[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 120 (Thursday, September 4, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11051-S11052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Senate will resume debate immediately 
this morning on the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. It is the 
first bill we are addressing coming back from our recess. We made 
significant progress on the bill on Tuesday and on Wednesday. I thank 
our colleagues for coming forward and offering their amendments. Today 
will be an important day as we wrap our hands around how many 
amendments we have so we can systematically address those and engage in 
debate and vote accordingly.
  I inform all Members that rollcall votes will occur throughout the 
day today. It is our intention that we can set a vote on one or more 
amendments to occur this morning. Members will be notified when the 
first vote is scheduled.
  I wish to make one final plea: That people come forward as soon as 
possible to talk to the managers and make it clear what their 
intentions are on the various amendments.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, while the majority leader is still on the 
floor, I would like to renew the managers' plea for amendments to come 
to the floor. There has been good cooperation with the distinguished 
assistant Democratic leader about moving toward the preparation of the 
list. If we are to finish this bill and get it completed before 
September 30, we are going to move ahead with expeditious diligence. If 
we do not get it completed by September 30, we are going to lose $3 
billion. This is a very tight bill as it stands at the present time.
  There is always concern about what is going to happen on Friday. In 
my capacity as manager of the bill, it is my desire to move ahead and 
have substantive votes tomorrow morning. Our custom is to conclude by 
noon, but I believe we are going to have to do that if we are going to 
finish this bill in a timely way.
  There is word that there are 13 amendments ready to go today, which 
is good. But we may be a little slow getting out of the box here with 
amendments being ready to come to the floor as early as 10 o'clock. The 
Senator from Florida, Mr. Nelson, is ready to go. But that may be a 
short amendment.
  I think it would be advisable to work on into the evening with the 
stacking of votes tomorrow morning early. There might be an earlier 
departure, if we have a list, if we know where we are going, and if we 
see that there would be a conclusion, say, next Tuesday.
  This is an issue where we have already been advised about the need to 
bring some Members in from the other side of the aisle.
  We prefer not to schedule in accordance with the Presidential 
candidacies. But we understand that people can talk, and we want to 
work it out on a cooperative basis. That would be a Tuesday target to 
wrap it up completely. To accomplish that, we are going to have to go 
into the evening and have votes tomorrow morning--at least until 
midmorning, and perhaps until noon. At least that is as this manager 
sees it.
  We did not complete as much work as we should have yesterday. The 
quorum call was on for a considerable period of time. As I have said 
repeatedly, that is sort of the bane of a manager's existence--trying 
to do third reading and go to completion.
  The majority leader advised everyone on August 1--more than a month 
ago--to be ready with amendments. It is my hope that our colleagues 
will come forward with amendments so we can get a list and see 
precisely where we stand so we can accommodate a lot of conflicting and 
competing interests on schedules.
  I hope we will proceed with amendments today. If we work into the

[[Page S11052]]

evening, we could stack votes early in the morning and have a departure 
which would not be too late to accommodate the schedules of many 
Members who would like to understandably depart going back to their 
home States.

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