Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Commerce Committee be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 196 and H. Con. Res. 59, en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this is the NASA authorization bill. I congratulate Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for this particular piece of legislation, because as we look to the future, science and the technology, and the importance and significance of this legislation stands out. A few minutes ago, I was talking about SMART grants--these math, education, science, and engineering grants which are being given to juniors and seniors in college. This marries with that beautifully in terms of making sure that we have a strong technology base in terms of jobs and competitiveness. I congratulate our distinguished colleague from Texas, Senator Hutchison, for her leadership on this bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to H. Con. Res. 324 which was received from the House.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 281, S. 1315.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 284, S. 1182.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be agreed to, the committee-reported amendment, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record, all en bloc.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4637, which was received from the House.

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. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4635, which was received from the House.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4501, which was received from the House.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 972, which was received from the House.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment sine die under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 326, and when the Senate reconvenes at 12 noon on January 3, it be for a pro forma session only, and that no business be in order and the Senate then automatically adjourn until 10 a.m. on January 18 as under the provisions of that resolution, or until 8 p.m. on December 22 if the House does not adopt S. Con. Res. 74. I further ask that on whichever day the Senate reconvenes, following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved, and then the Senate proceed to a period of morning business.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as we bring this first session of the 109th Congress to a close, I once again thank my colleagues, the staff, the pages, and everyone who contributes so much to our work in this Chamber. I want to give a special thanks to the few pages we have remaining this evening. Most of them have gone back home to their families, and we have a few volunteers who stayed behind. They are instrumental in allowing us to carry out our work each day. It is very rare that we actually say thank you. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for volunteering to be with us over what has been a pretty long last couple of days. So I thank Rafi Bortnick, Katie Rember, and Dan Tinsley. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy holiday season. I hope that everyone does get some rest and spends some time with family and friends and neighbors and others in their communities and returns back here in January ready to roll up your sleeves and continue right where we left off.

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. And with regard to that, we have a number of nominations, we have a number of judges, as well, we very much would like to be able to address. There are other issues with regard to the PATRIOT Act, Labor-HHS. We have a lot to do, all of which we need to address in the next day, 2 days. We will maximize, from a scheduling standpoint, when everyone can be back.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will speak on another issue and then we can come back and talk further.

Mr. FRIST. I am happy to yield.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, indeed, he is going to do his very best. Votes tomorrow, where the other side of the aisle causes us to have rollcall votes on motions to proceed and then cause us to file cloture, make it difficult. I was ready to get out 2 days ago. If we could do the up-or-down votes instead of filing the cloture motions, I am all for it.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, my goal would be to be out, for sure, tomorrow. I think we can work on that. I appreciate the appeal from that side of aisle to be out tomorrow. We can't have obstruction. Getting the votes done and finishing everything tomorrow would be a good goal. I am all for it. It means we cannot have delay and obstruction.

Mr. FRIST. Let me make a statement now. I ask unanimous consent my statement be made on our time on the reconciliation.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will return later tonight to make further announcements about the schedule for tomorrow. I wish to emphasize what the distinguished minority leader has said. There will be a lot of votes tomorrow. We will begin voting around 10 minutes after 9 tomorrow. Thereafter, we are going to have a whole series of votes, with the goal of getting people out sometime tomorrow. It is going to take everybody's patience and cooperation. We will start bright and early. I will have more to say on that later.

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