Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will take just a very brief moment to update our Members as to where we are in our recent discussions. We have spent most of today, while debate has been underway, continuing discussions in terms of the committee resolution. Pending on the floor is that resolution making the majority party appointments for the 108th Congress. A number of the issues have been raised, both on the floor as well as between the leaders, and we have made tremendous progress. We have, over the course of the day, resolved many of the concerns that have been raised. I believe we are very close to working out an agreement that will let us adopt the respective committee resolution-- and very quickly begin work on the appropriations bill. My hope is that over the course of this evening and in the morning, the last of these issues will have been worked through and we can achieve the objective of organizing the committees. I will say that as a backstop, or a preventive measure, I am compelled tonight to file cloture on the resolution in the event-- again, this is not anticipated at all because of the great progress that has been made--in the event that we are unable to reach an agreement on the committee resolution. Again, I am very hopeful that early tomorrow we will be ready to pass the respective party resolutions and begin the appropriations process. Cloture Motion

Mr. FRIST. I send a cloture motion to the desk to S. Res. 18 making majority party appointments for the 108th Congress.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

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., Tuesday, January 14. 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 12:30 p.m., with the time equally divided and Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess from the hour of 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for the weekly party caucuses.

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 under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in closing, we have a lot of work to do. We got off to a good start last week with the unemployment insurance. We are making progress in terms of negotiations. But--and I mentioned this a few moments ago--the two issues that we have to address, as we look forward to this potential recess 8 or 9 days from now, are: The basic organization of the Senate, simply getting the committee assignments made; second, appropriations: And if we do not complete them, we will be back during the week, after the holiday.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I just want to close and say that we have worked together, both sides of the aisle, aggressively over the last week. I do believe it is time for us to, as much as possible, bring this to a close, at least in terms of getting our committees set up and running. I am ready to close unless my colleague has anything to add.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will take a moment and update Members of the status of the committee resolution. I know we have had a discussion and some debate of this on the floor, both in the last hour and earlier today. I will reassure my colleagues that we have been working in good faith to try to resolve the outstanding issues which would allow us to go forward and do something that is very fundamental to the operation of this body, in fact necessary for us to go forward with the nature of the business. It is what the Senate is all about. We do have 11 new Senators who simply are not on committees, who do not have the opportunity to fully participate in that process as we look at the issues surrounding us, whether it is war, homeland security, or the funding of the appropriations bills that were just mentioned. I remind my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that normally this so-called committee resolution is adopted in the first day or two of the session with very little fanfare. Again, we are talking about after an election, when there is a clear-cut majority based on that election, that we appoint the committees and their chairmen, which is really what we are talking about. That allows us to proceed with the important business before the Senate. It was mentioned earlier in the day that the precedent has been set to go beyond what we would like to do and that is address committee membership so that we can begin with the hearings and the discussion. It was mentioned that the precedent has been set that we include a range of other issues, such as committee funding and space. I remind my colleagues--and I have had an opportunity to do that with a number of them today but not everybody--that the precedent in Congress after Congress, when we begin with a clear-cut majority based on elections, is the traditional practice of limiting these resolutions, usually carried out in the first couple of days, of naming committee members. Some Members have mentioned the agreements of the 107th Congress as the precedent or the basis where we have to consider all of these other issues. Let's not forget that the 107th Congress was a unique Congress, unlike the Congresses before, in that in that Congress we had 50-50, something that neither side had fully addressed or thought about because it had not occurred in a generation or so of this body. That being the case, and very appropriately, this committee resolution did address other issues such as space and the other issues that were mentioned today. But it is not 50-50 beginning this Congress. This is not the 107th Congress; it is the 108th Congress. The American people spoke very clearly in the most recent elections and provided for a majority--yes, in this case a Republican majority. Again, I hope we can proceed. I think we have made real progress in all of our discussions, but now is the time we need to come together and get on with the Nation's business. Therefore, I hope we can proceed in the traditional manner that when we begin a Congress and there is a clear-cut majority based on the elections that we pass the committee resolution, establish the committee membership and their chairmanships and move towards working on the issues that are important to the American people: security of the homeland; we have important nominations that have to do with homeland security. Until we get the committees actually set up and established, Members, such as the Member occupying the Chair, do not sit on any committees and cannot fully participate. They cannot vote because they are not on that committee yet. That applies to the appropriations bills as well. We are trying to finish the business from the last Congress, which because of the indecision and a whole range of issues we were not fully able to address in the 107th Congress. Now we are working very hard, in a bipartisan way, on these so-called appropriations bills or spending bills. The American people at this juncture really expect no less of us. If it is not confusing now, it is going to get very confusing as to why we cannot even name the committees and their chairmen. The American people do not want a continuation of an inability of this body to function, to carefully consider the appropriations bills and the nominations through the committee structure. I have been keeping an open mind and in truth have really encouraged Members on our side of the aisle to not come out and say we should move forward because we are in the majority. I have encouraged them to sit back and let the negotiations continue. Over the last 7 days, we have addressed this whole range of issues and have felt obligated to extend, at least in our discussions, beyond just naming the committee members and chairmanships and to talk about space. We talked at length about other committees and the way particular committees should be organized and the space both within the Capitol and among the committees. We have worked in good faith and we have worked productively on a whole range of issues. Having said that, we need to proceed with the business of the Senate, and what I have observed today is that we are unable to adequately address appropriations, the nominations for the Treasury which the President has addressed and the 31 nominations of the judiciary, with vacancies around the country, which we really cannot address until we do something very simple, and that is appoint who is on the committees, which we have already decided, by the way. The American people should know we have already decided who is going to be on these committees and who the chairmen are. Having said this, I need to put everyone on notice that if an agreement is not reached shortly--and we will be working through this evening as we have throughout the course of today--if we do not reach an agreement shortly--and by that I mean very soon, very soon--I will be moving forward with the committee resolution. The resolution is simple: That is, who is on the committees, which has already been decided, who those chairmen are. This may or may not delay the consideration of the appropriations package of fiscal year 2003. My goal had been that we do what is normally done in the Congress in the first several days: Appoint committee chairmen and systematically address the appropriations bills left over from last year. Now we are 1 day into this week and we have not made progress sufficiently in negotiations to be able to appoint those committees. I am beginning to think we are not going to be able to complete those appropriations bills this week--again, business left over from the last Congress. In any event, the Senate will not adjourn for a recess next week unless and until the Senate completes these two items. The very basic one, appointing who is on committees, that has already been decided. Again, we need to come to that very quickly. The other item is the appropriations. Great progress has been made. But until we have the committee structure in place, we have a chairman at that juncture and we have 11 Senators, who have been duly elected, able to participate in that process, as I have said previously, we will remain in session to get our work done. What we will do if we do not make adequate progress is return next week, on Tuesday, after the holiday and remain in session each day and evening until we can complete both of these must- do items. I yield to my colleague.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I am ready to close. Let me yield 3 minutes to my colleague from Texas.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. As I mentioned earlier, we hope to have the committee resolution agreed to. Members should be on notice that rollcall votes are therefore possible beginning tomorrow morning.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. In 1992, we were at war. Had we just gone through a fall in the stock market? Had we just got through the corporate scandals? Had we just had a 9/11 incident at that time?

