William H. Frist: “this morning we are returning to the motion to proceed to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, otherwise known…”

“this morning we are returning to the motion to proceed to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, otherwise known as the gun manufacturers liability legislation. Yesterday we invoked cloture on the motion to proceed. We now have an order to begin the bill at 2 p.m. today. The debate will be equally divided until 2 o'clock today. I understand a rollcall vote will not be necessary, and we will have a voice vote at 2 p.m. and then be on the bill. Senators can expect a cloture vote on the underlying bill to occur on Friday, unless we change that time by consent. As I stated repeatedly over the last several days, we are going to have a very busy session as we address a range of issues, including energy and highways and the Interior funding bill, the gun manufacturers liability bill, veterans funding, nominations, and other issues. Just a quick update on several of these. In terms of the Energy bill, after 5 years of hard work, the energy conferees are now done. I expect that that legislation will be filed shortly. This is a major accomplishment that will cause serious and dramatic changes in how we produce, deliver, and consume energy. We simply would not be at this point without the hard work, the perseverance, and the patience of Senator Domenici and his partner, Senator Bingaman, as well as Congressman Barton. We will pass that conference report this week. Our country will be all the better for it.…”