William H. Frist

I thank our colleagues on this very important piece of legislation--both those who have reservations and those who support this very important act. I talked to the Attorney General a short while ago, and he expressed his appreciation to…

Or we could even be before. We could actually come on those amendments before as well.

For the last 30 minutes or so, we have been putting together an orderly way to address several issues: the underlying bill, the gun liability bill; CAFTA; and the energy report, which we received from the House. I know a lot of our…

I will go through the whole schedule shortly, if I can get through the unanimous consent request. Very briefly, we will have a rollcall vote on CAFTA in about 30 minutes, 25 minutes. Whenever we finish that, it would be the last rollcall…

In response to our distinguished colleague from Massachusetts, there have been several filed amendments. I mentioned 1 o'clock today because then we will have the whole universe of filed amendments. We are going to proceed and have a…

It is our intention--and I will be offering an amendment shortly--but we will be in discussions with the leadership and the ranking member and chairman discussing amendments and allowing them to be offered accordingly in the judgment of…

I am happy to say, that is why I specifically stated in my unanimous consent request ``in consultation with the Democratic leader.'' Until we get through the highway bill, the Energy bill, Interior appropriations, Legislative Branch…

I will phrase it that at any time determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate will resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill.

Very briefly, both sides have talked about the importance of the Defense authorization bill. We both feel the importance of that bill. Cloture being invoked here shortly, which I believe it will, will allow us to have a Defense…

Yes. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Vitter). The Senator from Alaska is recognized. Boy Scouts Jamboree Tragedy

I do not have a statement this morning. Following the Democratic leader's statement, I believe the Senator from Alaska has a brief statement to make as well.

I say to the Senator, indeed it is, Mr. Chairman. The Cub Scouts badges and uniform is one I wore and, indeed, my three boys wore, Harrison, Jonathan, and Bryan. It is that introduction to Scouts that most of us first experience. Indeed…

Tomorrow the Senate will complete action on the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. We have several pending amendments to dispose of tomorrow morning. Although that list is longer than I would like, it is hoped that most of those…

We have a lot to do in the next week and a half. DOD authorization, as the Democrat leader and as my colleagues know, is a high priority. We also are doing our very best to come to an agreement on how to bring stem cells to the floor of…

In response, I will check with Chairman Burns to see where specifically the money comes from. I am not exactly aware where the money comes from.

We are going to start the last vote in a few minutes. The managers faced a few roadblocks this afternoon, but we are going to complete this bill. This will be the last vote of the evening. Tomorrow we are going to begin foreign ops. The…

Tomorrow, we will be in a period of morning business throughout the day. There will be, as I mentioned earlier, no rollcall votes tomorrow. Senators who wish to speak prior to the recess should come to the floor tomorrow morning. When we…

It is 1 o'clock in the morning. We have had a very productive month. It is time to wrap up. We will be in session tomorrow, as well, but no rollcall votes. ____________________

That is the plan, although right now the Interior bill is taking an extra day, a day longer than I thought, so we are going to have to adjust the schedule appropriately given the fact the Interior bill was not finished yesterday as we had…

Senator Dole is unable to vote on amendments this evening because she is in North Carolina where she testified early this afternoon before the BRAC Commission, and this evening is with the President at Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC, where…

On the Energy bill. Mr. President, we yield the floor and do thank our distinguished colleague from New Jersey for his consideration. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chafee). The Senator from New Jersey.

I apologize for the interruption. A number of people have called asking for the schedule for tonight in terms of voting. We will be voting on the Cantwell amendment sometime tomorrow morning, and we will not have rollcall votes tonight. I…

On Monday, the Senate will consider the Griffith nomination to the D.C. Circuit. There will be up to 4 hours of debate on the nomination on Monday afternoon. Then we will set the nomination aside with a confirmation vote occurring on…

As you can see, the list is huge. We are going about it systematically, in discussion on a regular basis with the Democratic leader. That is the way we will continue as we address many issues important to the American people…

We will start voting about 4. If I can start in a couple minutes, that will be good.