Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, a bloody tyrant rules no longer in Iraq. A man who without qualm or regret murdered hundreds of thousands of his own citizens has been removed from power. The perpetrator of one of the past century's most gruesome crimes against humanity, the use of chemical weapons on innocent Kurdish civilians, no longer is free to pursue such weapons. The aggressor in the Gulf War, who a decade ago invaded his neighbor, only to be driven out by a mighty coalition, no longer threatens the volatile region of the Middle East. The record is replete with the case against Saddam Hussein. The mass graves are laid open, and only now are the thousands of widows, mothers and orphans--victims all--able to openly grieve. Who here will ever forget the image of the desperate citizens of Baghdad, clawing at the ground in the hopeless search for hidden prisons that might hold their loves ones. Mass graves have been found throughout the country, the unmistakable mark of history's tyrants. As the regime of Saddam Hussein has come to an end, the difficult work has only just begun to ensure that we never again witness such horrors. As this legislation proves, in both Iraq and Afghanistan this will be a costly effort in treasure and in time. But most costly of all are the lost lives of our men and women serving on the front line of the war against terror, whose devotion to our country may be matched in the history of the nation, but never surpassed. These men and women, many just at the beginning of their adult lives, serve an ideal as old as the Republic. In the fight against terror, they risk their lives so that we may live safe. Each and every one of them are citizens, parents, spouses, and somebody's child. Their sacrifice is our loss. We mourn the death of each of them. The resources this legislation provides will move both Afghanistan and Iraq decisively toward stability and freedom; toward modernity and democracy. We have worked long hours on this legislation, and we had some difficult votes over the course of the past 4 weeks. Although I am certain it is not the last debate we will have on Iraq, I am grateful for the efforts of the managers on both sides, and for the cooperation of the Democratic leader, in getting this emergency package through. In particular, I commend Senator Stevens, Senator Warner, Senator McCain, and Senator McConnell for their tireless efforts to pass this emergency funding request. Replacing the defeated regime of Saddam Hussein with a stable democratic Iraq is an essential turning point in bringing modernity and freedom to a part of the world that has produced extremism and terrorism for decades. Mr. President, yesterday's losses were the latest tragic reminder that we are at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The funds in this legislation provide both direct support for our soldiers as well as an investment in creating a safer environment in those countries where they serve. This legislation will make them safer and get them home sooner.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today the Senate will begin consideration of the conference report to accompany the Iraq and Afghanistan supplemental bill. The order that was entered into on Thursday provided for the time until 5 p.m. today to be equally divided for debate. That conference report will be agreed to at 5. However, no rollcall vote will be necessary. Also under a previous consent agreement, the Senate will then debate the Interior appropriations conference report. There will be up to an hour of debate on that conference report prior to the vote. Senators should, therefore, expect a rollcall vote to occur sometime between 5:30 and 6 today. We were also able to reach an agreement for consideration of the fair credit reporting bill. The chairman and ranking member of the Banking Committee have been working through the amendment list in an effort to facilitate its passage. I would anticipate beginning that bill either this evening or first thing tomorrow morning so we can finish the fair credit legislation early this week. Last week I also mentioned the expiration of the Internet tax moratorium. I had hoped to address an extension of that moratorium prior to that deadline. However, several Senators expressed their reservation about an agreement for that bill. At the close of last week, we were able to reach a consent agreement to proceed to the bill, most likely on Thursday of this week. We will also continue with the appropriations process as the conference reports become available. Nominations remain a focus of the Senate's attention. We will continue to work toward the scheduling of those nominations on the executive calendar. Another continuing resolution will be necessary by the close of business this week. Even with a short-term extension of the continuing resolution, we will still push to complete the remaining items at the earliest time this year.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, through the Chair, we are working on the schedule right now. We just cleared the Syria Accountability Act and we are going to be making some plans shortly. We will be in morning business for a while. I wouldn't send staff home until we have planned out exactly what we will be doing. We should know in about 20 minutes or so. We have gotten a lot of things cleared. Right now we are working on this. We will get the schedule planned in a very few minutes. We will be in morning business and may be doing a little more business tonight as we go forward. I do not expect to have any more rollcall votes tonight.