[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 21, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow morning, following morning 
business, the Senate will resume consideration of the asbestos bill and 
the motion to proceed to the asbestos bill.
  There will be an additional hour of debate prior to that vote on 
invoking cloture on the motion to proceed. I take this opportunity to 
thank Chairman Hatch and the many Members who have come to the floor to 
speak on the importance of this legislation. Indeed, both sides of the 
aisle have spoken to the critically important issue of an asbestos 
litigation system which is inefficient and, in many ways, run amok over 
its initial intention.
  This vote is the beginning of the process and not the end. I have 
made that clear, hopefully, in every public statement and in every 
statement with my colleagues, as we have worked to negotiate this bill 
over the last week. It began several weeks ago when we set out on this 
course of bringing this to a real focus.
  It is time to legislate on this important issue, and tomorrow's vote 
is an effort to work through many issues of the bill and to eventually 
produce an outcome.
  If we are unable to invoke cloture on the asbestos bill, we are going 
to proceed to the victims' rights bill under the previous consent 
agreement. There will be up to 2 hours for debate prior to vote on 
passage of the victims' rights bill that was introduced earlier by 
Senators Kyl and Feinstein.
  Therefore, Senators should expect at least two votes tomorrow. The 
first one will occur at approximately 11:30 in the morning on the 
motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the asbestos bill.

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