Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Lott) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby), and the Senator from Texas (Mr. Gramm) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Jeffords) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Craig) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I wish to join my colleague and friend, Senator Craig, in making a few comments about a friend of ours--both of ours--Ken Foss, who passed away this past Saturday. His passing is a real loss to the Senate and a real loss to this country. He was a very dedicated member of the Senate family, a person with whom I had the pleasure of working for several years. When I was chairman of the Policy Committee, I got to know Ken Foss. He started his career when he worked for Senator Coats, starting in 1990 or 1991. He did good work for Senator Coats, and was an asset to our former colleague's staff. In 1992, I stole him from Senator Coats' office because he had great talent, and great promise; and he quickly became an integral part of our team at the Policy Committee. I was fortunate enough to be chairman of the Policy Committee from 1991 to 1996, and blessed to know this energetic person who had a real love affair with this country and a real love affair with history. Ken was energetic. He worked with a lot of zeal, a lot of passion, and a lot of real belief. I remember him working in the Policy Committee as a person who always did his homework. On any issue, he did his research, and he knew his subject. I remember also his dedicated work in the cave, down in the basement of the Capitol, doing television work, keeping Members--all Members--apprised of what was going on on the floor. He was one of the individuals on whom you could count to give an update of what was happening on the floor, what was happening politically, what was happening substantively, what was happening procedurally, keeping colleagues and staff fully informed and ready to act when the time came. I remember one time traveling to Richmond, VA, to speak at a GOP gathering--actually a State convention. It was an effort to try to bring the party together after a somewhat divisive campaign. Ken was my guide to all the party officials, from those with high rank to those whom we never hear much about, but make our party work. His understanding and devotion to the Virginia State Republican party was strong, and unwavering, and Virginia benefited from his dedication and hard work. But his political knowledge was equaled, and exceeded, by his vast storehouse of knowledge about Virginia history. He knew more on this subject than any person I have ever met. From the beginning of the Commonwealth as a colony of England, to the present day, you had no better guide than Ken. When you are talking about Civil War battlefields, which I happen to be interested in, my small knowledge paled in comparison to Ken Foss's. And all this information, Ken shared freely, enthusiastically, from school children to the elderly, inspiring many whom he met. As all of our colleagues know, we are renovating the Rotunda. I had the pleasure earlier this year of making my second or third trip to see the Rotunda in my Senate career. Of course, Ken Foss wanted to participate in that, and he climbed all the way to the top with us. All of us on that tour certainly enjoyed his presence that morning, because, again, his ability to be able to illuminate history, going back to Washington, going back to the founding of our country, and explaining various facts about our Capitol, was certainly informative and reminded us all of what a resource the Capitol is to tell our country's story to her citizens. To Ken Foss's family, to his father and mother, to his brother, to his countless friends, to his colleagues in the Senate, certainly he will be missed by all of us. We deeply appreciate his dedication to the Senate. We wish to extend our condolences and sincere sympathies to his family and to his friends. Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) and the Senator from Montana (Mr. Burns) are necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Montana (Mr. Burns) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I would like to make a couple of comments concerning the bill. I have already stated that I very much respect and appreciate the tenor of the debate that we had throughout this week with proponents and opponents of the legislation we just passed, including Senator Kennedy, Senator Reid, Senator Daschle, and others. I think we had an excellent debate. I also want to thank my colleagues who really did work hard, and especially I thank Senator Jeffords for his leadership, and Senator Collins, Senator Frist, and all the members of the task force. They did a fantastic job. In addition to the Senators I just mentioned, I want to thank other members of the task force, including Senator Hagel from Nebraska, the Presiding Officer of the Senate, Senator Santorum, and other Senators who worked so hard. Also, Senator Enzi joined us and did a fantastic job on the floor, as well as in the Health Committee. A lot of people put in a lot of time and effort, and a lot of staff members worked very hard on both the majority side and the minority side. I want to recognize a few. First, from my staff, I thank Stacey Hughes and Megan Hauck. Eric Ueland, Hazen Marshall, and Mark Kirk did a fantastic job. In addition, I want to recognize some staff members from other staffs who probably spent more time in the last year and a half working on this issue than any other issue. I can assure you that in the last month, and in particular the last 2 weeks, this has been a full-time job, including Saturday and Sunday, and late nights almost every night: With Senator Collins, Priscilla Hanley; Senator DeWine, Helen Rhee; Senator Enzi, Chris Spear, Ray Geary, and Jen Woodbury; Senator Frist, Anne Phelps and Sue Ramthun did a fantastic job on a number of provisions; Senator Gramm, Mike Solon; Senator Gregg, Alan Gilbert; Senator Hagel, Steve Irizarry; Senator Hutchinson, Kate Hull; Senator Jeffords, Paul Harrington, who did a fantastic job both in the Health Committee and also on the floor, and Kim Monk, Tom Valuck, and Carole Vannier did a fantastic job; Senator Lott, Sharon Soderstrom and Keith Hennessy; Senator Craig, Michael Cannon; Senator Roth, Kathy Means, Dede Spitznagel, and Bill Sweetnam; Senator Santorum, Peter Stein; Senator Sessions, Rick Deeborn, and Libby Rolfe. This is an understatement because these staff members worked very hard. In additional, I wish to recognize Senator Gramm, who worked on this task force, and was the primary promoter of the medical savings account, which is a very important thing for bringing tax equity and relief. I have already mentioned Senator Roth helped us, as well as his staff. Senator Gregg, who led the fight, frankly, against having a propensity for lawsuits, did a fantastic job; Senator Hutchinson, and Senator Sessions. This was not an easy effort. It was a challenge. I think it was a good effort, and I think we produced a good bill because we had a lot of Senators who were willing to spend a lot of time trying to improve the quality of health care in America. I hope the President will not look at the rhetoric that was sometimes on the floor, but will look to the substance of the legislation and work with us to see that it will become the law of the land. My thanks to Senator Jeffords and others who worked so hard to make this happen. I yield the floor.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank all of my colleagues and, frankly, the entire Senate for a very good debate. I believe we came up with a very good bill. I think we passed a bill that will improve health care quality. We passed a bill for anybody in America who has an employer-sponsored plan to have an appeal, an appeal that will be decided by doctors, despite some of the advertisements we have seen, appeals that are decided by experts, by doctors. That is binding and that is real. So I hope that maybe some of the rhetoric will tone down a little bit and we will look at what is in it. We also didn't do damage. We didn't say we are going to turn over health care plans to the Health Care Financing Administration. We are not going to duplicate State regulation. We will not confuse the States and say, no matter what you have done, Washington knows better. We didn't make those mistakes. We didn't astronomically increase health care costs. We didn't pass a bill that would increase the number of uninsured by a couple million. Final comment on the President. I hope the President decides not to play politics and say: We are going to veto that bill; it doesn't do what I want it to do. I hope he will work with us to pass a positive bill that will benefit and improve health care quality for all Americans. If he wants to play politics, that is his choice. If he wants to, then we don't have to have a bill. It is up to him. If he wants to help us pass a good bill, I think we can do so, that would improve health care quality for all Americans. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time, and I ask for the yeas and nays on the bill.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, how much time remains?

Mr. NICKLES. I thank the Senator from Maine for her outstanding leadership. I also thank the Senator from Missouri who mentioned a few of the changes he made in the appeals process that I hope my colleagues listened to. He made this a much better bill. I thank my colleague. When you look at the appeals process that Senator Ashcroft has explained and Senator Frist has explained, no one can say this isn't a very substantive bill that applies to all employer-sponsored plans. Next, Mr. President, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the Senator from Tennessee.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, how much time is left on our side?