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we will be in a period of morning business to allow Senators to speak for up to 10 minutes each. As I announced last night, there will be no rollcall votes during today's session. Last evening, after a lengthy session with 14 rollcall votes, we were able to finish work on a number of items. We were able to pass the Healthy Forests bill as well as complete action last night on the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. We were also able to reach agreements on a number of other important matters, including the Iraq- Afghanistan supplemental, the Interior appropriations conference report, the continuing resolution, as well as the Internet tax moratorium legislation. Earlier in the day, the Senate considered the climate change bill and failed to invoke cloture on the nomination of Charles Pickering. As a reminder, the next vote will occur on Monday at some point, most likely between 5:30 and 6 o'clock. That vote will be on the adoption of the conference report to accompany the Interior appropriations. Also on Monday, the Senate will consider the Iraq supplemental conference report; however, that conference report will be completed without a rollcall vote. I also remind my colleagues that earlier in the week we reached a consent on a fair credit reporting bill. I expect the Senate would turn to that measure on Tuesday. I mentioned a few moments ago the Internet tax moratorium bill. What we agreed to last night was that we would address that bill next week, and as part of that agreement, that we would not address it prior to Thursday. With the current extension expiring, it was my hope that the Senate could have finished that bill last night or today, prior to that deadline, but a few Members have raised concerns and desire amendments. Thus, it will be our intent to finish that bill at the end of next week, rather than this week. The agreement, again, will lead us to turn to that on Thursday, and I expect, after giving Senators the opportunity to offer, hopefully, relevant amendments, that we would move that bill toward passage on either Thursday or Friday. Another item that will demand the Senate's attention next week is the Syria accountability bill. Senator Santorum has been working on getting that measure cleared, and we hope to schedule that vote very early next week. Finally, I add we will continue to consider the available appropriations conference reports as they become available. Having said all that, you can see that next week is shaping up to be another very active week of floor action. With Members' continued cooperation, we can finish our business and still adjourn at the earliest opportunity this year. I do thank Members for their cooperation and participation in allowing us to proceed with the business of the Senate.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in response, through the Chair, the intention right now is to work Monday, make that a full working day. As we finished last night at about midnight, a lot of people were saying we can't work any harder than what we are doing right now in terms of taking these bills one by one, and that is the way we are going to have to work, unfortunately--or fortunately--in order to complete what we have before us; thus the intentions for the day before Veterans Day. The real issue, obviously, for our colleagues, because they understand, but for others who are listening to understand, Veterans Day is a day we want to be able to honor, and a lot of people will have to change their plans because they have to be flying to the west coast. But I want to make it clear our intention is to stay here and work. In truth, that is what the people around the country expect us to do. We have work right now. We have the Nation's business before us, in terms of the appropriations bills, the many conference reports that we are waiting for, the very important conference in terms of energy and Medicare, which is underway. So it is critical that we continue work on that Monday. It is my intention, of course, on Veterans Day, to be able to respect that day accordingly, as we go forward. I think we will be able to announce more about that in the early part of next week. The schedule constantly changes. I was very hopeful we could complete this Internet tax issue. That was really our goal. We worked very hard, but, again, out of consideration for our Members, we have had to move that forward a week. We intend to finish that the end of next week, and it is critical we do so. It is important for our colleagues to understand because about this time of the year everybody is sort of sitting and waiting to see who is going to make the next move. At this point, we are trying to wrap everything up for the session. It means everybody needs to recognize decisions have to be made, very tough decisions. I am speaking in part to the conferees who are addressing issues right now. There are one or two outstanding issues in these conferences. Now is the time to make those decisions. If not, we will be here all the way up to Thanksgiving, and after Thanksgiving, and up to the December holidays. That is really unacceptable to me. But now is the time to wrap things up, over these next several weeks.

