Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I yield back all time on both sides, and I ask the bill be set aside.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 247, S. 1053, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act; that the committee- reported substitute amendment be agreed to and treated as original text for purposes of further amendment, and the Snowe substitute, which is at the desk, be agreed to; further, that there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form under the control of the chairman and ranking members of the HELP Committee or their designees; that no other amendments be in order; further, that upon the use or yielding back of time the bill be read a third time; that at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, the Senate resume consideration of S. 1053 and there be 15 minutes of debate equally divided, followed by a vote on passage of the bill, all without intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent following the scheduled vote, the Senate immediately proceed to executive session and to consecutive votes on the following nominations on today's Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 382, 383, 385, and 386. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes equally divided between the two leaders or their designees prior to each vote; further, that following the votes, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, under the previous order Senator McConnell will be offering a sense-of-the-Senate amendment on the troops. We are currently working on an agreement to set up the vote for that for tomorrow morning. Therefore, we will have no more votes tonight. Senator Biden tonight will also be offering an amendment later. There will be no more votes tonight. We will be announcing when we will be voting tomorrow morning a little bit later this evening.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will immediately proceed to executive session and vote on two judicial nominations. The first vote will be on the nomination of Marcia Crone, to be a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas. The second vote will be on the nomination of Ronald White to be a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Following the two judge votes, the Senate will begin a period of morning business until 11:30 a.m. Following morning business, the Senate will resume debate on H.R. 2765, the District of Columbia appropriations bill. I reiterate that it is our desire to complete the DC appropriations bill today. The managers have been here awaiting further action on the bill; however, Members have not come forward with their amendments. If Senators have concerns regarding the legislation, if Senators disagree with the underlying bill, I hope they will offer their amendments and allow the Senate to decide the issue and ultimately complete this bill. Also, today the Appropriations Committee will be marking up the emergency supplemental request for Iraq's security. It is my intention to turn to the consideration of that measure as soon as it is available. Rollcall votes are therefore possible today and throughout the remaining sessions this week as we consider and complete our business with respect to the Iraq supplemental. The Senate will stand in recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. today for the weekly party conferences.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, after a lot of discussion over the course of the day, a lot of progress having been made due to the chairman and ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, the Democratic leader and I wanted to come to the floor and clarify and share with our colleagues how we see the next several days, and actually the first few days after our recess, play out in the sense that our mutual goal is that we address the Iraq and Afghanistan emergency supplemental bill in a way that allows adequate time, appropriate time for debate, discussion, amendments, and voting. Knowing this Iraq supplemental would be delivered to us about a week and a half ago, we set out with the plans of last week being very intensive in terms of hearings, the flow of information, with the goal this week of addressing this bill on the floor of the Senate. Today, a few minutes ago, the chairman and ranking member reported out the supplemental bill through the Appropriations Committee and thus it is ready to be brought to the floor, which we expect to be tomorrow. We will be propounding a unanimous consent here shortly in that regard. We would see that bill be debated on tomorrow, the next day, and Friday--for the next 3 days--again with adequate time for amendment and debate. Then at the close of business Friday we would begin our recess and spend that next week on the recess, which is through the 13th, and on Tuesday the 14th return and continue with that debate over that week. The agreement is essentially that we would complete action on that supplemental bill by the end of that week, the week of October 14th through the 17th, by close of business October 17. In coming to this agreement, it is with a lot of good faith on everybody's part that we will be able to consider all amendments that pertain to the supplemental request, recognizing there will be a lot of amendments on both sides of the aisle and that we deal with those in a way that is fair to both sides. That is the general framework, and I will turn to the Democratic leader to further elucidate on what this general understanding is.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, with that being the case, I think we have a good outline and good plan to address this very important issue, where the difference in philosophies will be expressed and where we can improve where this particular bill needs to be improved. With that understanding, I think we could announce no more votes for tonight.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will simply close and say it is important for our colleagues to understand that the Democratic leader and I and our assistant leaders and the managers have all worked very closely to come to this understanding, working with good faith as we go forward. I appreciate the cooperation on both sides of the aisle in that regard. With regard to tomorrow, I do ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, October 1, at 10:30 a.m., the Senate proceed to the consideration of the supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, provided further that it be for debate only until the hour of 12:30, and that the time be equally divided until that time.