Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Very briefly in response, this is an important bill that, again, is not a partisan bill at all. If you look at the votes today, you will see the split is between each caucus. I say that because so many bills come to the floor as partisan bills or bills proposed by one party, and they see such discussion and procedural moves. It is incumbent upon each Senator, looking within themselves and their own conscience, to ask the question: Is this a problem that deserves fixing? I believe, based on the discussions today--that is the good thing about this last week--that it is a tragedy in terms of the victims, in terms of the jobs lost, in terms of the pensions lost--all due to a broken system. It would be a tragedy if we did not address it. We have a bipartisan bill which has come out of committee. It is open for debate on the floor of this body. Just to clarify, we do have pending a budget point of order that needs to be discussed. Every Senator must understand what our chairman was saying through conversations because we will have a vote early next week on this point of order. If the point of order is upheld, then the bill itself disappears and we have other legislation onto which we will move. That means we will not have fulfilled our obligation, our responsibility through having a bipartisan bill come out of the Judiciary Committee which is brought to the floor for debate and discussion, recognizing a huge problem faces the American people. That responsibility would be shoved aside. I encourage my colleagues to look at this point of order, what it means in terms of procedure, and then answer the question, Is there a problem out there? And if the answer is yes, now is the time to fix it. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. I now 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, en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Friday, February 10, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing titled, ``Hurricane Katrina: The Roles of DHS and FEMA Leadership.''

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 2275, introduced earlier today.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on today's Executive Calendar: No. 437, Thomas O. Barnett. I further ask unanimous consent that the nomination be confirmed, the motion 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, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon on Monday, February 13; I further ask 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, and the Chair then lay before the Senate the House message to accompany H.R. 4297, the tax relief bill. I further ask that the Senate then insist upon its amendment and agree to the request of the House for a conference.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, on Monday, the Senate will consider H.R. 4297, the Tax Relief Act of 2005 for the third time. Unfortunately, there will be multiple motions to instruct the conferees from the other side of the aisle before we send this bill to conference. Those motions will be offered on Monday. Senators can therefore expect multiple votes on Monday. There are 10 hours available by statute for consideration of these motions. Therefore, these votes will occur later on Monday. I anticipate those votes to begin sometime after 8 p.m. We will then resume consideration of the asbestos bill next week. Pending is the motion to waive the point of order. We have Senators who would like additional debate. We will be talking to Senators on both sides of the aisle to determine the best time to schedule that vote following their statements. Needless to say, there is much work to be done before our next recess, the Presidents Day recess, at the end of next week. Therefore, I expect we will be voting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in order to complete our work. In addition to the asbestos bill and the Tax Relief Act, we need to address the PATRIOT Act before adjourning. It is going to be a long, arduous week. I thank Members for their patience in advance as we move these vital priorities along.

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. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be discharged from further consideration of S. 2166 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in recess until 9:30 a.m. on Friday, February 10; the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business until 10 a.m.; further, that at 10 a.m. the Senate resume consideration of S. 852, the asbestos bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. With the authority of the majority of the Judiciary Committee, I withdraw the committee amendments, and I send a substitute amendment to the desk.

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 Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 164, S. 662.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now ask consent that all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of S. 662, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof, and the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees with a ratio of 5 to 3.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc, and any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 331 at the desk and just received from the House.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, over the last several weeks and months, we have run into a situation where executive nominations are brought to the floor, but they are being held up for a final vote for reasons that are totally unrelated to those individuals and the positions they seek. It has been done historically to some extent, but it is done in a way that one Member--not necessarily a Democrat or Republican but a Member in this body--uses that nomination in some way to focus attention on an issue or focus attention on something they need or want. Therefore, it can be very useful leverage for an individual Senator, but it has now gotten to the point that it is unfair to that individual. We have public servants who are dedicating their lives and have been nominated by the President of the United States for executive positions, and then they are being stopped or held up for this unrelated matter. And, therefore, in a systematic way we were going to address that. Yesterday, on one such event, I filed a cloture motion on the nomination of Eric Edelman to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Mr. Edelman had been reported out of the Armed Services Committee on July 29 of last year, 2005--came out of that Armed Services Committee and has been held up by someone on the other side of the aisle since that time. In order to overcome that, I filed a cloture motion to ensure that the Senate was able to act on that nomination. We did that last night. That vote would have occurred tomorrow morning on cloture, and, because it is one person holding up Mr. Edelman, we would have gotten cloture and then it would have required a rollcall vote. I understand that the other side has agreed to vitiate the cloture vote, and has agreed to a voice vote now--this evening--instead of requiring that cloture vote tomorrow and a rollcall vote. Our side appreciates that, and I think most Senators appreciate that since the vote would have probably been 100 to 0 if we had that vote. What all this means is we will finally be able to move forward on a nomination, and we are not going to have to have a vote tomorrow. Some of my colleagues have said that we are expecting a vote tomorrow, and you are going to have a vote that we need to have the vote. On the other hand, since cloture can be vitiated with this unanimous consent, we will go ahead and approve it by a voice vote. The larger issue is we need to systematically address executive nominations which are being held up for unrelated reasons. Again, Mr. Edelman came out on July 29, and already we are in early February of 2006.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session; I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote with respect to Executive Calendar No. 309 be vitiated, the Senate proceed to its consideration, the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Senate has been on the asbestos bill since Monday. Tomorrow, we will complete a full week of debate and consideration of this very important bill which, as has been said again and again, is a bill that addresses the fact that 150,000 people have lost their jobs, 77 companies have gone bankrupt, and many more are likely to go bankrupt in the future. Most importantly, we have victims of asbestos exposure--whether it is lung cancer or mesothelioma--who are not being compensated in a timely and appropriate way. It is a system crying out for reform. Tomorrow, we will not have any rollcall votes, given the earlier action we took on the Edelman nomination. We will be continuing debate and discussion of the asbestos bill over the course of the day tomorrow, Friday. As we look to next week, we will have a busy week as we finish our work for the Presidents Day recess. There will be votes each day next week beginning with Monday as we wrap up our business.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, a little later this morning, after we conclude our 30 minutes of morning business, we will return to the consideration of S. 852, the asbestos legislation. When that bill is laid before us this morning, amendments will be in order. Chairman Specter will be ready to consider those amendments related to the underlying asbestos issue, and we expect rollcall votes during today's session. We have had good debate up to this point, but it is finally time to begin working on the underlying issues of the asbestos bill. Therefore, we will be here ready and available into the evening to debate and vote on the amendments. I remind everybody that last night I filed a cloture motion in relation to a Defense Department nomination on the Executive Calendar that has been held up. That vote will be tomorrow morning, and we hope we can get cloture and vote on the nomination early Friday. We have 2 days remaining this week, and Senators should have ample time to offer and debate amendments on the asbestos legislation.

Mr. FRIST

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