Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request, all en bloc.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will continue with our business, but I have to stop a moment and note that both of these bills, S. 22 and S. 23, address an issue that is very close to my heart because they focus on reform of a medical liability system, or a medical malpractice system that is just flat out broken. The sad thing about it is that the patients suffer. Future mothers--women who are pregnant--have to worry about whether an obstetrician will be available if they begin to have problems during their pregnancy. Over half the counties in America don't have an obstetrician. If you are so unfortunate as to have an accident driving home tonight or in to work tomorrow, you want to make sure there is a neurosurgeon on call to be at that hospital to treat you in the event of a traumatic accident. The truth is neurosurgeons today are fleeing from taking trauma emergency calls because of the likelihood--no matter how good they are, no matter what their past record is, or no matter what they do--of being sued by predatory personal injury trial lawyers who are after them because they can make a buck. That is the reality we are talking about. People should be able to depend on access to good quality of care, whether it is delivering a baby that future moms have to worry about--and in America it shouldn't happen--or having to worry about whether there is somebody appropriate to treat you in the event there is trauma. That is where the vote is going to be when we debate these two bills, and hopefully we will be debating these bills sometimes in the next 3 or 4 days. I do have to add the other component to it because the other issue, aside from the access issue, is the cost issue. Everyone knows that health care costs are skyrocketing, and they are out of reach for many, if not most, Americans today. As a physician, I can tell you that if you know you are going to be sued, no matter who you are, and almost all physicians are sued today--almost all physicians are sued--if you know you are going to be sued, you practice what we call defensive medicine. And since you know you can be sued sometime in the future, for every patient who comes in, to protect yourself when you are sued, no matter if you have done anything wrong, you end up ordering lots of extra tests to have a paper trail documented to show that you made the right decisions throughout. It is estimated that so-called defensive medicine cost is anywhere from $100 billion to $125 billion a year. In my own State it is estimated to be about $2 billion a year. That is wasted money, inefficient use, money that is thrown away. Who pays for it? The American people do. The premiums go up. The cost issue is a separate issue from the access of care. But the access of care issue and the cost issue, the higher you drive up the costs and the lower the access, quality falls. That is what is going to be debated when we address these two bills on medical liability by Senator Ensign and the second bill by Senator Santorum.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 464, which was submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 90 just received from the House and at the desk.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the current resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record as if read without intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we will begin a 30-minute period for the transaction of morning business. Following morning business, we will resume consideration of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Pending is the final division of Senator Coburn's amendment, and there will be 60 minutes of debate on that division. Therefore, Senators can expect the first vote to occur at approximately 11 a.m. today. Since cloture was invoked yesterday by a vote of 92 to 4, we are now operating under the provisions of rule XXII. A lot of amendments are still pending to the bill; however, many of those amendments are not germane and, therefore, will fall to a point of order. With that said, there will be some amendments that will qualify for consideration, and we will have votes on those amendments throughout the day. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 463, which was submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this resolution we addressed is a resolution recognizing the 58th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel. I am proud to be the sponsor of this resolution and appreciate my colleagues for joining me on this resolution.

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. on Thursday, May 4. 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, there then be a period for the transaction of morning business for up to 60 minutes with the Democratic leader or his designee in control of the first 30 minutes, to be followed by 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee; provided further that the Senate then resume the consideration of H.R. 4939 as under the previous order; provided further that the chairman and ranking member be recognized for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for the information of our colleagues, all post-cloture time has been consumed on the supplemental appropriations bill. The only action remaining on the bill will be the two amendments pending, and then a vote on passage. I understand that we may not need a vote on both of the amendments, and therefore we will have two or three votes in the morning to conclude action on the supplemental. Other votes could occur on Thursday's session as we try to clear some executive nominations, including two district court judges.