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we will be in a period of morning business for the purpose of making statements and introducing legislation. At 2 o'clock this afternoon, the Senate will resume consideration of the District of Columbia appropriations bill. It is still our desire to finish this bill this week. The managers were here Friday and will be here again today ready to make progress on the bill. I announced last Friday that any amendments offered during today's session will be stacked for votes beginning at approximately 5:30 p.m. today. If Members do not come forward with their amendments, it would be my hope that the bill could be brought to third reading and the Senate will then vote on passage of the bill. On the issue of DC school choice, we spent significant time last week on it, and the Mayor came to the Capitol imploring us to allow the District of Columbia schoolchildren to receive a decent education. We heard a lot of arguments from the other side as to why this should not happen. We heard from the other side that the District's public schoolchildren should be only allowed to go to a better school if the District's nonpublic schools submit a new, onerous, burdensome set of regulations. In other words, the nonpublic or private schools should have to pay for the failure of some of the District's schools. The logic of this type of argument simply is not clear. Children are not horses. They cannot be traded and they should not be traded. We also heard that because this plan is modest and cannot provide scholarships for all of the District's children, then none of the District's children should have this opportunity to benefit. William Raspberry today in his syndicated column said it very well when he said, ``How does it follow that nobody should get life vests, because there aren't enough to go around?'' That is a good question, made even more puzzling by the fact that the same critics who charge the program for not being generous enough say it is a radical departure from the status quo. Thomas Sowell, in his syndicated column today, likens this to the classic complaint that the food doesn't taste good, and even worse, there is not enough of it. Well, the fact of the matter is we have had three full debates on this topic of the District appropriations but concentrating on education in the District. Today will be our fourth day of debate and discussion on this issue. Despite all of these alleged concerns, the other side--the opposition--has not yet offered any amendments. We have not had them come forward and say this is our amendment; let's have a vote on the amendment. Thus, I am left with the conclusion that the opposition would prefer the schoolchildren in the District remain trapped in schools that are not giving them the opportunities to learn and to grow. I hope this is not the case and that we will press forward and work together to achieve passage of the bill this week. If we are unable to make progress on the bill today in terms of amendments, we will have votes this afternoon on our judicial nominees. Seven additional judges were reported last Thursday, and we will begin ordering votes on those nominations this week. This week, as I stated a couple of weeks ago now--almost two weeks ago--my intentions are to have the Senate begin the urgent supplemental request for Iraq and Afghanistan security. That discussion and debate is very important, and I have set aside this week, recognizing that we are going on recess next week, to address this very important issue, which is important because it looks at security in Iraq and in Afghanistan with a real focus on our troops who deserve that support. The full Senate will begin consideration of that bill as soon as it becomes available for floor action. I know we will have full and complete debate, looking at the various aspects of that bill on the floor of the Senate, and thus as we talked about on the floor at the end of last week in colloquies going back and forth, late nights are to be expected. We are at war. There is a war against terrorism. We are talking about security in Afghanistan and Iraq. It deserves the focus of this body. I have asked my colleagues to make their schedules available so we can have full participation. It does mean that during the days and, I suspect, well into the evenings this week, we will be participating in that debate. We do want to finish this emergency appropriations bill this week. Again, as I mentioned, next week we will be out on recess and into the week after that. The President has made it very clear that the urgency demands we address this bill as soon as possible. That will be this week, and it is our intention to complete that this week. I thank my colleagues in advance for what will be a challenging week for all of us. I expect the American people can be proud this week as we deliberate on the many complicated issues on which we will have votes to decide those issues and we will then complete our work on this request by the end of the week. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further action on S. Res. 219, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 1 p.m., Monday, September 29. I further ask 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 there then be a period of morning business until 2 o'clock, with the time equally divided in the usual form. Further, I ask consent that at 2 o'clock the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 2765, the District of Columbia appropriations bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, although we have not been able to finish the DC appropriations this week, we have addressed a number of significant, very important issues over the course of the week. Earlier in the week, we finished the Interior appropriations bill, after a lot of great work, fantastic work and leadership by Senator Conrad Burns and the ranking member. In addition, we completed final action on three appropriations conference