Mr. FRIST. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. FRIST. The issue of deficit is of concern to our entire body. But if you look back at history, what was the size of the economy in 1992?

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, there will be a period for morning business until noon, with the time equally divided, and Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. It is my hope that an agreement can be reached regarding the committee resolutions on which both sides are working very hard at this juncture. Once these committee resolutions are adopted, the committees will then be able to begin their important and very urgent work addressing the issues surrounding homeland security, the war, health care, our economy, and the important agenda before the American people, an agenda they expect us to address as soon as possible. So I do not want these discussions to progress indefinitely because it is important we begin to address the agenda before us in this 108th Congress. We are making progress, and I am very hopeful over the course of the morning that discussions will continue and I will be able to report back on the progress and, ultimately, agreement on these committee resolutions. One example is that of the Senate Appropriations Committee which is poised to meet to complete action on the fiscal year 2003 bills which is unfinished business from last year. Before we address our agenda for the coming year in the 108th Congress, both sides of the aisle made a commitment to finish last year's business. The importance of proceeding with these committee resolutions is that, as of today, the new Senators do not have committee assignments. Although both sides made the assignments, until we officially adopt the committee resolutions, they are not on any committees in the Senate. It is my hope that this agreement can be reached in short order on the committees and that the resolutions can be agreed to after we agree to it at the leadership level and in our caucuses by voice vote. However, at this time we are not quite there, and I regret to say that rollcall votes are still possible today. Over the course of the morning, as negotiations continue, I will be back on the floor to advise the Senate about the day's schedule.

Mr. FRIST. Yes.

Mr. FRIST. I thank the Senator.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for one minute?

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand H.J. Res. 2 is at the desk and is due for a second reading.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand H.R. 16 is at the desk and is due for a second reading.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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, just to update our membership, I think that we have made tremendous progress, to be honest with you, in terms of the last 6 or 7 days on the committee resolutions. There are a couple of issues that we have worked on all day today and yesterday, and I know that is not apparent before the Senate, but there has been real progress. What we would like to do--it is an objective for both sides-- is to have the committees organized. There are 21 committees with new chairmen, and the Presiding Officer is one of the newer Members right now who does not have a committee presence. That is the sort of thing we are waiting on, and we have all agreed that we need to have that done as soon as possible. The new Members, right now, don't sit on any of the 21 committees. We are working to get the committee assignments on both sides of the aisle. That is the particular issue that we are talking about now and putting the new committee chairmen in place. As we just heard, we will be able to do that in the very near future.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I thank the leadership on the other side of the aisle because we have had a very productive week. For our colleagues in the Senate and also the people who watch these proceedings, I want to reiterate that we have all been working in good faith on a range of issues with respect to these committee resolutions. I very much appreciate that cooperation.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until noon Monday, January 13. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that there then be a period of morning business until 2 p.m. with the time equally divided and with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.