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 wanted to take this opportunity while we are in the quorum call to come to the floor and comment briefly on what we have done in the last several days and look ahead as to next week. We won't actually be closing here for a little bit as we are working on a couple of issues. I want to thank everybody formally for the hard work they put forward this week. It was an aggressive week in terms of what we set out to accomplish, and we were able to finish everything we said we were going to do, with one exception, and that is set up to complete at the end of next week. People worked very late last night, with 14 rollcall votes, finishing close to midnight. I thank everybody for that commitment manifested over the last several days. The days have been very long. Everybody's schedules are full with activities not just on the floor. There is this constant balancing act. We had to deal with three or four issues and bills at the same time. It seems to individual schedulers of Senators that things are somewhat discombobulated. Despite all that, we were able to finish a number of issues. The Healthy Forests legislation was accelerated into the schedule because we had not planned exactly when we were going to do that. That took a lot of cooperation. We were able to take it to the floor and complete it, which is especially important with the recent fires that are and have been burning in California. As we have watched those images, we could not help but extend our prayers to the families, for the individuals who are so directly affected in that part of the country and also by fires in other States. With those images now that we see every morning, every night, and over the course of the day, we extend our heartfelt prayers to those affected. On the Foreign Operations bill, our majority whip did a tremendous job in ushering that bill through. We had the bill on the floor. We came to a point where we had certain challenges in terms of funding and paying for a particular very important amendment on HIV/AIDS, and the cooperation there on both sides of the aisle in being able to move off that bill for a period of time while that was resolved with the President pro tempore, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Ted Stevens, coming forward and working out a proposal that allowed us to reach out and send a strong message across the world that this little virus, HIV/AIDS, is something we are going to beat over time; and then, with all that cooperation, coming back to the floor and passing that amendment, and ultimately the Foreign Operations bill last night, gives me a great deal of satisfaction because it shows cooperation, partnership, working together, and the attention to people's schedules on the floor, an efficient use of everyone's time. I congratulate Senator McConnell, the majority whip, who did a superb job in that regard. The nomination of Michael Leavitt, now Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, was an issue we addressed, and it took a lot of work both behind the scenes and on the floor of the Senate. We were able to vitiate cloture and we were able to give him an up-or-down vote, which I would like to see more of in other nominations, and we will continue to fight for that. Michael Leavitt, now Administrator, got that up-or-down vote. That stresses the importance of having that sort of process of an up-or-down vote for all of the President's nominees. In the Leavitt debate, there were disagreements on various policy issues, but we had a qualified nominee at the time. He deserved that vote and he got it, and I was pleased that he was confirmed by a large bipartisan vote. The Iraq supplemental is coming to a close, and through the agreement last night, we will deliver on the President's request in terms of supporting our military women and men overseas and doing everything we possibly can from a legislative and financial standpoint to ensure their safety, but to maximize the safety of the Iraqi people and the reconstructive efforts promoted aggressively and entirely consistent with what Ambassador Bremer told us was necessary, our military leaders told us was necessary, our Commander in Chief told us was necessary. There are a number of issues we debated in terms of how we monitor the spending of this money, which has been resolved, and whether it should be grants versus loans. There was a lot of good debate, and the issue was ultimately resolved right where the President said it would be most useful. We will complete that Monday. There will be no rollcall vote because both sides of the aisle have agreed to that, but we will talk further about the issue Monday. By Monday early evening or late afternoon, that bill will pass and that will bring that issue to a close. We will spend a little time on the Interior conference report on Monday, and we will have a vote on that late Monday afternoon, somewhere between 5 and 6, probably 5:30 to 6 p.m. We have the fair credit reporting bill on which we have agreement to bring to the floor, and that will probably be Tuesday. Then we have the Internet tax moratorium which, as I said earlier this morning, I would have liked to have addressed today or last night, but because there are a number of Members who feel very strongly that we have to have a different time for debate, we all agree we will be doing that bill probably Thursday of next week. As I expressed this morning, my intention is to finish that either Thursday or Friday. Last night, we did act on the continuing resolution, and that will fund our Governmental operations until November 7, and that will allow us to continue our work on the remaining business. I also spoke earlier this morning about the urgency that I feel, which I want to express to my colleagues, to stay focused, to complete the appropriations process, as well as the work in the various conferences so we can adjourn at a reasonable time. All of this work--again, most of this is just from the last several days--means that we have had to work throughout the day each day this past week and into the evening. Also, because a lot of things we handle in wrap-up, and people are not generally aware because they are not done with a lot of fanfare but are done by unanimous consent of the entire body, I find it useful each evening when I close, but especially at the end of the week, to look at some of those bills. This week the Senate passed S. 1194, Senator Mike DeWine's Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. I mentioned earlier that Senator DeWine was instrumental in putting together the amendment on HIV/AIDS to the foreign operations bill, which we passed as well. The bill S. 1768, the National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, which was introduced by Senator Bunning, was passed. We are still hoping today to make progress on the military tax fairness bill. This bill is intended to hopefully level the playing field with respect to tax policy for many members of the Armed Forces. I know there is currently an objection, but I encourage those people who objected to in the next few minutes or hours, whatever it takes, look at that bill and hopefully be able to clear that as soon as possible. Senator Inhofe's bill, S. 1757 relating to the Kennedy Center reauthorization, was just cleared by both sides. There was another bill from Senator Specter and the Veterans' Committee, S. 1132, the veterans benefits bill, an important bill that we need to finish as we approach November 11. That will be finalized shortly. The point is, we are able to proceed in a bipartisan manner, and we are making progress. We must continue to do that to get the needed work done as we try to work out or work through the host of complicated issues which are inevitable when we deal with legislation. We will continue to work across the aisle to do the necessary work of this body as we move through these final days. Again, we will not close the Senate until we work through a few remaining items of business, but I say thanks to my colleagues. We are making progress. We have a lot of work to do over the coming days, but we are going to be able to adjourn in a reasonable period of time if we stay focused and stay disciplined as we go forward. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Friday, October 31. 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 begin a period for morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask that there now be a period for morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, this will be the last rollcall vote tonight. Final passage will be on a voice vote. There will be no votes tomorrow. Earlier tonight, we had two unanimous consent agreements. We will say more about Monday's schedule a little bit later, but the plans are to have at least one rollcall vote Monday. It will be around 5:30 or so. That will be on the interior conference report. Amendment No. 2048

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, very briefly, and because I know we are about to hear closing comments on this amendment, I have two unanimous consent requests. Unanimous Consent Agreement--Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 2691 Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, November 3, at a time determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2691, the Interior appropriations bill, provided that there be 60 minutes of debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee, and following the use or yielding back of the time, the Senate proceed to a vote on adoption of the conference report on Monday, at a time determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader.

