Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, before we vote I will take a minute to outline the schedule. This will be the last vote prior to the Presidents Day recess. The Senate will be in session tomorrow. However, no rollcall votes will occur during Friday's session. At the conclusion of Friday's business, we will adjourn until Monday, February 24, under the order. At noon on Monday, February 24, Senator Chambliss will deliver George Washington's Farewell Address. Following the address, the Senate will resume consideration of the Estrada nomination. In addition, on February 24, we will consider S. 151, the Protect Act. Members should expect to vote on passage of that bill at approximately 5:30. I will notify all Members when the exact time is locked in. I thank all Members for their cooperation during this busy period. Again, this will be the last vote before the recess. The vote will be conducted in a few minutes, and the Senate will be in session tomorrow.

Mr. FRIST. Yes.

Mr. FRIST. That assurance will be given.

Mr. FRIST. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell) is necessarily absent.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 1, which is at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as you can see, the Chamber, at least on this side of the aisle, is full and ready to vote. Therefore, I modify the request to ask that the vote occur no later than 1 week from this Friday, 7 days from now.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, because I think we have had adequate debate, and discussion--Miguel Estrada is a well-qualified nominee, and there is a shortage of judges in the United States of America, a critical shortage--I modify my request to ask that the vote occur no later than 2 weeks from this Friday.

Mr. FRIST. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we opened the Senate a little over 12 hours ago. At the outset, I mentioned that I hoped we would have the opportunity to have a good, robust discussion over the day, and that after that discussion we would have an opportunity to vote up or down on this outstanding, well-qualified nominee. I am delighted, as I look around the Chamber, to see at practically every Republican desk someone behind it ready to vote. The discussion has been good today. It has been complete today. And as my colleagues on the other side of the aisle mentioned this morning, everything, in essence, has been said about this well-qualified nominee. If that is the case and we, indeed, have given sufficient time: It has been 5 days, since last Wednesday; we have spent 5 days on this nominee talking about his qualifications, which has been fascinating over the course of today. Each time I listened to one of our Senators, I learned something. Every time, I got more and more excited about this particular nominee. We have attempted to have the up-or-down vote, in fact, on three previous occasions. We have had a unanimous consent request, and at this juncture I will again try to reach an agreement with my Democratic colleagues. I therefore ask unanimous consent that there be an additional--an additional--6 hours for debate on the Estrada nomination; provided, further, that the time be equally divided between the chairman and the ranking member, or their designees, and that following the conclusion of that time, the Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I therefore modify my request to ask that the vote occur no later than Friday of this week.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. The Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Miguel Estrada to be a circuit judge for the DC Circuit. We have spent 4 days and over 20 hours debating this eminently qualified nominee. Yesterday 14 Senators participated in the debate. To afford Senators ample time to fulfill their constitutional advise and consent responsibilities and to facilitate unfettered consideration of this nomination, I expect tonight to be a very late night. Senators are encouraged to come to the floor over the course of today to engage in this debate. The Democratic leader and I have discussed options to conclude the Senate's constitutional responsibilities as they pertain to this nominee. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to object to any time agreement and refuse to set a time for a dispositive vote. My objective is to provide all Senators with sufficient opportunity to debate the merits of this nominee and then to move this nomination to a final vote. Therefore, once again, I encourage Senators to come to the floor today and this evening and, if necessary, tomorrow and tomorrow evening, to express their views so a final vote can be scheduled. I do hope the Democratic leader will assist me in achieving this goal. In addition, the Senate continues to wait for the completion of the very important conference report on the omnibus appropriations bill. Those discussions have gone on over the course of the last several days, well into last night and over the course of this morning. This omnibus appropriations bill--I believe I speak for both sides of the aisle--is a must-pass item to be addressed and ultimately passed prior to any recess.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I want to provide ample opportunity. We have been on this nomination since last Wednesday. I would expect we will be here very late into the evening; I don't know what time. But if we are to achieve having a recess at all, I do want to be able to fully address the issue of the omnibus appropriations and the Estrada nomination. I would think it is going to be very late tonight, but I can't give an exact time.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of the assistant Democratic leader. My objective is to fully address the nomination of this outstanding, well-qualified candidate. If we really get to the point where the other side of the aisle says there is nothing more to be said, I would simply ask that we do take this to a vote and give us in this body the opportunity to vote, yes, we are for the nomination or, no, we are against the nomination, if we really have had full debate, and from what I have just heard we are getting close to that point, and if everything has been said. But the one thing I don't want to happen is for people to be critical: We didn't have enough time; we didn't have enough opportunity to debate. Our willingness to at least present why we believe Miguel Estrada is extremely well qualified is close to being fulfilled. And if we get to the point where there is nothing more to say on the other side of the aisle, then we would expect, if that is the case, an up-or-down vote. I think that signal is being sent strongly through our colleagues and what has happened on the floor this week. I think America is paying attention, recognizing that at this juncture, we believe Miguel Estrada is well qualified and that there is a critical, drastic shortage of Federal judges today. When you put those two together--that we feel strongly Miguel Estrada is a well- qualified judge and that there is a drastic shortage of judges and our responsibility to address that issue, which we are doing well on the floor now--we would expect that up-or-down vote in the next couple of days.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I agree, in essence, those are the three choices, and as majority leader, I consider what I feel is stalling on this nomination and not allowing an up-or-down vote of sufficient importance that we will continue to address it. There are many other important issues this Senate must address. If we could just agree on an up-or-down vote right now, which the distinguished assistant Democratic leader has said they are not going to do on the other side of the aisle, we could go on to address these other important issues. I do want to make it clear, both to this body, to the House of Representatives, and to America, this side of the aisle is ready for an up-or-down vote since, as we just agreed, there has probably already been adequate debate put forward, and I think it is important for America to understand your side of the aisle--whether you use the word ``filibuster'' or not--is obstructing or stalling the process which is important to our judicial system and to our responsibilities, our constitutional responsibilities in this body.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, today the Senate will continue the consideration of the nomination of Miguel Estrada to be a DC Circuit Court judge. The deliberations on the Senate floor yesterday were hearty and robust, and I believe many Senators have now had an opportunity to express their views. It is my objective to reach an agreement with the Democratic leader regarding a time for vote on this nominee. The schedule for this week, and until the Estrada nomination is completed, is dependent upon reaching an agreement with respect to the pending nomination. I will continue to discuss with the Democratic leader the options for completing work on this important nomination. In the absence of any agreement, the Senate should expect very late evenings. My objective is to complete this nomination process with a vote this week. The Senate also needs to complete action on the omnibus appropriations conference report when it becomes available. The conferees worked well into last night on the conference report, and I will be speaking to the chairman of the Appropriations Committee as to their success in closing out that conference. These are two very important pieces of business which must be addressed this week. As a reminder, the Senate will recess today from 12:30 to 2:15 in order to accommodate the weekly policy luncheons. Finally, I would forewarn all Senators that the Senate will remain in session in order to complete the Estrada nomination as well as the omnibus conference report. I thank all Senators for their attention and look forward to the debate over the course of today, and hopefully we can reach some agreement, either this morning or this afternoon, on a time certain for a vote.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Let me remind the Senator, I would like to do all three this evening. We can plan on having the first vote at 5:15 and then we can discuss about the other two. I think it would be our intent to have all three tonight.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Miguel Estrada to be a circuit judge for the DC Circuit. On Thursday we attempted to reach a consent agreement which would have allowed for a vote on that nomination during today's session. Unfortunately, that consent was not granted last Thursday. However, it is still my hope to work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to set a time certain for a vote on the confirmation of this important nomination. I know there are additional Members who want to speak on the nomination, and I hope they do so today, that they take advantage of the opportunity, beginning in a few minutes, over the course of today. I do want to express our willingness to go as long as necessary tonight to allow for that open discussion, that open debate, so colleagues do have the opportunity to express their wishes. I do want to make sure my colleagues understand it is our intent to finish this nomination and vote on this nomination as early as possible this week. I would love to have that opportunity to do so either later tonight or tomorrow--again recognizing that it is important people have the opportunity to speak. Again, we are perfectly happy to stay here as long as necessary tonight. In addition, three district court judges were reported by the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. We are working towards an agreement for a vote on one of those nominations this evening, or possibly all three nominations this evening. We will report shortly after discussion with the leadership on both sides of the aisle, but we expect the first vote to be at 5:15 this afternoon. Also, as a reminder, the current continuing resolution is set to expire on Friday of this week. We are still hoping the appropriators will complete their work on the conference report and therefore the Senate would consider the conference report later this week, as soon as it becomes available. We are also attempting to clear several important items that are on the Legislative Calendar. Each may require a short period of debate this week and a rollcall vote. Thus, we have a very full week over the next 5 days. Senators should expect a busy session this week and, indeed, as I mentioned earlier, late nights are possible. It is likely that there will be several late nights this week, including tonight if people will take advantage of that, in terms of discussing and bringing their views to the floor.

