William H. Frist: “in a few moments, we will return to the consideration of the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. We are very…”

“in a few moments, we will return to the consideration of the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. We are very close to an agreement which will allow us to finish that bill at an early hour today. The two managers have worked diligently over the course of the last week and this week--it has been now 2 weeks on the bill--and we are now ready to proceed to final passage after we dispose of a few remaining issues. I expect that we will line up a series of stacked votes beginning sometime around 10:45 or 11 this morning, and we will alert Senators once we lock in that time. Once we complete the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, we will start consideration of the Agriculture appropriations bill. Senators should begin preparing for that bill and I encourage Senators to notify their respective chairman and ranking member if they intend to offer amendments. It is helpful for the two leaders and the bill managers to know in advance what amendments will be offered so that we can proceed in an orderly way. ____________________”