Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning there will be a period of morning business, as just mentioned, until the hour of 10:30 a.m., with the time equally divided and Senators permitted to speak and to introduce bills. Shortly, I expect to have an agreement to allow us to go forward on the committee resolutions. Following completion of the committee resolutions, we will turn to the appropriations bill. I understand amendments will be offered to that measure, and therefore Members should expect votes throughout the day today. If the committee resolutions take a little longer than expected--although, again, I anticipate us bringing those committee resolutions to a close shortly--it is my hope to begin consideration of the appropriations bill in the interim, until we can reach a final agreement on the two committee membership resolutions. For the remainder of the week, if the Senate makes substantial progress on the appropriations bill each day--and I should add it is going to take a lot of focus and a lot of discipline to address these appropriations bills today, tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night, and throughout this week--it is still possible that we could finish this week. If we are able to finish our business this week, then we will proceed with the recess next week as originally planned. But, as I have said before, if these items are not completed this week, we will resume the legislative session next Tuesday and remain in session until those items are completed. I thank all Members in advance for their cooperation. I had the opportunity to talk to the Democratic leader last night after we closed, and I think, once again, we are making substantial progress in addressing the issues before us, in terms of organization as well as the Nation's business as we address the appropriations bills.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that nominations to the Office of Inspector General, except the Office of Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency, be referred in each case to the committee having primary jurisdiction over the Department, Agency, or entity, and if and when reported in each case, then to the Committee on Governmental Affairs for not to exceed 20 calendar days, except that in cases when the 20-day period expires while the Senate is in recess, the committee shall have 5 additional calendar days after the Senate reconvenes to report the nomination. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that if the nomination is not reported after the expiration of that period, the nomination be automatically discharged and placed on the Executive Calendar.

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, on Thursday, there will be 2 hours of debate in relation to the pending Byrd amendment regarding homeland security. Members should therefore expect a rollcall vote at approximately 12 or 12:30 p.m. in relation to the Byrd amendment. Senators should be advised of additional amendments and, therefore, additional votes are expected during the course of Thursday's session. A late night is contemplated in order to make substantial progress or perhaps even to complete action on the omnibus appropriations bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 10 a.m., Thursday, January 16. 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 the Senate then resume consideration of H.J. Res. 2 as under the order.