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 until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in a couple minutes, we will begin 1 hour of debate prior to the scheduled cloture vote on the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. That vote should occur around 11 a.m. this morning. I expect cloture will be invoked today, and that will allow us a road to finish this bill on Wednesday. If cloture is invoked, Senators should anticipate further votes over the course of the day. The chairman and ranking member will be scheduling the votes on the pending amendments that qualify under the germaneness rules. We will also recess today for our weekly policy meetings. Order for Recess I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess from 12:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. today for those meetings and that the time be counted against cloture under rule XXII if cloture is invoked.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, Senators should expect a busy couple of days as we vote on the remaining appropriations amendments today and tomorrow. Finally, I also remind my colleagues that Senators have until 10:30 this morning to file their second-degree amendments to the pending appropriations bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today the Senate will vote on cloture for the emergency spending supplemental appropriations bill. The President has made it clear that he will veto any supplemental bill coming out of the committee that exceeds the administration's request. I applaud the President's determination to stick to true emergency spending, and I will support such a veto, if necessary, to keep that Federal spending under control. Families have to live within their means and so should we in Washington. I think we need to tighten the belt and follow a course of strict fiscal discipline. The President has taken a strong stance on a must-pass piece of legislation that will bolster our national security, hurricane recovery, and border security efforts. I expect my colleagues to work in good faith to meet the President's request. The President submitted his emergency spending request in late February. The House acted on the supplemental in March. The legislation needs to be on the President's desk before Memorial Day. It is time for us in the Senate to bring debate on this measure to a close. We need to support our troops who are fighting to protect us. We need to support our fellow citizens who are working hard to rebuild and recover their homes and communities on the gulf coast. We need to focus resources on securing our borders against illegal immigration. That is what this vote is all about. These are extraordinary responsibilities, and we cannot, we should not play politics at such critical times. Time is limited. We must finish this legislation this week so we can quickly get a conference report with the House and get it to the President for his signature. Indeed, by pulling together, we can move this legislation forward and address the critical work of the American people.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we will be closing in a few moments. But before doing that, I want to comment on events carried out in Washington yesterday, indeed around the country yesterday, in response to a crisis that is going on, a crisis that is more than a crisis. It is genocide going on in the Darfur region. It is the western region of the Sudan. Yesterday, roughly 10,000 people gathered in front of the Capitol, on the Mall, to bring attention to what is happening: that crisis, that genocidal campaign that is underway and being perpetrated against the people of Darfur. I applaud all of the participants' compassion and commitment to the cause which has been discussed again and again on the floor of the Senate but, indeed, is a devastating crisis that is destroying a population and, indeed, is genocide. This is an issue that is very close to my own heart, in part because I travel just about every year to do medical mission work in that part of the world, in the Sudan. Indeed, I was in the Darfur area and in Chad a little over a year ago on the ground. I mention it because this afternoon, several hours ago, I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting with a small group of refugees from the Darfur region. The meeting was organized by SaveDarfur.org. It gave me the opportunity to visit firsthand with individuals from several of the tribes that occupy the Darfur region. It is interesting, there are 10, 11, 12 tribes throughout Sudan. In the south, two or three tribes dominate. In different parts of the Sudan, tribes dominate. But it is interesting, over in the Darfur region, the number of tribes that intersect together. It is sort of midway--north-south--in Sudan, so you have a lot of the tribes that are more endemic to the northern part of Sudan, as well as the southern and eastern part of Sudan. All of them commingle in that region. We met, oh, about 50 yards from here on a balcony overlooking the Mall. And as you stood on the balcony there, on a beautiful day in Washington, looking out, you could not help but think of the contrast between what is going on in the homeland of those refugees to the United States from Darfur and that beautiful day looking out upon our monuments and the freedom and liberty for which they stand. That contrast between the turmoil that is going on, as we speak, in Sudan and America's homeland peace and prosperity were really felt. I have had the opportunity to go to Sudan a number of times. I have talked to the refugees in the border camps. They are along the western border of Sudan and in the country of Chad, which is to the west of the