William H. Frist: “today we return to the consideration of the highway bill. Yesterday, cloture was invoked by a vote of 92 to 7. We were…”

“today we return to the consideration of the highway bill. Yesterday, cloture was invoked by a vote of 92 to 7. We were then able to reach an agreement for finishing the bill on Tuesday. Under that agreement, Senators may offer amendments today from the limited list agreed to last night. Chairman Inhofe is here and may also have some cleared amendments to dispose of this morning. I announced last night that no rollcall votes would occur today. The next rollcall vote will be Monday at approximately 5:30. On Monday, we will again resume debate on the highway bill. Senators will have the final opportunity to offer their amendments. We will vote on one or two of those amendments on Monday evening. That will allow the Senate to return to the measure Tuesday morning and vote on the remaining amendments and final passage. After consulting with the chairman of the committee and the Democrat leader, we are hopeful most of these amendments will not require votes, that only a few remaining amendments will need rollcall votes prior to passage. As I did last night, I commend the managers for their hard work. I look forward to finishing the bill early next week. We have spent 2 weeks on this bill and given plenty of opportunity, plenty of time for Members to come forward. They have done so. We are on a final glidepath to completion of this very important bill. ____________________”