William H. Frist: “we have a bit of business to do before we close down tonight. What we heard from our colleagues reflects the cooperative…”

“we have a bit of business to do before we close down tonight. What we heard from our colleagues reflects the cooperative spirit that is very important as we fulfill our constitutional responsibility in terms of this very important nomination. As our colleagues can tell, there have been a lot of discussions with the chairman and ranking member and the leadership on both sides of the aisle. What we witnessed is the decision to begin hearings after Labor Day, that the hearings and the subsequent action, including the workup to the floor, which according to the schedule that has been laid out, implies to me we would be able to be on the floor by September 26, and with that would be able to have the nomination finished by the end of that week, confirmed, and the Justice would be sitting on that first Monday in October. I do wish to thank all of the people who have been mentioned for bringing us to this point and expect that over August, with civility, we will be able to continue our study of records and background that are provided. We will have a very busy early September as those hearings begin. In terms of timing, it looks as if we will be able to achieve the objectives from both sides of the aisle. We very much appreciate that leadership in a bipartisan way in the chairman and ranking member.”