Sudan. There are 12 refugee camps. The refugee camps have anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 people who are living on a sustenance level, with the aid of NGOs and peoples around the world, in little tents, makeshift tents, but living there, in essence, permanently. There are about 2 million people who have been displaced in the Darfur region and about 200,000 people who have died as a result of brutality which leads back to government sponsorship. We have heard again and again the stories and seen pictures of the villages that are set afire, of the women who are raped, the children who are abducted, recruited to armies, and even many executed. The Government of Sudan has failed to take credible steps to date, and we need to use everything within our power and our standing in the international community to convince other people to act and to act now. We cannot--cannot--tolerate this genocide. On this floor we have called it for what it is: genocide. President Bush has called it genocide. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has called it genocide. Last month, before we left for the Easter/Passover recess, I met with a number of friends from Sudan, many of whom I had gotten to know when I was last in Sudan, in the southern part of the Sudan. They had been sponsored by a charity out of Knoxville, TN. We talked about the clinics and the hospitals in southern Sudan. And we discussed the pressure the American Government has been able to bring to date on behalf of the Darfur people. But there is a lot more we can do. And there is a lot more we should do. Because these individuals were from the southern part of Sudan--that is a thousand miles away, a long way away from the Darfur region--they reflected how our Government getting involved in the southern part of Sudan had brought more peace, and it stopped the civil war that had gone on there for the last 20 years. One of those visitors, Reverend Kayanga, is a friend, actually, somebody whom I have gotten to know. He said it best when he said, ``The only people that visited us were your people.'' He was saying that to me, again, reaching out: Thank you for the past. But you need to get even more involved as we address this devastating crisis in the Darfur part of Sudan. The conflict in the region is huge. First of all, Sudan itself, the country, is about a third of the size of the continental United States. The Darfur region is vast. The area of conflict is probably a third bigger than all of Iraq. So it is a huge area, which is one of the challenges. Things are getting worse, not better, which is the message they were giving me. Indeed, as I talked to people on the ground, in terms of NGOs, the NGOs are having a harder time. The rainy season comes in 4 weeks. Once that comes in, there is no way to get aid and have it distributed throughout the Darfur region. As yesterday's rally demonstrated, the American people have vast stores of compassion and caring for these people and for the suffering of others. We have a passionate commitment to human rights. Now is the time for us to reflect it. At our Government's request, the African Union has agreed to extend the ongoing peace talks until midnight on Tuesday. Indeed, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will leave today for Abuja, Nigeria, to help both parties resolve the crisis. Negotiations have gone on for 2 years, and a settlement is long past due. Those who are responsible for this genocide, for the war crimes against humanity and criminal acts, need to be brought to justice. No longer can we wait this tragedy out. We must act, and the international community must be encouraged to step up as well. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake.

Mr. FRIST. I am happy to.

Mr. FRIST. In the Darfur region I have not. But it is very similar to southern Sudan. It is fascinating, southern Sudan, where 2 million people have been displaced, and 5 million people have been killed in a civil war there, and it started there. That is why I have great hope. A lot of people just give up on these regions, because when we went there initially, it was almost exactly the same. There was a lot of fighting within 10 or 15 kilometers. I started operating in a little schoolhouse that had been diverted for about 8 years. That was 1997-1998. Now in 2006, there is a village there and commerce and a hospital, no fighting; 50,000 people go through what was a schoolhouse and is now a big hospital. When people give up in Africa or say we have been through this before and talk about corruption in government, we can't give up. We should not give up. I very much appreciate my distinguished colleague asking because there is a lot we can do. And it starts with the compassion and caring that the American people exemplify. Now is the time for us to act.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this afternoon, the order provides for resuming debate on the supplemental appropriations bill. I believe after the remarks of the two leaders, there are a couple of Senators, including our distinguished President pro tempore, who desire to speak on other subjects. The chairman will then be ready to resume debate on the pending emergency supplemental bill. I remind all Senators that I filed a cloture motion on the bill last week and that vote will occur tomorrow morning. In accordance with that cloture motion, all first- degree amendments should be filed at the desk by 2:30 this afternoon. We already have a large number of pending amendments that will need to be disposed of. If we are able to invoke cloture on the bill tomorrow morning, then it is my expectation to finish the bill no later than Wednesday of this week. Therefore, we will have rollcall votes each day of this week as we complete work on this appropriations bill. Our first rollcall vote this week will occur this afternoon at 5:30. We will have a vote on a district judge who was reported by the Judiciary Committee last week. This week we may also consider the tax relief extension conference report, if that conference report becomes available. There is a 10-hour statutory limit on that measure, and we will begin debate under that time limit as soon as that conference report arrives from the House.