Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, Thomas Friedman, in his book ``The World Is Flat,'' concludes that jobs in this country--and he says this with a backdrop of global competitiveness--ultimately depend on education of our young people. More specifically, jobs of the future are going to depend on a prepared workforce of youth well educated in math, science, engineering, the sorts of fields that prepare people for the jobs of the future. He very nicely said in his book--and I wholeheartedly agree--that those jobs are going to require that preparation. If we prepare our youth in math, science, engineering, we will prepare them for jobs for the future which will improve our global competitiveness. That means this competition will be addressed between China and India for jobs, for people who are trained or study in Virginia, in truth, will be competing with students in China and India. In the legislation we are considering over the next 2 days, Congress is very specifically addressing this link between global competitiveness, jobs of the future, and education in this country-- specifically math, science, and engineering education. I will spend a couple of minutes on a new student aid program I created called the SMART grant. SMART grants very simply will provide $4,000 per year to eligible low-income students who are majoring in math, in science, in engineering, in technology, in foreign languages, that are critical to our national security, during the third and fourth years of their higher education, those years of college. That is $4,000 a year to eligible low-income students. That means a low-income college student will obtain up to $8,000 to pay for the cost of college if he or she chooses to major in one of those fields, those fields that are so necessary to preparing for jobs for the future and thus our global competitiveness. SMART grants mean low-income students save an average of 52 percent on the cost of college in this legislation we will pass over the next 48 hours. These funds will encourage more students to major in these time- intensive studies. These funds will help America produce the workforce it needs to be able to compete in that global economy. The bill also provides academic competitiveness grants to first and second-year college students; $750 will go to first-year students who complete a rigorous high school curriculum, and $1,300 to second-year students who complete a rigorous high school curriculum and maintain a 3.0 grade average in college. These are eligible low-income students. President Bush and Representative Boehner in the House deserve praise and credit for creating these grants. These SMART grants and these academic competitiveness grants are authorized at $3.7 billion over 5 years. They are paid for with program savings included in the budget deficit reduction bill we are currently debating in Congress. Right now, America must be more competitive. We are targeting precious resources in a responsible way to meet that challenge. Indeed, these grants will sustain America's global legacy as a land of innovation, imagination, and initiative. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 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, this morning we will resume debate on the deficit reduction conference report. There is 8 hours remaining for debate under the 10-hour time limit. If Senators desire to speak on the package, they should contact the chairman or ranking member so we can schedule an orderly debate on the pending conference report. Both parties will have their policy luncheons today, and we will recess for those meetings if Senators are not prepared to speak during that time and if we can count that time against the debate limitation. I remind everyone that I filed two cloture motions on two conference reports yesterday--first, Defense appropriations and, second, Defense authorization. Those votes will occur tomorrow morning, and Senators can expect votes early tomorrow morning on those. I will be talking to the Democratic leader about the timing of the vote on the deficit reduction measure. We will need to confer with those managers to see how much of the 8 hours will be necessary so we can alert Members as to when they can anticipate the vote. Senators should be around and ready to be here on time over the next day or two as we schedule these votes. We are attempting to finish these last few items to close out the session and, therefore, Senators should not stray far. I thank everybody for their continued patience as we wrap up.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do not, but we will be able to decide shortly after talking among everyone when that vote will be. For sure we will have these cloture votes tomorrow morning. We need to make sure all Members are back for the postcloture votes with regard to the deficit reduction bill. If we use all time, it would be 6 o'clock, but over the course of the morning we can decide when the most appropriate time for that vote would be.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, a couple of things. First, we do not want to delay any votes that will delay when we finally are able to depart. Within the next 48 hours we will have a number of votes. We will work on scheduling so we can let people know with certainty. I have told our people to be around and ready to vote when we decide. I don't want Members staying in New Jersey, New York, California, or Texas waiting for us to give a final time. We need to have people accessible and ready to get back. Having said that, let's try to consolidate these votes at a time where people can come back, can be here, and we vote all at once or in a series.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate convenes on Wednesday, December 21, it immediately resume debate on the conference report to accompany S. 1932; provided further that all time be considered expired under the statute other than 5 minutes each for the chairman and ranking member; further, that following that time, Senator Conrad be recognized in order to raise a Budget Act point of order against the conference report and that immediately after the point of order is raised Senator Gregg be recognized in order to make a motion to waive. I further ask unanimous consent that following the vote on the waiver, Senator Conrad be recognized to make a further point of order and Senator Gregg be recognized immediately in order to move to waive for his point of order; provided that the only Byrd rule points of order in order be from the list that is currently at the desk and that if both points of order are waived, the Senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the conference report, with no intervening action or debate; further, that if either motion to waive is rejected and the Chair sustains either point of order following the votes on the motions to waive, the Senate then immediately vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment with the Senate amendment as provided under the Budget Act, again with no further intervening action or debate, and that there be 4 minutes equally divided before each point of order vote.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 341, which was submitted earlier today. I ask the resolution be read.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9 a.m. on Wednesday, December 21. 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, and the Senate then resume consideration of the conference report to accompany S. 1932 as under the previous order. I further ask consent that there be 10 minutes for each leader prior to the vote on the final action on S. 1932.

