William H. Frist: “many Members have been inquiring about the schedule, but I do want to thank all Senators for their statements today, as…”

“many Members have been inquiring about the schedule, but I do want to thank all Senators for their statements today, as well as yesterday. The debate time has been evenly divided. We have heard from a number of people. This is our second day of debate on the nomination of Priscilla Owen for the Fifth Circuit Court. We have not had very much in the way of pauses in the debate. We have used floor time well. And from both leaders, we thank everybody for their participation and cooperation. It has been a constructive debate. Tomorrow, we will resume debate. We will be continuing debate tonight, but for people's planning purposes, tomorrow we will resume debate on Priscilla Owen, and it would be my intent to ask consent for some limitation of time before we vote on the Owen nomination. If we are unable to reach an agreement, I would then file a cloture motion tomorrow, on Friday. On Monday, we would return to session and continue the debate on Priscilla Owen, much in the same vein it has been yesterday, today, and will be tomorrow. I encourage, once again, our colleagues to take advantage of the opportunity to speak. The reason we are spending the time is to make sure all ideas and thoughts and concerns are expressed. The Democratic leader and I have discussed this, and we will have a vote on Monday at approximately 5:30. It will be a procedural vote. I anticipate it will be--we will say 5:30 now. Senators should return for debate on this vote.…”