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, over the weekend, we got more bad news on the rising price of gas. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told us to expect high gas prices to continue for 2 to 3 more years. In his words, suppliers have lost control of the market. Every day drivers are getting socked with higher and higher prices at the pump and in some places gas prices are well over $3 per gallon. Worse yet, the situation only threatens to intensify as those summer driving months come into view. Consumers are understandably frustrated. They are worried. For most families, gas is a basic necessity, and rising gas prices simply put them over a barrel. They need a break. The Republican leadership is delivering a plan. Last Thursday, we unveiled our proposal to offer immediate short-term relief for American consumers, as well as a broader strategy to increase America's energy supply and to reduce our demand for oil. We propose giving taxpayers a $100 gas tax holiday rebate check so their hard-earned money goes back into their pockets instead of into their gas tanks. We also want to make sure consumers are protected against any price gouging or anticompetitive behavior by oil companies or other suppliers of energy. Our proposal includes strong Federal antiprice-gouging protection. These are two steps we can take right now to offer the consumer immediate relief. But for the midterm and for the long term, we need to get to the root of what is driving oil prices through the roof: basic supply and demand. We don't have enough domestic oil to meet our energy needs, and that global demand is growing day by day. In order to get control of the problem, we need to increase domestic supplies, supplies at home, and we need to diversify our energy sources. The package we have introduced promotes the development of alternative fuels in the use of hybrids and other advanced technology vehicles. It also gives Secretary Mineta the authority to issue a rule looking at fuel economy standards for passenger cars. These two measures address the demand side of the equation, but we also must address the supply side. If President Clinton had not vetoed ANWR a decade ago, ANWR today would be producing a million barrels of oil each and every day right now. A million barrels of supply each day would be coming to the continent. That is about three-fourths of what we currently import from all of Saudi Arabia. We need to open a portion of the Reserve to environmentally sensitive exploration and get that oil to the market. There is no question that tapping into this domestic resource will bring down oil prices. We also need to expand our refinery capacity. It is amazing, we have not built a new refinery in the United States in over 30 years. It is next to impossible to expand an existing one today. One reason why gas prices are so high right now is that several refineries are still offline in the wake of Katrina. Several others deferred maintenance to help after the hurricane are performing maintenance now, still at lower than pre-Katrina levels. Adding refinery capacity will help to increase gasoline supplies and lower prices at the pump. Our plan takes important steps in this direction. We all know America is dangerously dependent on foreign sources of oil. This dependence compromises our economic and national security. Last summer, after a decade of partisan obstruction, Congress passed a comprehensive Energy bill that goes a long way toward addressing this grave problem. We double the amount of ethanol and biodiesel in our gasoline. By 2012, this should reduce oil consumption by 80,000 barrels a day. We passed a hybrid car tax credit of up to $3,400 per vehicle. The Energy bill also allocated significant funding for research and development of hydrogen fuel cells. If just 20 percent of our cars used fuel cell technology, we could cut oil imports by 1.5 million barrels a day. We need to build on these initiatives and encourage American consumers, producers, and entrepreneurs to think beyond oil. I believe, as does the President, that America's future lies with technology that will allow Americans to use environmentally safe and diverse energy sources. America will be safer, America will be more secure with American energy coming from American sources. We presented a strong package that will give consumers relief at the pump and will bring down the high cost of gas. I am hopeful we will vote on this package in the coming days. Filling up the tank shouldn't break the bank. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 p.m. today, the Senate proceed to executive session and to a vote on the confirmation of the following judicial nomination on the Executive Calendar: No. 616, Michael Barrett to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio. I further ask unanimous consent that the 20 minutes prior to the vote be divided between the chairman and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and that the two Senators from Ohio each be allocated up to 5 minutes; provided further, following the 5:30 p.m. vote, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

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