Mr. FRIST. I further ask consent that following the disposition of S. 1932, there then be 1 hour of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees for debate only and that following that time the Senate proceed to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the conference report to accompany H.R. 2863, the Defense appropriations bill; provided further that the live quorum be waived.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow we are moving to finish our final business. We have several critical matters to dispose of before we break for the holidays, and there will be, as we said earlier, a series of rollcall votes on the deficit reduction conference report starting sometime around 9:15 in the morning. Senators should be prepared for votes throughout the day on the deficit reduction bill, the remaining appropriations conference reports, and other legislative and executive matters which must be disposed of before we adjourn. Again, as we have said earlier, Senators should stay close to the Chamber throughout the day. It will be a very busy day, and I thank all of my colleagues in advance for their patience. I know this is a very challenging time of year as we juggle planning for the holidays, constituent work, as well as completing our business here.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Senator from Louisiana be given 20 minutes, after which I will come back and close.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in a few moments--there are a few details being worked out in the next few seconds--we will be moving to hopefully get the clock started on the omnibus deficit reduction bill. As our colleagues know, as I outlined this morning, we have 10 hours to spend on that conference report. Then I know there are other discussions and comments that are wanted to be made about the PATRIOT Act. We plan on doing that using that time. A number of people have been waiting to speak on that. At this juncture, while we work out the last few remaining details, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, our intention has been to go to the Omnibus deficit reduction bill, but apparently not all the papers are in order at this juncture; therefore, we will postpone that for a bit of time, although as soon as that paperwork is available I will be coming back to the floor in order to proceed to the consideration of the conference report, which is going to require a vote. That is for getting the clock started. But, in the meantime, because we are sitting here with empty time, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Kyl be permitted to speak, followed by Senator Kerry, in which case my intention is to come back and propound the unanimous consent request at that juncture.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the conference report to accompany H.R. 1815, the Defense authorization bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, there will be a period of morning business this morning. Over the course of this morning, the House has passed both conference reports, the DOD appropriations conference report and the spending reduction reconciliation report, as well, early this morning. The first DOD appropriations passed 308 to 106 and the spending reconciliation 212 to 206 in the House just a few hours ago. As our colleagues know, we have been waiting for House action on those bills so those bills could be sent to this body. They have now completed their work on DOD appropriations, DOD authorization, and the spending reconciliation bill, all three of which we will be addressing over the next several days. There has been a tremendous amount of work among and between the House and the Senate and among various interested parties, and now we are on the final stretch before the holiday season. It will be a difficult time to get through the next couple of days because of a lot of tension, but I ask for our colleagues' understanding and patience as we go through what will be challenging for us as quickly as possible to address these issues. But all of these will be addressed, plus many others. We will be working over the course of the morning to schedule both conference reports, DOD appropriations and the spending reconciliation conference report. I hope we can schedule Defense authorization, which is another bill we have had on the floor and off the floor and on the floor, and Chairman Warner has done a tremendous job with that bill. We were hoping to do that several days ago, but the House had not acted on it until this morning. It has now been completed, and we are ready to go to that hopefully this morning. Hopefully here in a few minutes we will have a short time agreement, and then I will be working with the Democratic leader to schedule an appropriate time for that vote. On the deficit reduction conference report, as my colleagues know, we have 10 hours for debate before that vote. We want to start that time as soon as we can. Every hour we put that off is just an hour later that we will get out of here. We want to get that time started and that debate started as soon as possible--10 hours before we vote on the deficit reduction conference report. A number of other issues are outstanding. In terms of judges, I am not sure exactly when the next vote will be until we work out the schedule this morning. We will not have any rollcall votes this morning, but I think we have told all of our colleagues that from noon on, we may well be voting. We will just have to alert people in terms of the time.