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 consideration of S. 150, the Internet Tax Moratorium, but not before November 6.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, on leader time, I wish to make a few closing statements with regard to this vote and this nomination. In a few minutes, we will have the opportunity to vote on whether Judge Pickering, whom the Senate has once before confirmed to the Federal district court without blemish, can be given the simple fairness, the simple honesty of an up-or-down vote or whether he will be denied that fairness. The vote matters to many people because none of the President's judicial nominees has suffered more indignities and distortions than this superbly qualified man, Judge Pickering. Others in the past and over the course of the morning have spoken much more ably about the qualifications with regard to this superbly qualified individual, Judge Charles Pickering. I know the passion of the two Mississippi Senators from whom we just heard. We heard Senator Lott speak about this man, and we heard the strong support from Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran for this nominee, and we know of the hard work of the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Hatch--all of whom have worked so hard to bring this nomination to the floor over the last 2\1/2\ years since he was first nominated by President Bush--again, 2\1/2\ years ago. It had always been my hope over the last 10 months since I became majority leader that we would be able to put much of the unfortunate history of the 106th Congress behind us when it came to judicial nominations. By that, I refer to the inaction on nominees in committee to their outright defeat in committee which denied the opportunity for all Senators to exercise the constitutional responsibility of advise and consent, and the ability and opportunity to vote up or down on judicial nominations. I think we have made huge progress over the course of this year in that regard, thanks to Chairman Hatch. While in many ways we closed that chapter of Senate history, a new chapter has opened and, once again, I believe we will see it today, and that is this unprecedented use of the partisan filibuster in the Senate to deny Senators the opportunity and the ability to have an up-or-down vote to speak clearly, and the way we have the power to do that is through our votes, either for a judicial nomination or against a judicial nomination. What bothers me as majority leader is what that says about our institution and about the future of this institution. Many of us have spoken to this and have warned over the past several months about the dangers of departing from this 200-year history of the Senate, that tradition of precedent from which all of a sudden we are seeing this departure over the course of this year. Today, in just a few minutes, once again we have a choice, an opportunity to move ahead and make progress and to discharge that constitutional responsibility of an up-or-down vote. This is not only a vote to decide whether the Senate will say yes or no to a man who, as we all know, is perfectly qualified, a good man, a man of high integrity and character, an able jurist who we all know will bring credit to the Federal appeals court. To vote yes on cloture, in my view, is the latest referendum on whether or not we want to reaffirm our history in this body, the Senate, whether or not we want to shut this new chapter of unprecedented delay and destruction, whether or not we want to return the Senate to the well-worn path that it has tried over the last 200 years but from which over the course of this year we seem to be deviating, a path of men and women coming to this body and by their vote being able to take direct responsibility of either confirming or rejecting a nomination. I represent the State of Tennessee. Right now I represent my party as Republican leader. In addition, I, as majority leader, believe I have a responsibility to this entire body. Together we look to the past and we build for the future. I appeal once again to my colleagues to remember the history we have as stewards, as servants to this institution; that we remember the responsibilities charged to us by the Constitution, responsibilities of advise and consent, and vote aye on cloture, and then vote up or down but vote one way or another on the nomination of Charles Pickering. To do any less than that does fail the history we have had the privilege to recognize and be part of. Indeed, it adds one more obstacle to the progress we could make as we go forward. Finally, it does ensure that with this new course foisted on the Senate, we will have to meet that radical departure from 200 years of history with responses that will reestablish a more regular order of action in the future. Mr. President, I close by simply saying I urge our colleagues to support an opportunity for an up-or-down vote--that is all we ask--on Judge Charles Pickering.

