[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 73 (Friday, May 21, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6249-S6250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS ACT OF 2004--MOTION TO PROCEED
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, earlier today the chairman and ranking
member of the Armed Services Committee were here to make further
progress on the Department of Defense authorization bill. We have
adopted a number of amendments that have been cleared. However, we have
been unable to vote on the pending amendment which was offered by
Senator Graham of South Carolina. In addition, Senator Warner has been
unable to secure an agreement for a filing deadline or an amendment
list. We have a list of possible Republican amendments. However, there
is an objection on the Democratic side of the aisle to limiting
amendments.
Further, many weeks ago we scheduled the class action legislation for
when the Senate returns from the upcoming recess. I would add that the
class action bill does have strong bipartisan support, and we would
like to finish that bill in a reasonable period of time. I believe we
can, indeed, do just that. I had hoped we would have been able to
proceed to that bill by consent, but again there is an objection to
proceeding to the class action bill.
I want to reiterate that we are going to finish the Defense
authorization bill. It is a critical bill, an important bill. It is a
bill we have made progress on this week. We need to lock in an
amendment list on this legislation, the Defense authorization, to allow
our managers to work with Senators on their respective amendments and
to make continued progress. This is a vital piece of legislation, and
we will return to the bill.
My intention is to go to the class action bill and then return to the
Defense authorization bill.
Thus, I now ask unanimous consent that at 2:15 on Tuesday, June 1,
the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 430, S. 2062,
the class action bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, we are very
disappointed that the distinguished majority leader is going to file
cloture on this matter. We have said on more than one occasion we are
willing to work toward completion of the Defense bill. We cooperated
this week. We told the manager of the bill, both Senator Levin and I,
let's go off of the Lindsey Graham amendment. We will agree to a 2-hour
limitation of time when we come back next Tuesday to dispose of that
and the Cantwell amendment that she would have offered. But that wasn't
to be done. We indicated at that time that we would waste a lot of
time.
We had a bipartisan amendment by Senator Daschle and Senator Lindsey
Graham on TRICARE that would have moved forward. We had one that
Senator Kennedy had on the reporting. We were standing by with a number
of amendments ready to go.
I would also say to the distinguished majority leader, we have
supplied to the two managers of the bill our amendments, as Republicans
have supplied amendments. There are about 100 amendments. They cleared
a number this morning. They have cleared amendments in the past. I
would also say that we take about 10 days on this bill normally. We
don't think this bill will take that much time. We believe that when we
come back, we would be in a position at that time, maybe not on Tuesday
but by Wednesday, enter into an agreement as to a list of amendments.
It is difficult to have our Members do this with a 10-day break because
we don't know if there is going to be another Chalabi problem. We don't
know if there is going to be another problem dealing with a prison.
[[Page S6250]]
We don't know what is going to happen. Events are moving so quickly.
I say to my distinguished friend, the majority leader, we believe it
is more important to go to this Defense bill. I listened to every word
of the statement of the distinguished majority leader about the
Secretary of Defense. We have had other speeches on the floor today
about how important it is that we continue supporting our troops. We
believe that.
Last night, the House passed, on a bipartisan basis, a very important
Defense authorization bill, by an overwhelming margin. We need to do
the same.
I also say that we are willing to go to class action when we finish
the Defense bill, which will probably be, I respectfully submit to my
friend, Tuesday anyway because I don't think you are going to get
cloture on this motion to proceed. I have spoken to my people who are
advocates of class action reform--the junior Senator from Delaware, Mr.
Carper, and the Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer. They believe in
class action reform a lot, but they are not going to vote for cloture.
We believe we should finish the Defense bill and then go to class
action. I ask my friend, the distinguished majority leader, to modify
his request to provide that the Senate proceed to the consideration of
the class action legislation upon disposition of the Defense
authorization bill. I make that request.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I object to the modification.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. REID. I object to the request of the majority leader.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, let me briefly say I have had the
opportunity to talk to the manager of the bill, and we feel very
strongly that it is critical that we address this bill. The best way to
do it is to allow the managers to work together over the recess and see
if they can come back with amendments that are identified so we have
some kind of certainty as to how we are going to bring this to closure.
In the meantime, while those discussions are underway, we will
hopefully be able to proceed with class action.
cloture motion
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the consideration of
S. 2062, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to
proceed to Calendar No. 430, S. 2062.
Bill Frist, Orrin Hatch, Charles Grassley, John Sununu,
Lamar Alexander, Pete Domenici, Norm Coleman, Jim
Talent, Larry Craig, Mitch McConnell, Trent Lott, John
Cornyn, Judd Gregg, Richard G. Lugar, Mike Crapo, Saxby
Chambliss, Jon Kyl, Peter Fitzgerald.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, could the
majority leader schedule that for 5:30? It is so difficult for people
on the west coast--and I am one of them--coming back that day. We don't
arrive, if the plane is on time, until about 4 o'clock.
Mr. FRIST. We are happy to make it 5:30, June 1. We modify the
unanimous consent request to be 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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