William H. Frist

I will turn to the Democratic leader and then I have a very brief comment on the events today. ____________________

I thank the pages who are here. I think we have almost 50 pages who are here for a part of the summer. The pages, I am talking to them most of the time in here on both sides of the aisle. I talked to them about an hour ago and had the…

That particular bill is a bill that I hope we can address in the near future, a bill that will make available, once we address and pass it, a billion barrels of oil and over five trillion cubic feet of natural gas that this country does…

I will be making some comments, as I mentioned earlier, after the distinguished ranking member.

Plans tonight are that we will get consent on moving to the Water Resources Development Act. Senator Inhofe is available to start that bill. I congratulate and thank all of our colleagues for the very good debate that we have had over the…

Today we have been debating the stem cell research bills. That debate will continue at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, again the time alternating between the two sides. Senators are reminded that we will have votes on these bills tomorrow…

I see none of my colleagues on the floor at this juncture who want to speak, so I suggest the absence of a quorum. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

I further ask that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate with a ratio of 11 to 9, the full membership of the HELP Committee. There being no objection, the Chair appointed Mr. Enzi, Mr. Gregg, Mr. Frist, Mr…

All that to say that we will be on stem cells on Monday and Tuesday with the 3:45 time period beginning three consecutive votes. The times that we just locked in are to have some order to the debate back and forth so people will know…

We are currently talking to some other Senators about the water resources bill, so I will have more to say about that later. In the meantime, I will go on to other business. ____________________

In a few moments, we will be doing a unanimous consent request on water resources development as well as stem cells. Before doing that, I turn to my colleague, the Senator from Oklahoma.

For the next few minutes, we will be getting unanimous consents on two issues that will outline what we will be doing during the early to mid part of next week. Before doing that, I move that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a…

Today we have the first 30 minutes of the session set aside for a period of morning business. Following that time, we will return to the consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. As I announced yesterday, we will finish…

It is my intention, as it is worded in here, that the two of us will agree upon a time. It is my intention after getting over this first hurdle to do this in the not too distant future before we leave.

I know the Democratic leader has other statements to make. I think the signal that we are both sending is that this is significant legislation. It will directly impact families all over the United States of America. It is an obvious need…

This morning, we have set aside 2 hours of morning business in 30-minute increments. At the conclusion of morning business, we will begin the U.S.-Oman free trade agreement, which has a 20-hour debate limitation. However, we are expecting…

Today Hank Paulson was confirmed by the Senate to be Secretary of the Treasury. I commend Chairman Grassley and Senator Baucus for expediting this important Cabinet position and I, once again, wish through this body to thank Hank Paulson…

Tomorrow the Finance Committee is expected to report the Oman Free Trade Agreement. That trade agreement is privileged, and we expect to turn to that as soon as it is made available. We hope we do not have to use all of the time allowed…

On Monday, the Senate will begin consideration of the flag resolution. There will be no votes during Monday's session, but Senators are encouraged to come to the floor to speak. The next rollcall vote will occur on Tuesday, and Members…

We return to session today for a period of morning business to allow Senators to introduce legislation and to make remarks. We will have a relatively short session today, I expect. When we finish, we will adjourn until Monday. On Monday…

Today, at 10:45, the Senate will resume consideration of the Department of Defense authorization bill. The bill's two managers, Chairman Warner and Senator Levin, will be here to continue to work on this important bill. Although there will…

Today we sent the emergency supplemental appropriations conference report to the President with a 98-to-1 vote. We also made some progress on the Defense authorization bill, and we will continue on that bill tomorrow. Chairman Warner and…

The discussion among the Democratic leadership and Republican leadership was, indeed, that we vitiate the vote today and that at a time that is mutually agreed upon this vote will come back to this body.

Prior. That is the understanding. And the discussion was-- I have had absolutely no conversations with the administration about a recess appointment----

I know Senator Nelson will have 2 minutes of remarks to make; 30 seconds for me. The next vote will be our last. We anticipate a voice vote on the confirmation of Dirk Kempthorne after cloture is invoked. We are working on agreement for…