[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 28 (Thursday, March 10, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S2503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the benefit of our colleagues, 
tomorrow the Senate will be in a period of morning business. As I 
announced earlier, there will be no rollcall votes during tomorrow's 
session. The next vote will occur Monday afternoon around 5:30 p.m.
  A few moments ago, we completed action on the bankruptcy bill. I want 
to particularly thank all of our colleagues for the work on the bill 
and, in particular, Senator Grassley, Senator Hatch, Senator Sessions, 
and others on both sides of the aisle who have been working on this 
legislation for, lo, these many years--7 or 8 years, I was told by 
Senator Biden a while ago.
  Next week, we will be considering the budget resolution. We will have 
long, long evening sessions, and many, many rollcall votes throughout 
the week.
  I ask, on behalf of myself and the majority leader, for Senators to 
make themselves available throughout the week. And I particularly want 
to emphasize that next Friday, the end of the week, could be a long 
day. I want to let all Members know there is an overwhelming likelihood 
that Friday will be a full day. Members should expect to be here 
throughout the day next Friday. We will go up into the evening. It will 
be an unusual Friday. We don't have many of those in the course of a 
year. But next Friday will be an unusual Friday, and people should make 
plans accordingly.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, I would like to 
say on behalf of those who didn't support the bankruptcy bill that, in 
all fairness, I think it was a spirited and a very positive debate, 
during the course of the debate for over 2 weeks. But that really 
boiled down to about 6 or 7 days. We entertained 30 amendments to the 
bankruptcy bill. Not one amendment went on extraordinarily long. 
Members took a limited amount of time, expressed themselves, debated 
quickly and thoroughly, and voted.
  I hope that we can continue to follow that model. I think, as I have 
said, we got perilously close to debate in the U.S. Senate, which 
hardly ever happens around here. I hope that we can continue along 
those lines in the future.
  I thank the Senator from Kentucky for yielding.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, if I could just say to my friend, I 
couldn't agree more. I think the debate was handled very nicely. 
Members got an opportunity to have their say, to get their votes, and 
the Senate has done itself proud. In spite of the mixed views about the 
outcome, the Senate did itself proud with the first two bills this 
year, and I hope it is a good recipe for the future.

                          ____________________