[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 166 (Monday, November 17, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S14924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING MINORITY LEADER

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The acting minority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, through the Chair to the distinguished 
majority whip, is there some estimate as to when we would get to the 
conference reports on Energy and Medicare?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I say to my friend from Nevada, it is a 
little bit difficult to ascertain exactly when, but we hope the Energy 
bill might be ready by Wednesday. We are going to work as hard as we 
can to get those measures ready for consideration in the Senate 
certainly this week. Hopefully, we can get to Energy by Wednesday.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burns). The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I hate to broach the subject because last 
time it didn't work out as well as I had contemplated, but I hope if 
something comes up that we can't finish our work on Friday, we will go 
over into the weekend because everyone believes they would rather 
work--I don't know about everyone--most people believe they would 
rather work this weekend knowing we don't have to come back until after 
the first of the year. I hope the leadership on the other side will 
keep that in mind and alert Senators that we may have to work Saturday 
and maybe even Sunday to get out of here for the Thanksgiving holiday 
and the year generally.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I say to my friend from Nevada, I think 
that is a widely held sentiment on this side of the aisle as well. It 
will be vastly more desirable to wrap it up this week, even if this 
week means a longer week than normal, than to carry it over to next 
week or certainly December. We are going to be pushing to complete the 
business of the Senate this week. This week ideally would be Friday, 
but it could end up being Saturday or later. It is our goal to wrap up 
this session of the 108th Congress this week.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cochran). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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