Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of a list of nominations that I send to the desk; further, that the nominations be placed on the calendar.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to consideration of S. Res. 272, submitted by Senator Snowe earlier today.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the contingent upon its availability, the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 1, the Medicare Prescription Drug Modernization Act, at 10 a.m. tomorrow; provided that for duration of tomorrow's session, consideration of the conference report be for debate only, and the speakers be recognized in an alternating fashion.

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 morning, the Senate will begin debate on the Medicare conference report. Senators who wish to make statements on this historic bill are encouraged to come to the floor during tomorrow's session. In addition, I inform my colleagues that there will be no rollcall votes during tomorrow's session. It is my hope that we will be able to schedule a vote on the conference report for Monday. I will continue to work with the Democratic leadership to reach an agreement for a final vote. In addition, we will in all likelihood be in session on Sunday as well to continue the debate on Medicare. I will tomorrow make further announcements about Sunday.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Saturday, November 22. I further ask unanimous 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 then begin consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 1, the Medicare Prescription Drug Modernization Act, as provided under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will resume consideration of the Energy conference report. There will be 60 minutes of debate prior to the vote on the motion to invoke cloture. Therefore, the first vote of today's session is expected to occur shortly after 10:30. At this point, I ask unanimous consent that the live quorum that is required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues this morning to vote for cloture. I will say more just before the vote. But I do encourage Members to weigh very carefully the vote that will be taken in about an hour. This bill is a balanced approach to ensuring this country's energy security through this national energy policy. If cloture is invoked, we will work with Members to establish a time certain for the vote on passage of this conference report. In addition, throughout the afternoon we will attempt to clear any additional conference reports that may arise from the House. I will update everyone on the schedule later today as we watch the progress on the remaining legislative items.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. Leader, on leader time I just have very brief closing comments. I thank the chairman and the ranking member. They have done a superb job. Several issues have come up. I want to make it clear that this vote is the vote on the Energy bill and on the energy provisions. People have envisioned that there will be other votes, other opportunities; that if this bill has not passed, we can address some of these issues later in some other form. First, some have made a procedural argument that if cloture is not invoked this morning, we can simply recommit the bill to conference and strip out a provision or two provisions and then bring it back to the Senate. Everybody needs to understand that is not an option. The other body, the House, has already approved the conference report and therefore the conference committee has been dissolved. It has been dissolved. There is no motion to recommit available. So this is the vote. If you are for a comprehensive Energy bill, you need to vote for cloture. This is the vote. Second, there has been some speculation, people have mentioned on the floor, if we do not pass this conference report we will pull out this provision or that provision and enact them separately. I wanted to dispel that idea as well. We are not going to pull apart pieces of this conference report and pass them separately. We are not going to do it. We are either going to pass this Energy bill now or the individual provisions that many Senators favor are not going to become law. It is as simple as that. I just use the example of ethanol because, as everybody knows, I joined the Democratic leader in offering the ethanol amendment on the Senate floor earlier this summer. I have to say it very clearly that this Energy conference report is the vehicle for ethanol. We are not going to enact that as a stand- alone. We are not going to attach ethanol to another vehicle. To the Senators who favor this strong ethanol provision that we have in this conference report--this is the vote. You vote for cloture if you want to see it actually enacted into law. It is important for people to understand. In closing, this is a good bill. It is a balanced bill. It will make America more secure. It will make America more energy independent, and, as we all have talked about, it will create jobs. We should pass it now. We should send it to the President. The first step right now with this vote is to invoke cloture. I yield the floor. Cloture Motion

