Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Alexander amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the title amendment be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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, I now ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived and, further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, this cloture vote occur on January 20 at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for the reasons stated earlier, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, I think much of what is in the Foreign Operations bill and part of the real focus of the proposed unanimous consent request is on global HIV/AIDS funding. As most in this body know, I do believe HIV/AIDS has presented the greatest moral, humanitarian, and public health challenge of really the last 100 years, if you look at the impact it is having. We are under a continuing resolution and I have looked very closely to make sure that sufficient moneys will not be interrupted over the intervening period of time. Indeed, there is sufficient money that has not been allocated in the appropriate funds that can be used and that would cover the increment of the next 1 month in terms of funding. Again, it is important for colleagues and others to understand we will be operating under a continuing resolution and the funding that is currently being appropriated, given to the organizations and to serve the needs of the people, will continue and there can be increased funding allocated within the appropriate categories to cover that increment over time for HIV/AIDS funding. With that, I object.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I am not surprised by these objections. I think that a number of colleagues, including the distinguished Senator from West Virginia and others on their side, have been very open and forthright with their intent to object to this legislation. The conference report was filed before Thanksgiving, and it was my hope that over the intervening period of time people would have had the opportunity to review the language before we proceeded. I hope they have taken that opportunity to do so. Given the objections we have just heard, it appears as though we will need to file cloture on the measure to assure a vote on the conference report. That cloture vote will occur on January 20. It is my hope that during this period Members will take the additional time to review it so everyone can fully understand the importance of much of the funding in this legislation.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate proceed to the conference report to accompany the omnibus bill, provided, further, that there be 5 hours for debate to be equally divided in the usual form. I further ask consent that following the use or yielding back of debate time, the Senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the conference report, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST. I object to the Democratic leader's request.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Democratic leader and I will be in discussions over the next several minutes, but I suggest we go ahead into morning business at this juncture.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I welcome everybody back from a short recess over the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope everyone did have a safe and a restful period after a very busy 3 to 4 weeks just prior to that. I hope everybody had an opportunity to spend good time, quality time with family and friends. As I announced before the break, we have returned today with the hope of completing our work on the appropriations process. Chairman Stevens finished the negotiations on the omnibus measure, and that conference report was filed in the House of Representatives before we departed for Thanksgiving. Today, we hope to take up that conference report and dispose of it, although I understand this will not be possible. I will be discussing momentarily other options with the Democratic leader and will likely be propounding a unanimous consent request for consideration of the omnibus bill here later this morning. We will not have any rollcall votes today, but in addition to any agreements we may reach here on the omnibus measure, we would like to also consider other legislative and executive matters that can be cleared over the course of the day. Specifically, there are a large number of important executive nominations that are pending on the calendar that I hope we will be able to address. Again, I will be working with the Democratic leader to proceed to any of these noncontroversial nominations before we conclude our business today. At this juncture, I will be happy to yield to the Democratic leader, and then likely we will go into a period of morning business, and we will have a discussion about the further plans for the day.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on the bill (S. 686) to provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize the funding of regional poison control centers. The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate concur in the House amendment, 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. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Hatch amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the committee substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read the third time and passed; that the title amendment be agreed to; that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc; and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to, en bloc; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the resolution 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. 282, submitted earlier today by Senator Stevens.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 281, a sense-of-the-Senate resolution submitted earlier today by Senators Fitzgerald, Durbin, myself, and Senator Daschle.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.J. Res. 82, making technical corrections to the continuing resolution. I further ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be read the third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 345 which is at the desk.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration S. Res. 283, a sense-of-the- Senate resolution submitted earlier today by Senator Sessions.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Senate will convene the second session of the 108th Congress on Tuesday, January 20, 2004. When the Senate reconvenes, we will begin and resume debate on the omnibus appropriations conference report. Earlier today, I filed a cloture motion on that conference report. That vote will occur at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20. That vote will be the first vote of the second session. It is my hope and expectation that cloture will be invoked and we will be able to complete action on the appropriations process early that day. I want to wish everyone a happy and a safe holiday season. I again want to thank all of those people who support us in this Chamber in our day-to-day activities for all of their assistance throughout the year. From the pages to the clerks, the doorkeepers, the police men and women and everyone who is part of the Senate family, I do say thank you for your efforts in keeping this institution functioning. Lastly, let me thank the Democratic leader for his assistance throughout the year. Although we have not always agreed on policy--as a matter of fact, we have disagreed frequently on policy--I believe we have been able to communicate forthrightly with one another. As they say, we agree to disagree. I appreciate the candor of all of those conversations. To all of the Members, I thank them for their cooperation throughout the year. I wish all of our colleagues and their families a very happy holiday.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that the Senate stand in adjournment under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 339, and in accordance with S. Res. 281 as a further mark of respect for our deceased former colleague, Senator Paul Simon.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn sine die under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 339. I further ask consent that when the Senate returns on Tuesday, January 20, as provided under H.J. Res. 80, it reconvene at 12 noon. 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 resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2673, the omnibus appropriations language; provided that the time until 12:30 p.m. be equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee or their designees for debate only. I further ask consent that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for the weekly party luncheons. I further ask consent that the time from 2:15 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. be equally divided in the aforementioned manner with the time from 2:50 p.m. to 3 p.m. equally divided between the two leaders or their designees for debate only; provided that at 3 p.m. the Senate proceed to a cloture vote on the conference report as provided under the previous order.