Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to Calendar No. 176, H.R. 22.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendments at the desk be agreed to, the committee-reported amendment, as amended, be agreed to, and the bill, as amended, be read a third time.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that S. 662, as amended, be returned to the calendar and that it not be in order for the Senate to consider any conference report or House amendments to H.R. 22 if it would cause a net increase in on- or off- budget direct spending in excess of $5 billion in any of the four 10- year periods beginning in 2016 to 2055, as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.

Mr. FRIST. President, I would like to take a moment to comment on the passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Today's passage of S. 662 is a first step towards meaningful postal reform. The Postal Service forms a crucial part of the backbone of our economy, and I am encouraged by today's action toward bringing meaningful reform to the Postal Service. I am optimistic that the process of resolving the differences between the Senate and House bills will result in a product that goes even further to ensure that America's Postal Service has the resources and flexibility necessary to remain relevant and competitive in the global marketplace. I want to thank the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, and Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, for their leadership. They worked diligently with their colleagues in the Senate, the U.S. Postal Service, the administration, and kept their focus on the thousands of postal workers in communities across America, and the businesses which rely on the mail system to craft the current compromise. In the past three and a half decades, the needs of the Postal Service have changed dramatically. Indeed, the way we communicate has been transformed by technology through e-mail, faxes, and my personal favorite, Blackberries. We can now pay our bills on the Internet. And online shopping is more common than catalog sales. Nevertheless, the Postal Service remains a critical part of America's economy. Between paper manufacturing, printing, catalog production, direct mailing and financial services, the $900 billion mailing industry employs 11 million workers in America. And it is fair to say that we rely on the U.S. Postal Service more than any other governmental service. In Nashville and Knoxville, and towns all across the country, the local post office still represents the heart of the community. In recent years, the Postal Service has undergone some of its most challenging and difficult times. In 2001 and 2003, it was hit with deadly anthrax and ricin bioterrorism attacks. It was a frightening time for our country's postal workers, and shook us all to the core. The Postal Service has also undergone significant modernization on the business side. These reforms have made the postal service more efficient and productive, and I applaud the leadership of Postal Master Jack Potter who has been a steady, forward-thinking, responsible leader of the U.S. Postal Service. I have worked with the Postmaster General on a number of occasions. The attacks in 2001 and 2003 brought us together to address the public health risks of mail-born bioterrorism, and to develop better ways of protecting the Postal Service's employees and America's mail. And most recently, Jack and I announced the transfer of the historic post office on the Mississippi River in Memphis, to the University of Memphis for their new law school. He personally worked with me, the city and the university to get this done for the Memphis community. The Postal Service is in good hands, and under Jack Potter's leadership has significantly improved its financial performance. But in order for America to have a healthy and stable mail system into the future, the Postal Service needs a less cumbersome rate-setting process and better flexibility to respond to an increasingly competitive and demanding marketplace. S. 662 takes important steps toward that goal. It grants the Postal Service Board of Governors new authority to set rates for competitive products like express mail and priority mail, and replaces the current rate-setting process for products such as first- class mail, periodicals, and library mail with a more efficient, less litigious rate cap-based structure. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act also transforms the existing Postal Rate Commission into the Postal Regulatory Commission with authority to regulate rates for noncompetitive rates and services, ensure financial transparency, and establish limits on the accumulation of retained earnings, among other things. I look forward to seeing more work done on this issue, but today's action represents the beginning of real reform to the Postal Service which will benefit the taxpayers, ratepayers, and the thousands of dedicated U.S. Postal Service employees. Every day, we are working to keep America moving forward. u.s. postal service

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 2747 be modified with the change at the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent there now be a period for morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. As in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that Calendar No. 424, Roland Arnall, be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations; I further ask consent that the committee then be immediately discharged from further consideration of the nomination and the Senate proceed to its consideration; provided further 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. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Con. Res. 80, which was submitted earlier today, the resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 370, submitted earlier today.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, the Senate proceed to executive session and an immediate vote on the confirmation of Calendar No. 309, Eric S. Edelman to be Under Secretary of Defense, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand that an objection would be put forward from the other side of the aisle. Mr. President, I move that the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of Calendar No. 309.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now resume legislative session.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be 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 have been stating that we have been prepared to consider some of the additional nominations that are on the Executive Calendar and are available for consideration. There are a number of nominations being held up for one reason or another. But I am particularly concerned that a group of nominations is being held up for reasons unrelated to their qualifications or job responsibilities. We have several senior Department of Defense nominations and intelligence nominations that we need to consider. We will begin the amendment process to the asbestos bill beginning tomorrow morning, and my intention is to see if we can schedule debate and votes on these nominations. If we are unable to do that, then I will file a cloture motion on the nomination, with that vote occurring Friday.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 9. 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, and the Senate then begin a period of morning business for 30 minutes, with the first 15 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the second 15 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee; further, that the Senate then resume consideration of S. 852, the asbestos bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will continue to debate S. 852, the asbestos bill. Amendments are in order, and I expect Members to come forward with their related amendments. We will be prepared to debate and vote in relation to the amendments. I hope we can make progress on the bill. We have spent the last few days debating, which is important, but now is the time to work through the underlying issues in the bill before I expect votes to occur on Thursday. As I have stated repeatedly, Friday will be a working day, and we now have a cloture vote scheduled for Friday morning on a nomination. I also hope that we can continue to move forward on the asbestos bill on Friday as well. We have 2 more days this week, and we need to make the most of that time. Senators should be prepared for busy days for the remainder of the week. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Armed Services Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 355, and the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the 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.