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts here in the Nation's Capitol in celebration with an event that looked at a bill that will be included in the Department of Defense appropriations bill, and this bill is the Support our Troops Act of 2005. We had an event to celebrate. We had a little press conference, and with the hot lights actually one of the Scouts got a little faint, which many of us do, and it was remarkable to see the Scouts' reaction. They knew exactly what to do and how to handle it as we stood before those cameras. The event yesterday highlighted the tremendous contributions of Scouting, a much beloved tradition in this country under congressional charter in 1910 and since that point in time has served over 110 million Americans as participants in Scouting. Our efforts here in the Senate have been to protect that tradition for generations to come. I have worked very closely with Roy Williams, the chief Scout executive for the Boy Scouts of America, and John Cushman, the national president of the Boy Scouts of America, in fashioning this legislation. Both were there at that event yesterday, as well as Troop 1100 from Burke, VA. I have worked closely with Roy and John to craft what is commonsense legislation, the Support our Troops Act of 2005. It will be passed here hopefully a little bit later today as part of that DOD bill. It passed this floor in an overwhelming, bipartisan way earlier this year. The bill is a straightforward victory for the Boy Scouts of America as well as other youth organizations that are helping to mold the hearts and the minds of our young generation today. Without question, the success of Scouting relies on the commitment of the Scouts and their leaders and their parents. But Scouting also depends on having equal access to public facilities and participation in public programs and forums that allow Scouts to learn their field craft, to sharpen their skills, contribute to their community, and to learn the values that make America great. Over the last few years, the Boy Scouts have been subjected to repeated attempts to exclude them from public facilities. The attacks have mounted so quickly that exclusion from Government forums has become the greatest legal challenge for the existence of the Boy Scouts. For example, last year, the Department of Defense was required to notify American military bases worldwide that they cannot provide support to or directly sponsor the Boy Scouts of America. This unfortunate directive came about because of a lawsuit--a vindictive lawsuit--by the American Civil Liberties Union to demand that the Government discontinue its support of the Scouts. Their reason? Because they argue the Scouts are a religious organization. Most Americans would not recognize camping and building trails and fellowship and voluntarism as distinctly religious activities, but the ACLU is bound and determined to undermine the Scouting mission at a time when probably more than ever in history our Nation yearns for stronger community ties, stronger family ties, and stronger fellowship, a culture of integrity, a culture of honesty, and a culture of character for our young people. That is why I sponsored the Support Our Troops Act, to ensure that the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America are not subject to unfair legal assaults, to remove any doubt that Federal agencies may, indeed, welcome Scouts onto Federal property, to ensure that State and local governments cannot discriminate against the Scouts. I have tremendous admiration for the Boy Scouts. I was a Boy Scout. The first question I had yesterday from Scouts was: Were you an Eagle Scout? I said, no, but the one goal I set and should have done was becoming an Eagle Scout. Scouting meant much to my three boys, Harrison, Jonathan, and Bryan, all of whom participated in Scouts, each of whom I have had the opportunity to camp with many times, with their troops and with their Scouting entities. Through exposure to the outdoors, through the hard work and virtues of civic duty, the Boy Scouts have developed millions of young Americans into fine citizens today, community servants and, of course, future leaders. It is an honor to support this fine organization. Those values taught by Scouts have played an important role in shaping my own life and that of my family, and now, because of the Support Our Troops Act, Scouting continues to enrich the lives of countless young boys and girls and their families and their communities as it has always done over the last 100 years, strengthening the fabric of American life. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum. ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the conference report to accompany H.R. 2863, the Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the conference report.