William H. Frist: “we come back for a final week before our recess with a number of important items, many of which are the culmination of…”

“we come back for a final week before our recess with a number of important items, many of which are the culmination of many months of work. It will be a challenging week in order to accommodate the range of issues. I will mention a number of those that will be addressed. I do hope all of our colleagues will consider the importance of addressing each of these and doing it in a timely way that respects people's schedules and gets us out at the end of this week. It is going to be a real challenge, but it can clearly be accomplished if we all work together in a collegial and civil way as we go. This morning we will resume debate on the Defense authorization bill. Under the order, there will be 20 minutes remaining for debate to be used on the Collins and Lautenberg amendments on contracts. Following that time, we will proceed to a series of votes. We will be voting on the Collins amendment. Following that, we will vote in relation to the Lautenberg amendment. Following that, we will vote in relation to a Boy Scouts amendment. That will be followed by a cloture vote on the pending Defense authorization. If cloture is invoked, we will stay on the Defense bill until that is completed, something I am very hopeful we will be able to do shortly. If cloture is not invoked, we would proceed to a cloture vote with respect to the motion to proceed to the gun manufacturers liability bill which we also will address this week.…”