Mr. FRIST. I yield to the Senator.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will close. We have the opportunity of a very productive and very useful week. When you look at the continuing resolution and completing the appropriations bills with the omnibus package and the three judges tonight, if we can finish the Estrada nomination early enough in the week, there are two other bills we are working on, including the Moscow treaty. There is other legislation that is to follow. We have the opportunity of a very productive week before going out on recess. We have to keep the train moving. The reason why I mention that is, if members want to talk on the other for 30 minutes or 45 minutes each tonight, we want to make that opportunity available, and we hope the other side will seize that opportunity since we express that willingness. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I think for today, of course, we will agree to that. But again, I want to come back to the fact of whether it is competitive and the accusations of a filibuster going back and forth. That is going to sort of occur. Let me just say on the part of the chairman and myself that as long as we are having good participation, it is important--not just listening to people because they want to get out and talk for an hour, which looks like a filibuster--to the American people that we work in good faith to come to what I hope will be a fair up-or-down vote in a reasonable period of time, and games are not in order and are not to be played. At the end of the day, we expect no filibuster--again, that is a decision which will be made on your side--because the American people deserve better. If there is insistence on a filibuster, we will use everything within our power being in the majority under the Senate rules to bring this to an up-or-down vote.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I announce that the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Lott), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), and the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Nickles) are necessarily absent.

Mr. FRIST. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell) is necessarily absent.

Mr. FRIST. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell) and the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) are necessarily absent.