[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.




                          ____________________