[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 12, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5241-S5242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will take a couple of minutes to lay out 
the schedule for today. This morning, the Senate will have a period of 
morning business for up to 60 minutes. Last night's orders provided 
that the first 30 minutes will be controlled by the majority and the 
final 30 minutes will be controlled by the minority.
  Following morning business, the Senate will begin consideration of 
IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education reauthorization bill, 
S. 1248. We will consider that bill under a previously agreed to order, 
which provides for a limited number of amendments per side. Chairman 
Gregg will be here to manage the bill on this side.
  I expect there will be votes throughout the course of the day in 
relation to those amendments. We should be able to complete our work on 
this bill either late today or early tomorrow.
  This morning, I wanted to again comment on the Executive Calendar and 
the mounting number of nominations. It is an important issue and 
important to our Nation and to the way we are viewed around the world. 
So I want to review the process again. I mentioned yesterday morning 
some of the specific pending ambassadorial nominations awaiting our 
action, in addition to the 32 judicial nominations. I know the 
distinguished assistant Democratic leader mentioned these ambassador 
nominations later in the day yesterday. Again, I want to restate what I 
mentioned yesterday morning. There are eight nominations for 
ambassadorships that are pending on the calendar. These nominations 
have been presented, have gone through committee, and are simply 
awaiting action on the floor of the Senate. It is not one, two, three, 
four, or five--it is eight. That includes ambassadorships to Sweden, 
Brazil, Finland, Romania, South Africa, Nepal, Poland, and Northern 
Ireland.

  I know of a concern at this time by a Member on our side of the aisle 
with respect to one of these eight nominees; however, I don't believe 
there are concerns on either side of the aisle with respect to the 
remaining seven nominations. So we are prepared to confirm these other 
nominations and allow them to begin their important work for the United 
States of America, the work that awaits them at their posts in the 
countries I mentioned. Each one of these is important and significant. 
We are ready to move with them.
  I do want to restate the intention of bringing it to the Senate floor 
yesterday, and that was that we need to work together on the 
nominations. It is really as simple as that. Eight nominations have 
gone through the entire vetting process up to this point, and they are 
simply awaiting action here on the floor of the Senate. We are prepared 
to confirm seven of those eight today.
  I will also mention that this is true with respect to a number of 
judges. We

[[Page S5242]]

have 32 pending judicial nominations as well. Ultimately, once we 
figure out some way to allow these nominations to be considered, I am 
confident that most, or many, are going to receive unanimous votes if 
this body is just given the opportunity to vote.
  I guess my point is, as I look at the 8 nominations and the 32 
nominations, I urge my colleagues not to take this sort of blanket or 
scorched earth policy of not letting anybody through at all. We need to 
be reasonable and we need to work together on these nominations. If 
there is a concern, and if there are certain nominations that are not 
being considered, there are a lot of different ways we can get 
attention to those individuals. But this sort of blanket holding things 
back is something we need to address.
  I hope the nominations, many of which are probably cleared on both 
sides, are not held hostage by a few. On this side of the aisle, we are 
prepared to consider the ambassadors, we are prepared to consider the 
judges, and we are prepared to vote on the chairmen of a whole range of 
committees, such as the Consumer Products Safety Commission, HUD 
nominations, and the list goes on. It is time for good faith and it is 
time to do our constitutional duty. These nominations are sent to us to 
be voted upon.

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