reports, those being the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and the legislative branch bills. Those will now be sent to the President for his signature. I am also pleased that the Senate was able to respond, very appropriately and very quickly, on the Do Not Call legislation, although within several hours after passage, we had yet another setback, a setback in the sense that the will of the American people is being trumped by a decision made in a Colorado court on this issue of ``do not call.'' Earlier this week, a Federal judge in Oklahoma had ruled that the Federal Trade Commission had no authority to operate the Do Not Call Telemarketing Registry, which was just about ready to go into effect, and very quickly we responded with legislation. But then, last night, as most people know, a Colorado judge ruled that the registry restrictions were a violation of the first amendment. Even over the course of the morning, I can tell you, because of the number of phone calls that have come to me, and talking with constituents back home, as well as the news media, it clearly is the sentiment, the feeling of the overwhelming majority of Americans that these decisions make no sense. Americans this summer have signed up for that ``sound of silence'' in the evenings from that telephone ring right when they are sitting down for that very special time--dinner with their family--and there are the repetitive phone calls that start coming to them by telemarketers hawking the variety of wares with which we are all familiar. The daily lives of millions of people are interrupted each and every day--again and again--with that telephone ring interrupting meals and family time, interrupting their togetherness. You pick up the phone and hear the pitch. Every time I am in Tennessee, I hear about this. According to the FTC, as of September 16--the most recent information available--677,669 Tennessee phone numbers have been registered with the National Do Not Call Registry; over 187,000 of those registered by phone and over 490,000 by the Internet alone. As for parents, it is, as we all know, one of those important interests, and we are committed to do something about that. Yesterday, with the leadership of Chairman Billy Tauzin in the House, the House responded with legislation. Chairman McCain, along with Senators Ensign and Dorgan and many others in this body, worked on legislation identical to the Tauzin bill. We passed that bill. The House passed their bill. We passed our bill. Yet we now have this Colorado ruling, from late yesterday, which goes counter to the will of the American people. At this juncture we will have to review the decision to determine how best to proceed, and for telemarketers how we can put--and we will figure out some way to do it--some sort of permanent busy signal on the phones of families in Tennessee and indeed across the country. Finally, earlier this week, we were able to schedule and give consent to Senator DeWine's Video Voyeurism Prevention Act. Several important authorizations were completed this week, including the one we just did with the Small Business reauthorization, as well as the authorization for the Federal Maritime Commission. Senators McCain and Snowe guided passage of those measures. We also successfully negotiated an agreement to allow for Senate passage of the U.S. Olympic Committee Reform Act. Senator Campbell and McCain engaged in that effort and pushed ahead. Just a few moments ago, we also confirmed formally a number of military nominations, including Gordon England to be Secretary of the Navy. I would like to say, also, that we confirmed six district judges this week. Again, steady progress has been made with respect to these judicial nominations. Yet I very quickly have to remind my colleagues that we have an additional 12 judges that are now waiting on the Executive Calendar. I will continue to work with the Democratic leader to schedule Senate votes on those remaining nominations. Let me close by saying--this is really to notify my colleagues--on the Executive Calendar we have a whole number of--too many, I think-- nonjudicial nominations that are pending for floor action. I know that individual Members may have specific concerns with some of these nominations, but I am also aware that Senators will hold these nominations so we cannot address them on the floor for unrelated issues. Because we are now coming down to the closing weeks of this session, I do hope and encourage each and every one of our Members to address, from their own perspective, these nominations, and if there is something holding up consideration from the floor, to work with us and to allow these individuals to be scheduled for votes. We have nominations, in fact, that have been on the Executive Calendar since March, again, waiting for us to act. I hope each of us will address this very important issue. I do thank my colleagues in advance for addressing this over the coming days.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, on Monday the Senate will resume consideration of the District of Columbia appropriations bill. It is my hope that the Senate will complete action on this measure early in the week. On Monday, the managers will continue to work through remaining amendments to the bill. I do expect to have votes during Monday's session. If amendments are offered to the bill, then it is possible we could have votes on those amendments Monday evening. If we are unable to make further progress on the bill, I would expect a vote on any available nominations.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, 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. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 289, S. 1451.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to the consideration of H.R. 3087, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, 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. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements related thereto be printed in the Record, with no intervening action.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 235 and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, the managers' amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, 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.