Mr. FRIST. Through the Chair, I will be happy to yield.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do. Let me talk to the managers before actually agreeing to anything. I have not talked with them about the scheduling. Before committing to a schedule, let me make an announcement right after this vote.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. For the information of all Senators, tomorrow the Senate will be in a period of morning business. There will be no rollcall votes during tomorrow's session. The hour is late, but it is well worth it. We completed action on both the Healthy Forests legislation today, and the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. On Monday, we will debate the Iraq supplemental. However, that conference report will be agreed to without a vote. We will also consider the Interior appropriations conference report on Monday, and Members can expect a vote on that sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. We will have more to say tomorrow about the schedule. I congratulate the managers of both bills that were completed today. It has been a very long and very productive day.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak for 5 minutes as in morning business.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as we prepare over the next several minutes to shift gears back to a very important piece of legislation, I just want to take this opportunity to comment on another issue and that is the issue of the economy. There is very good news, news that was released today, and that is that the economy grew by 7.2 percent in this last quarter--in July, August, and September. This to me is really a spectacular piece of news, especially as we know the people are following this economy very closely, especially to see what the response is to the President's tax relief package several months ago. Mr. President, 7.2 percent is spectacular in so many ways. In fact, it has been nearly 19 years--I guess the last date was in 1984--that the economy last saw such growth. This news is not totally unexpected. For the last several days I have come to the Senate Chamber to suggest that this is the sort of figure we could expect, in large part because of the policies we enacted earlier this year, specifically the tax reductions which we knew would result in such growth. Indeed, we are now seeing that hard data of growth--7.2 percent in the last quarter. This positive news was also reflected and added to by this morning's numbers which showed that personal consumption has increased at 6.6 percent as well. It is interesting that consumption makes up about 70 percent of our economic growth. That is, 70 percent of all of this economic growth is accounted for by consumption. If we looked at just that impact of consumption alone, we would have seen growth in our economy of 4.6 percent. Equally if not more important for the longer term, another measure, business investment, grew by 11.1 percent. To me, this suggests we will continue to see growth well into the future as they rebuild, as they reinvest, as they retool their factories and prepare for the future. Government spending, another component of growth which accounted for much of the growth earlier this year, was not the most important factor accounting for today's news. Indeed, Government spending only increased about 1.4 percent. I say that because a lot of people say we are just spending so much these days in terms of Government; that is why the economy is growing. But as the figures show, most of that growth is in this dramatic increase in consumption, an increase of 6.6 percent according to today's news. Maybe lost in the big news this morning is what really matters in this growth--the jobs issue. The Department of Labor reported this morning that the initial claims for unemployment declined by 5,000 last week, affirming this downward trend in unemployment. So this morning we have good news released. The numbers released today indeed indicate a ramp up to recovery. I do expect the growth in the quarters ahead will settle down to a more realistic and sustainable level. The point is, we are making progress. We are making real progress. The policies we put into place are beginning to take hold. We clearly have a lot more work to do. We must do more to create jobs and bring economic recovery to all of our citizens. Thus, we really can't rest on these reports today. But at the same time, in this body we must continue to work toward reducing the cost of doing business in this country. I immediately turn to issues we are talking about, both on the floor and off--health care, energy, class action, litigation costs. We need to remove barriers to investment and economic growth so employers can create jobs. Our work here in the Congress must go forward with renewed dedication. Today we do see firsthand the effects of the President's economic policies. Such results should encourage all of us to work even harder to bring economic recovery to the doorstep of every American.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 76 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Golden Gavel has long served the Senate to mark a Senator's 100th presiding hour and continues to represent our appreciation for the time these dedicated Senators contribute to presiding over the United States Senate, a very important duty. On the evening of Friday, October 17th, Senator John Sununu reached his 100th hour of presiding. As a Presiding Officer, his dedication and dependability are to be commended. I am truly grateful for his willingness to preside as scheduling conflicts arise especially on the not-so-popular Fridays and Mondays. He and his enthusiastic scheduling staff make every effort to do their part to carry their share of the presiding load with a smile. It is with sincere appreciation that I announce the second recipient of the golden gavel award for the 108th Congress, Senator John Sununu.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the passage of H.R. 1904, the previously agreed upon amendment No. 2046 be modified with the changes which are at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.