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the vote, prior to switching my vote for procedural reasons, was 58 to 39; thus, two votes short for invoking cloture. As I said just prior to the vote, America needs a comprehensive national energy policy, and we need it now. Congress has been debating this energy issue for a long time, for nearly 3 years. It is now time for us to stop talking and to deliver to the American people. I truly believe the bill before us, that the chairman and the other members on the Energy Committee have worked so hard to produce, is a fair bill. It is a balanced bill. It addresses everything from future blackouts to the whole discussion on development of a wide range of reliable energy resources. Now is the time for us to act. I am very disappointed that we are, at this point, two votes short; that we are facing another filibuster on a very important policy for the American people. I do want to let colleagues know that this will not be the last vote that we have on this bill. We are going to keep voting until we pass it so we get it to the President's desk. We will have at least one more vote before we leave the early part of next week on stopping this filibuster. I don't know when that vote will be, but we will have at least one more vote. I hope we will respond at that time by giving the American people the energy security, the economic security, and the job security that they deserve.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding passage of H.J. Res. 78, the previously agreed to amendment No. 2208 be modified with changes that are at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I am happy to yield to the distinguished assistant Democratic leader for a question. Energy Policy Act

Mr. FRIST. Again, to clarify for our colleagues, two votes short, as I implied in my statement. This policy is too important to the American people for us to desert. So we are going to come back. We are going to come back with another opportunity, after I talk to the Democratic leadership. And we will do that at the appropriate time. For the information of our colleagues, we will be going to other issues--right now, the Intelligence authorization conference report. It is likely today we will be doing Healthy Forests shortly. We have a lot of business today. Medicare will be addressed shortly. The two Houses will be addressing that today. It may well be that we will begin to address issues such as Medicare later today and continue debate on energy today and look at both issues over the course of tomorrow. Again, in the intervening time, we will be addressing issues such as Intelligence, Healthy Forests, and other conference reports as they come to the floor.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I extend my gratitude to Senator Baucus for working together with the Vice President, the Speaker of the House and myself to reach a compromise on the ethanol issue in the energy bill conference agreement. We understand this is a very important issue to him and to the country and his efforts on this matter have been crucial to developing a strong energy policy. As per the agreement, I would like to reiterate our commitment regarding the portions of the ethanol issue which are not currently in the conference agreement. In the next highway bill, we will make certain that the 2.5 cents that currently goes into the General Fund, as well as the proceeds from repealing the 5.2 cents from the ethanol tax exemption, are credited to the Highway Trust Fund. Moreover, it would be my desire to hold the Highway Trust Fund harmless with respect to this late date of enactment. Once again, I thank Mr. Baucus for working closely with us to resolve this very important issue. We look forward to enacting these provisions.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments, through the Chair, from the assistant Democratic leader. One of the great things about these issues is we do have the opportunity here to work together on both sides of the aisle on issues which affect people broadly. I very much appreciate his comments in that regard. I do also add the point, and reinforce the statement the Senator made, that over the course of the afternoon we would like to shortly-- and, hopefully, a little bit after 2 or after the appropriate comments are made on Medicare--go to Healthy Forests. We are waiting on some final agreements, but hopefully we can address that today. But what I really want to say is, this is exactly the way to handle it. I encourage people right now to come and make their statements and make their points and have the debate on Medicare. The bill is out. The bill has been filed. People have access to that bill. I think everybody should take that opportunity, this afternoon, through tomorrow, and through the weekend, to come to the floor to begin talking about that very important issue. We want to make the very best use of time today, tomorrow, and Sunday, in all likelihood, and Monday, on that issue as well as others. It may be confusing to people. We will be going back and forth because we have a lot of business to do. So we will be on Medicare, and then we will take up Healthy Forests, and then I encourage people to come back and begin Medicare. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 320, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning, the Senate will resume consideration of the Energy conference report. A number of Senators came to the floor to speak on the Energy conference report yesterday. We had a good debate, good discussion, and the Senate will continue this debate throughout today's session.NOTICE If the 108th Congress, 1st Session, adjourns sine die on or before November 21, 2003, a final issue of the Congressional Record for the 108th Congress, 1st Session, will be published on Monday, December 15, 2003, in order to permit Members to revise and extend their remarks. All material for insertion must be signed by the Member and delivered to the respective offices of the Official Reporters of Debates (Room HT-60 or S-410A of the Capitol), Monday through Friday, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. through Friday, December 12, 2003. The final issue will be dated Monday, December 15, 2003, and will be delivered on Tuesday, December 16, 2003. None of the material printed in the final issue of