William H. Frist: “I know we are on the highway bill. Senator Byrd is about to speak. So I think at least from my standpoint we will…”

“I know we are on the highway bill. Senator Byrd is about to speak. So I think at least from my standpoint we will continue our discussions. As you can see, we both feel passionately about this issue, understanding it is our responsibility as leaders to lead on an issue that affects this country in a very dramatic way. It affects the future of this institution in a dramatic way. Just to clarify, I believe we both agreed that we are going to all keep working together to address this, but we do need to bring some sort of closure to this. Therefore, after the highway bill, at the appropriate time, we will spend--it is going to probably take a week, or I don't know exactly what it is going to take, but next week--and I would hope we would engage in regular order and that we have people on the Executive Calendar and we can do what we have always done, bring them up. And as to which one, and how we go about it, would be in discussion. But you can tell from my remarks, I believe what the American people expect is we will have full debate and expect an up-or-down vote on those, go through the normal course of business. People will be able to judge. And I hope and pray people will be able to express themselves through a vote on the floor here in the Senate. Thank you. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.”