[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 154 (Wednesday, October 29, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S13424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader is recognized.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I will comment briefly on the schedule. I 
think that the majority leader has set exactly the right tone. We have 
to recognize the days for this session are numbered. We have a lot of 
work to do. I agree with his prioritization in terms of his urgency in 
bringing up the forest health bill, given our circumstances now in 
California, particularly.
  Senator Reid and I have had conversations with Members of our caucus 
and have expressed our strong desire to keep amendments to the forest 
health bill relevant. Now, ``relevant'' is loosely interpreted, but it 
is important they stay relevant. We can give the assurances to the 
majority leader that we will maintain relevancy in that loosely 
structured definition in order to complete the work on the bill. I am 
hopeful, as he is, if we cannot complete it today, or certainly 
completing it by tomorrow, recognizing that we may move to the climate 
bill tonight.
  I also think it is critical we keep our emphasis on the 
appropriations process. We have a lot of work there to do and, frankly, 
I must say, through no fault of the majority leader, we are in a real 
dilemma right now with completion of the work on the foreign operations 
bill. We made such progress yesterday and everyone worked to try to 
bring it to closure. We have an AIDS amendment that deserves a vote. 
With that vote we could go to final passage. There is no reason we 
cannot complete our work on that and move to Agriculture appropriations 
and all the remaining bills that are to be considered.
  I hope all Senators will recognize, given the plethora of work we 
have to do, we cannot afford to delay indefinitely appropriations 
amendments. We will work on this side to try to expedite consideration 
of these bills. But it has to be a cooperative effort on both 
sides. Right now that is not the case.

  So I thank the majority leader for outlining the schedule. We will 
work with him to see if we can complete our work on time.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, just one final response.
  As I think our colleagues can see, we are working together in trying 
to move the schedule forward. I, too, am committed to the 
appropriations process. On foreign operations, I think we ought to work 
over the next hour and see if we can resolve the differences on the 
outstanding amendments. Indeed, my objective is to complete that bill 
as soon as possible.
  I will say, if we get to where we are really locked up, because 
Healthy Forests is important, the other issues are important, we are 
going to have to have some flexibility. But again, I think we ought to 
start working right now to resolve the outstanding amendments on 
foreign operations and try to finish it by midday today.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the leader desire that we have 30 
minutes of morning business now?
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, let's continue with the 30 minutes of 
morning business.

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