[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 10, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SCHEDULE
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will resume
consideration of the highway bill. There are several amendments pending
to the legislation and it is hoped that we can consider and dispose of
those amendments during today's session. Although it appears as though
we have not made as much progress on the floor as most of us would
like, the chairman and ranking member have been working with a number
of Senators on their amendments--as we said, working through the
weekend and through yesterday. Thus, work continues on that front. And,
again, on behalf of the managers, I encourage Senators to come forward
and offer their amendments and discuss those amendments with the
managers.
Rollcall votes are possible today as we continue to look for ways to
make progress on the bill. I have been talking to the chairman about
the continued desire to finish the bill this week. Although last week
was a challenge in the Senate, the bill has been pending since that
time, and we had hoped to have considered more floor amendments under
the regular order.
We have now been on the bill 7 days. Again, there has been a lot of
discussion, but I do ask our colleagues to accelerate the process of
the consideration of amendments. And they must be brought forward now.
I will continue with discussions with the managers to look for an
appropriate avenue for completing this bill this week. I will notify
all Senators as we proceed as to when rollcall votes can be expected.
I thank everybody for their attention.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, will the distinguished majority leader yield
for a question?
Mr. President, I say, through you to the majority leader, one of the
things we have appreciated on this side during the tenure of the
Senator from Tennessee as majority leader is that you have been very
good to us, with rare exception, in allowing us to offer amendments.
You have given us ample time to offer relevant amendments and
nonrelevant amendments prior to doing something procedurally to stop
the debate.
I recognize, as does Senator Inhofe, that it is not the Republican
leadership that has thrown the roadblocks up to the amendment process
on this bill. We acknowledge that. There are a number of Senators, for
various reasons, who have prevented this bill from moving forward.
Speaking only for this Senator, I do not hold the Republican
leadership responsible for these dilatory activities. I think the
majority leader, in conjunction with the minority leader, the
Democratic leader, has to assess how best to proceed in the immediate
future.
This, as the majority leader has said, is an important piece of
legislation. As Senator Lott said yesterday, this could be the most
important piece of legislation we will handle this year. Whether that
is right or not, I do not know, but I know it is a very important piece
of legislation. I hope there is a way we can move forward on this bill.
Mr. FRIST. I thank the Senator.
Mr. President, in closing, I do stress the importance to leadership
on both sides of the aisle--we have been in constant communication--
that people have the opportunity to express themselves and to have that
appropriate debate on the floor. Again, we were on the bill all last
week. Yes, we had some interruptions last week with extraneous
circumstances, but resilience came through and we had the opportunity
with the floor open, as it will be all this week.
At the end of the day, our obligation is to have that opportunity to
debate, have our ideas reflected, and then give people an opportunity
to choose. That is, again, my goal over the course of the debate during
this 2-week period.
With that, I would like very much to finish the bill this week and
give each of our colleagues the opportunity to choose and reflect their
opinions on this bill.
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