Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period for morning business.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 1, as passed, be printed.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, let us make it 10-minute votes.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, when we finish this bill tonight, my expectation would be that we would not have votes tomorrow. That is assuming we are going to finish. I encourage anyone who has an amendment that needs to be considered to get it to the managers within the next 15 minutes. If we can do that, we can finish tonight and we will be able to consider each of those amendments, as the Democratic leader said. I know some people want to talk for an hour but I ask Senators to keep their comments to a few minutes and we can vote throughout the night. We will have the opportunity after final passage tonight, or through tomorrow, to make statements--for those who wish to continue the debate.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, very briefly, it is almost 6:25, and we have just completed our 12th rollcall vote. We still have a fair amount of work to do. But in discussion with the managers of the bill and the Democratic leader, it is our intent to finish this bill tonight. I optimistically think we can finish in 2 or 3 hours, or this bill can go until midnight, or 1, or 2, or 3 in the morning. Part of the problem we are having now is that people are still coming up and submitting amendments, and because we have been working in good faith over the last 2 weeks in the amendment process, we have not set strict filing deadlines. Now that we are in the last several hours of consideration, I want to make the case and, in fact, plead with my colleagues that any amendments that need to be considered--let us hear about them. Let the managers hear about them in the next 15 minutes. That is the only way we can get a list to deal with them, and we will have rollcall votes on those that are necessary. There will be a certain number of those amendments looked at by the managers. The ones I encourage you to bring to them for consideration to be accepted need to be budget neutral and have bipartisan support, and they need to be scored by the CBO. People keep bringing amendments forward now. I will ask--and then I want the Democratic leader to comment--that people, in the next 15 minutes or so, make sure the managers have the amendments. That way we can move ahead. We will finish tonight.

Mr. FRIST

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. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 2:30 the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to a McConnell or designee amendment regarding Alzheimer's, to be followed immediately by a vote in relation to the Durbin amendment on the same subject, again, with no second degrees in order to either amendment prior to the votes; provided further that the Senate then proceed to a vote in relation to the Dorgan second-degree amendment on premiums to the Grassley-Baucus amendment No. 1092. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that following disposition of the Dorgan amendment, the Senate then proceed to a vote in relation to the underlying Grassley-Baucus amendment, with no other amendments in order to amendment No. 1092 other than the mentioned Kyl and Dorgan amendments. I also ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes equally divided for debate between each of the votes in this series as well.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from Kentucky.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we have no objection.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment as a mark of further respect for the late Senator Strom Thurmond.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Tomorrow, the Senate will be in a period for morning business. Members will be able to pay tribute to our departed friend and colleague Strom Thurmond. We will give Members an opportunity to submit statements for the Record so they can be compiled for a printed tribute to Senator Thurmond. There will be no rollcall votes tomorrow. Again, I thank my colleagues for their hard work over the past several weeks. We will have more to say about recent accomplishments of the Senate tomorrow and the events which culminated in tonight's passage--or this morning's passage--of the historic prescription drug benefits bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, en bloc; that the preambles be agreed to, en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to these resolutions be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following Senate resolutions, en bloc: S. Res. 186, S. Res. 187, S. Res. 188, and S. Res. 190.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 10:15 a.m., Friday, June 27. I further ask that following the prayer and the 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 Members permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I now ask for its second reading and object to further proceedings on this matter.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand that S. 11 is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time, the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1474, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 1334 be inserted in lieu thereof; that the bill, as amended, be read the third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements regarding the measure be printed in the Record. I further ask unanimous consent that S. 1334 be returned to the calendar.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 168, S. 1334.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives the adjournment resolution, it be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, provided the text is identical to the resolution that is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, on behalf of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I object to my own request.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on today's Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 48 and 49, the nominations of Daniel Pearson and Charlotte A. Lane, to be members of the U.S. International Trade Commission, which have been pending on the Executive Calendar since March 5. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed, 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, this morning the Senate will immediately resume consideration of S. 1, the prescription drug benefit/Medicare bill. Under the previous agreement, the Senate will begin two back-to- back rollcall votes shortly. We were in late last night, and we set those votes to occur the first thing this morning. The voting schedule will be as follows: The first vote will be in relation to the Harkin amendment No. 991 dealing with demonstration programs. The second vote will be in relation to the Edwards amendment No. 1052 dealing with drug advertising. For the remainder of the day, we will continue to debate and vote on amendments to S. 1. We have made very good progress over the last 2 weeks on this bill. The Democratic leader and I were just talking, and we still have 50 amendments pending. It is my hope a number of these amendments will be disposed of by voice vote. I know the managers are working along that line. Inevitably, though, we are going to have a very heavy voting schedule today and into this evening. Members should expect rollcall votes throughout the day and, if necessary, into the wee hours of the morning on Friday. We will know a little bit later today the pace of these amendments and how they can best be handled. My intention was to finish this bill before the July 4 recess. I think everybody is working in good faith to do just that. With the cooperation of all Members, and if we are able to continue voting throughout the day and the debate-and-amendment process, we may be able to pass this legislation this evening.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, very briefly, this amendment is the culmination of several days of debate where both Democrats and Republicans have come together, again bringing different issues to the table, but together it is a positive, strong amendment for the American people and for seniors. On the one hand, it invests $6 billion, that is not in the underlying bill, in preventive medicine, which almost does not exist in traditional Medicare, and in chronic disease management. All of us know 5 percent of the beneficiaries are responsible for 50 percent of the cost and we know we need to manage those people better. So we have $6 billion for preventive medicine and chronic disease management. In addition, there is $6 billion to support the concept of private enterprise, competition, the private entities, which we believe is not the only salvation but critical if we are going to address the long- term, 75-year unfunded liabilities that are incurred when we add a new prescription drug benefit. For that reason, I urge our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to recognize that we worked together, Democrats and Republicans, to come to this carefully negotiated agreement that will be to the benefit of seniors and individuals with disabilities. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.