Mr. FRIST

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

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 understand the Democratic leader is prepared to offer his resolution at this time.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the resolution, as modified, be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; further, that immediately upon its passage, a joint leadership letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I am pleased to inform my colleagues that we are finally prepared to adopt our respective committee resolutions. It gives me great pleasure, after negotiation in good faith by both sides that we are bringing this issue to a conclusion. I believe this understanding for this 108th Congress is fair to both sides of the aisle. With this agreement, I am grateful that we are able to proceed with assigning committee seats and that we will be able to begin what we are here to accomplish and what we are all about in this Nation's business. I do want to thank Members on both sides of the aisle for their patience as we have worked constructively together--Democrat and Republican--to accomplish what we are about to do. I particularly thank the Democratic leader, and, as I mentioned this morning and I think he mentioned as well late last night and throughout the course of today, we have had both of our staffs working together very closely. So I thank the Democratic leader for his efforts. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending resolution be modified with the change that I now send to the desk.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume consideration of S. Res. 18.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will take this opportunity to update Members as to where we are in the process. We have been working in very good faith--I might add, frustrating in many ways, but very good faith--making progress over the last 8 or 9 days. That is the committee resolution. As I pointed out earlier this morning and last night, in order to get on with the Nation's business, it is important to organize our committees so Members can be on committees. On the Republican side, we began this process, assigning Republican Members to their various committee assignments. I assume, that being very basic, the other side has done that as well. The American people do want Congress to continue to tackle the challenges we face today as a country, homeland security, the issues surrounding the spending bills and appropriations bills from the last Congress.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask that morning business be closed, and I now send a resolution to the desk which would make majority party committee appointments.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today there will be a period of morning business until 12:30 p.m., with the time equally divided and Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes. Last night, I closed saying that I remain hopeful an agreement can be reached as soon as possible with respect to the committee resolution which, very simply, allows us to proceed with Senate business and with appointment of our committees and the chairmen. Again, as I mentioned last night, I want to put my colleagues on notice that if we are unable to reach accord in a short period of time, it will be my intent to begin consideration of the resolution. Again, it is very simple. It just names the chairmen and the Republican members of the committees. In addition, the appropriations process for fiscal year 2003 absolutely must be completed. Members should be aware that the Senate will finish these matters or it will be necessary to return after the holiday on Monday and be in session through next week. I mentioned that last night in closing. But again I want to make sure my colleagues understand that we have two matters that are of critical importance to the fundamental organization of this body, No. 1; and, No. 2, on the appropriations bills that are the unfinished business from last year, we have an obligation to the American people to complete. As the negotiations progress over the course of the morning--and, again, discussions continued well into the evening last night and began early this morning--as those negotiations progress, I will advise the Senate about the day's schedule. Rollcall votes are, therefore, possible each day this week, including Friday, and it may be necessary to begin to have late evenings until we complete the appropriations bill. I think we could make real progress over the next several minutes and the next hour. But if not and if, in my judgment, we are just at a point where our business comes to a halt, it is important that we come forward on the floor of the Senate with the resolution on those committees. I think we will have a productive day today. I am optimistic that we will. We have negotiated in good faith over the last week and a half. Now is the time to get on with the Nation's business.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, again, I am trying to have discussions in good faith. If in the next hour or hour and a half it is clear to me that no progress is being made--because by the time we have the policy luncheons, that will be 2 o'clock, and by the time we get back out here, it will be 3 or 4, and in essence we have lost a day. I do not want to make any commitment. I understand. That is why day after day I have not gone public, and I appreciate the Democratic leadership doing the same. But now all our colleagues are recognizing that our responsibility is to the United States of America and to this body, and we simply cannot leave next week with these things pending. If I wait until tomorrow or the next day before we bring this to a head, it will be clear that we are going to be here every single day. Right now, I think we have a chance. If we can do the committee resolution today--this morning--I think we can very quickly go to the appropriations process, the committee will be organized, and we can consider that legislation. Because so much work has already been done, we could, in fact, complete this and be able to have the recess that we initially planned. But if it is not done this morning or early this afternoon, I don't see how we will be able to do it.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, my intention is to review it with everybody who has been involved in the negotiations over the next several minutes or hour. But it is time for us to move ahead. So, very shortly. I hesitate to do so, to be very straightforward, because the overall negotiations have gone very well, and I did not in any way want to interrupt those negotiations. But at this point I am receiving phone calls from our colleagues, including the 11 freshmen, who, even if we met right now with committees, are simply not on those committees and are asking: What do we do? We came here. We were elected with the majority, and we are not on committees. We are not allowed. It is incumbent upon me to get to it sometime very shortly. It may be this afternoon. It may be this morning. But sometime today we need to bring to a head the very simple Republican resolution to appoint chairmen, which we ratified on this side, and to appoint committees.

Mr. FRIST. Absolutely.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Again, progress has been made. I appreciate the comments. I expect continuing progress to be made such that tomorrow we will have a very successful day in progressing the agenda that the American people expect.

Mr. FRIST. I yield.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Again, the hope is that on Wednesday we will pass the committee resolutions and begin the appropriations bill. Once we are able to begin the appropriations bill, all Senators should expect busy sessions, with votes each day. We will remain in session in order to complete that measure. I thank all Members for their cooperation.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I hope we can agree to this resolution in short order. Following its approval, we will proceed to the minority committee appointments, which will allow the Senate to begin the real work.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, January 15. 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 there then be a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m., with the time equally divided and Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.