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, we had a very important vote today on asbestos, and we will be proceeding to that bill tomorrow. It is a bill that I feel passionately about, a bill--as I shared with my colleagues who were with me earlier today in Atlanta at the funeral--that reflects, to me, the very best of what this body should be reflecting; that is, compassion for those victims who today are not being compensated, who suffer from asbestos exposure with mesothelioma, with lung cancer, with asbestosis; who today are not getting taken care of. In a sense, they are not getting appropriate compensation, just compensation, either in terms of time in which the decisions are made or in the amount of resources that are to be directed to them. So now is the time for us to address this important issue. It is a jobs issue. We talk about 150,000 people who have lost their jobs. We talk about the 77 companies that have gone bankrupt--not as companies but as employers. And when they go bankrupt, thousands and thousands of people lose their pensions and the jobs are lost. Now is our opportunity. Just yesterday, I know there were a lot of statements made by those on the other side of the aisle that we should stop this bill; it is a bad bill; we should not be addressing it and using postponing procedural moves and delay. But we just can't delay anymore. I am delighted with the outcome of the vote today which shows that this body is ready to take up this important issue. We will be going to that issue tomorrow, and I look forward to addressing, through debate and amendments, an issue that will have a huge impact on people's lives both right now and well into the future.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in a few moments, we will be closing down for the evening. But I did want to comment very briefly upon the wonderful experience that I and nine other of our colleagues had over the course of today as we attended the funeral of Coretta Scott King at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, down right just outside of Atlanta. We had a bipartisan delegation that left early this morning, joined by a House delegation, joined also, as most people know, by the President and the First Lady and three prior Presidents, for what was, indeed, a memorial service in many ways but, in truth, a great celebration for a great woman. She leaves a legacy of leading with grace. Few people have ever had the opportunity of knowing someone like that. That was reflected in many comments over the course of the day at the funeral. As a wife, as a mother, as a civil rights leader, Mrs. King joins this large pantheon of great Americans whose courage and whose dignity, whose boldness, whose tireless pursuit of social justice transformed not only a generation but the dreams and expectations of generations to follow. Over the course of the statements and having the opportunity to circulate among people who attended, the real global impact of this woman, as I said, leading by grace, focused on freedom and opportunity and social justice, was so apparent. Born in April of 1927 on a family farm down in Marion, AL, she grew up during the Depression in the segregated South and early on experienced firsthand the unfairness and the racial injustice that had coursed through American life. As a child--and we learned through many stories over the course of today--she would walk miles every day to attend a poor, one-room elementary school where her neighbors, White neighbors, road the bus in comfort to an all-White school that was close by. She was walking 5 miles a day. But as Coretta herself would say in later years, before she was a King, she was a Scott, Coretta Scott King. As a Scott growing up in segregated Alabama, her parents taught her strength, taught her boldness, sharing that wisdom with her. It was this strength translated through great dignity over the course of her life that came to define her and to radiate from her from the very beginning and throughout her life. There was much discussion and reflection on her faith, her inate strength and graciousness, all of which supported her through times, as many of the speakers and presenters today talked about, of extraordinary trials and suffering. Today, while millions of people around the world watched, there were four U.S. Presidents, I believe there were 13 colleagues--14 Senators, 13 of my colleagues--dozens of Congressmen, clergy, community leaders, thousands of admirers, people from around the world, from South Africa, who spoke today, also celebrating the life and contributions of Coretta Scott King, the first lady of the civil rights movement and, as we heard from South Africa, the first international lady of the civil rights movement. I think all of us who went, and many people who shared this service on their televisions today, were humbled by her example. You can't help but to be lifted by her spirit. Oprah Winfrey observed yesterday at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta--and I did have the opportunity to share one Martin Luther King Day with the King family and with Coretta Scott King; I believe it was 3 years ago, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church--that the great Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., often preached that Mrs. King, ``leaves us all a better America than the America of her childhood.'' She leaves behind a tremendous legacy and a great challenge to all of us; that is, to lead our lives--and very much the thematic today was a real celebration but what are we all going to be doing tomorrow? Are all our thoughts going to be similar to what her thoughts were the day after her husband was assassinated, that bold decision to go up to Memphis and to return there 3 days later to be with her people? That as we look ahead, how do we translate all this so that we all look to our own lives to be led with courage and with grace and with the boldness and dignity that she has shown, and to realize the dream to which she and her husband devoted their lives; that one day, one day soon, in their words, ``this Nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed''--``that all men are,'' indeed ``created equal.''