks, and this is the second step in that process. We made reasonable progress on the bill, but at this point it is not certain when we will finish the bill, and the fact is, we have really a little over 2\1/2\ weeks left. We have a lot to do, and therefore we need to keep business moving along. We have been talking about a filing deadline and an amendment list, but we have been unable to reach agreement on either of those. Cloture Motion

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will file a cloture motion tonight to ensure that we do get a vote this week. We will continue to consult with the managers on both sides, and if we can reach a reasonable agreement to bring the bill to a finish on Thursday, then I believe we should vitiate this particular vote. But since it is still uncertain and we do have a lot of business to do, at this time I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent S. 3815 be star printed with the changes at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 568 submitted earlier today.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I understand there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. FRIST. In order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceeding en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask for a division vote of the resolution of ratification.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following treaty on today's Executive Calendar: No. 17. I further ask unanimous consent the treaty be considered as having passed through its various parliamentary stages up to and including the presentation of the resolution of ratification; that any committee conditions, declarations, or reservations be agreed to as applicable; that any statements be printed in the Congressional Record as if read; further, that when the resolution of ratification is voted upon, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be notified of the Senate's action, and that following the disposition of the treaty, the Senate return to legislative session.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 593, H.R. 866.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent 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 when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 13. 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 proceed to a period for morning business for up to 30 minutes with the first 15 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the Republican leader or his designee; further, following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 4954, the port security bill, as under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, under an agreement reached this evening, we will turn to the pending Reid amendment tomorrow following morning business with the time equally divided until 12:15. At 12:15, we will have a vote in relation to this amendment. This will be the first vote of tomorrow's session. A few moments ago, I filed a cloture motion on the bill. We have a number of amendments to work through. We will complete this bill this week. Senators are reminded that all first-degree amendments must be filed by 1 o'clock 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 unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.