[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 112 (Friday, September 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S9891]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, on Monday, the Senate will resume 
consideration of the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. 
There are a number of amendments pending or in order to the bill, and I 
encourage Members to offer and debate those amendments on Monday 
afternoon so we can schedule votes for Monday night and Tuesday.
  On Monday evening, at 5:30, we will have an hour of debate followed 
by a vote on the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 20, a resolution of 
disapproval relating to mercury. That vote will occur at 6:30 p.m., and 
additional votes are possible into the evening.
  Early next week, we expect to finish the Commerce-Justice-Science 
appropriations bill, and we will continue with other appropriations 
measures over the course of that week. Many of these appropriations 
bills do have disaster-related language, language that is important to 
our response to Katrina; therefore, we want to expedite their 
consideration.
  We have been working to pass several freestanding measures in 
response to Katrina, and we will continue to do so as they become 
available. As I pointed out earlier this morning and yesterday, last 
night, we are working very aggressively to make sure all legislation 
which is of benefit to the victims of this hurricane are handled 
expeditiously on the floor of the Senate in their consideration and 
passage.
  We have considered two emergency supplemental bills: the $51.8 
billion we passed last night and the $10.5 billion we passed on 
Thursday of a week ago. We have considered bills regarding emergency 
court jurisdiction in response to Katrina and the courts' ability to 
continue their operations along the southern coast. We considered a 
resolution allowing for Senate offices to assist with noncash 
contributions with regard to relief in response to the hurricane.
  We are currently working on a whole range of additional matters 
relating to flood insurance and TANF, which is the Temporary Assistance 
to Needy Families Program. Our committees, through their various 
jurisdictions, are working to see how and when we can take action to 
give that appropriate relief and make progress in helping all of those 
affected by this natural disaster. We will continue those efforts over 
the weekend and into next week.

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