the Congressional Record may contain subject matter, or relate to any event that occurred after the sine die date. Senators' statements should also be submitted electronically, either on a disk to accompany the signed statement, or by e-mail to the Official Reporters of Debates at ``Record@Sec.Senate.gov''. Members of the House of Representatives' statements may also be submitted electronically by e-mail, to accompany the signed statement, and formatted according to the instructions for the Extensions of Remarks template at http://clerkhouse.house.gov/ forms. The Official Reporters will transmit to GPO the template formatted electronic file only after receipt of, and authentication with, the hard copy, and signed manuscript. Deliver statements to the Official Reporters in Room HT-60 of the Capitol. Members of Congress desiring to purchase reprints of material submitted for inclusion in the Congressional Record may do so by contacting the Office of Congressional Publishing Services, at the Government Printing Office, on 512-0224, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. daily. By order of the Joint Committee on Printing. ROBERT W. NEY, Chairman. I do remind my colleagues that a cloture motion was filed on the conference report during yesterday's session, and that cloture vote will occur on Friday morning. As we all know, we are scheduled to consider several major pieces of legislation over the next few days. In addition to the appropriations measures and the Medicare reform package, there will be other conference reports that will become available for Senate consideration, and we will attempt to clear those measures for Senate action as they arrive. In addition to that, we will also continue to work through nominations on the Executive Calendar. There are some roadblocks right now, but we are doing our very best to address those. There are a number of important nominations that are ready for confirmation, including judicial nominees who should be cleared, the Department of Homeland Security positions, a number of ambassadors, Health and Human Services officials, and the list goes on and on. They are ready for confirmation. I understand there are Members who are objecting to all of those nominations. I urge my colleagues to allow us to schedule votes on at least the noncontroversial nominations. Some of these nominations are being held up by colleagues who say nothing is going to go through. At least let the noncontroversial nominations proceed. It is clear we can't, in these final few days, be held hostage to unrelated matters on these important nominations. I mentioned the Senate will need to work this weekend in order for us to finish all of our business. We will have a clearer picture as to what to expect over the course of the weekend as this day progresses. I do alert everyone that the likelihood of being in Saturday is very high and possibly for a period of time on Sunday as well.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Democratic leader and I have been in consultation and will continue to be in consultation over the course of the day--as he suggested, pretty much every few hours--to facilitate what is going to be a challenge in moving in a reasonably orderly way all that we have on the table. I do want to mention in my opening comments that we are very close to addressing Healthy Forests. I plead with everyone, hopefully over the course of this morning, to resolve whatever remaining issues there are in terms of holding up that legislation. If we go to conference quickly, that very important legislation will be addressed. I think we are just about there. We were just about there last night. If we can get that over the goal line this morning, that would be helpful.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on the bill (H.R. 1904), to improve the capacity of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to conduct hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System lands and Bureau of Land Management lands aimed at protecting communities, watersheds, and certain other at-risk lands from catastrophic wildfire, to enhance efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to forest and rangeland health, including catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape, and for other purposes. The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives: Resolved, That the House disagree to the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 1904) entitled ``An Act to improve the capacity of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to plan and conduct hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System lands and Bureau of Land Management lands aimed at protecting communities, watersheds, and certain other at-risk lands from catastrophic wildfire, to enhance efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to forest and rangeland health, including catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape, and for other purposes'', and ask a conference with the Senate on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon. Ordered, That the following Members be the managers of the conference on the part of the House: From the Committee on Agriculture, for consideration of the House bill and the Senate amendments, and modifications committed to conference: Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Gutknecht, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Stenholm, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota, and Mr. Dooley of California. From the Committee on Resources, for consideration of the House bill and the Senate amendments, and modifications committed to conference: Mr. Pombo, Mr. McInnis, Mr. Walden of Oregon, Mr. Renzi, Mr. George Miller of California, and Mr. Inslee. From the Committee on the Judiciary, for consideration of sections 106 and 107 of the House bill, and sections 105, 106, 1115, and 1116 of the Senate amendment and modifications committed to conference: Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Smith of Texas, and Mr. Conyers.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate insist on its amendments and agree to the request of the House on a conference of the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on behalf of the Senate with a ratio of 4 to 3.

Mr. FRIST

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