William H. Frist

needless to say, I am very disappointed with where we sit today. We have had an interesting week, a very challenging week, starting the week on one clear direction and then sidetracked a little bit to what I thought was not an unreasonable…

I entered a motion to reconsider this vote to allow us to revisit this issue when we return. We will be doing that. We will be closing shortly this evening, but before we close, I will file cloture motions on the Brown nomination and the…

in 15 minutes or so, we will vote on the nomination of Under Secretary of State John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations. I applaud President Bush for his selection. The President describes the Under Secretary as ``a blunt guy''…

today, following the leader time, we will resume debate on the nomination of John Bolton to be ambassador to the Security Council of the United Nations. The debate will be divided until the cloture vote which is scheduled for 6 o'clock…

we would be happy to. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report the nomination. The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of John Robert Bolton, of Maryland, to be the Representative of the…

the confirmation over judicial filibusters is, I believe, the greatest single constitutional issue to confront the Senate in our lifetime. That is because this issue involves the very special and unique relationship between the Senate and…

I appreciate the comment of the Democratic leader. We have agreed on the schedule for the week, and it is really to get to the Bolton nomination as soon as we possibly can. He is talking to Senators on his side, and I have to talk to some…

calling upon my earlier cardiac surgical days, we will start as early in the morning as the Democratic leader would like. In all seriousness, we will agree upon a time in the morning so that we will have plenty of time.

this morning we will continue debate in executive session on the nomination of Priscilla Owen to be a U.S. Circuit judge for the Fifth Circuit, and today at noon we will have a cloture vote with respect to the Owen nomination. In light of…

we have a good plan for the remainder of the week with that vote and proceeding with the nomination of John Bolton. ____________________

Well, I think we need to think how much we can do realistically this week. With that understanding and the backlog we have on judges, if we can move those expeditiously--and we put in a plan or process to do so--we should do just that. We…

we will talk over the course of the morning because over the next 5 days, with the memorandum of understanding, we would like to move ahead and address many of the judges. At the same time, we have the nomination of John Bolton, whom the…

over the last 3 days, for 26 hours, the Senate has debated a very simple, straightforward principle. Qualified judicial nominees, with the support of the majority of Senators, deserve a fair up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. A thorough…

more than 2 years ago, this Senate first took a cloture vote to end a filibuster on the nomination of Miguel Estrada for a seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Estrada epitomizes the American dream. An immigrant from Honduras, who…

through the Chair, I expect, because of the large amount of interest, that we will stay here until everybody does have that opportunity to speak. We will have the cloture vote, and you and I can discuss shortly the timing. But likely we…

I think for planning purposes, that has worked out well for the last 26 hours. If over the course of the morning and afternoon we jointly agree, we can continue that as late as necessary tonight or into the hours of the morning. As I…

many Members have been inquiring about the schedule, but I do want to thank all Senators for their statements today, as well as yesterday. The debate time has been evenly divided. We have heard from a number of people. This is our second…

today we will resume executive session to consider Priscilla Owen to be a U.S. circuit court judge for the Fifth Circuit. We will continue the debate, as we did yesterday, by rotating back and forth between the aisle every 60 minutes. I…

The letter reads pretty clearly: ``Dear Chairman Specter''--and there was a copy sent to Senator Leahy. This is from the author of the legislation of which these accusations of judicial activism have been floating around on the floor…

I would like to proceed with my statement and would be happy to yield for a comment. For 214 years the threshold for advice and consent in the Senate was 50 votes. In the last Congress the minority party radically increased that threshold…

I rise today as the leader of majority party of the Senate, but I do not rise for party. I rise for principle. I rise for the principle that judicial nominees with the support of the majority of Senators deserve up-or-down votes on this…

as always, we will take into consideration all suggestions and be happy to talk to the leadership on both sides of the aisle as to whether that suggestion is the most appropriate way. We have engaged in negotiations and attempts to satisfy…

I ask if the chairman would try to keep his remarks within the time limit agreed to, about 42 minutes, and we can stay on schedule. I ask the Democratic leader, would that be acceptable? I ask unanimous consent that we, as agreed earlier…

in response, the Paez nomination--we will come back and discuss it further. Actually, I would like to come back to the floor and discuss it. It really brings to, I believe, a point what is the issue. The issue is that we have…

I do not believe he is on the Executive Calendar. To the best of my knowledge--at least he is not on the Executive Calendar as printed today. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? The Senator from Vermont.