[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 53 (Friday, May 5, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S4117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. On Monday, the Senate will continue to debate issues that 
I spoke to earlier this morning, issues that are critically needed, 
very important to slow down the incessant rise in the cost of health 
care, that will improve the quality of health care, will improve access 
to health care, will keep my colleagues in medicine from having to 
desert or leave a State that they want to practice in or leave a 
profession, a specialty they want to continue, because of exorbitant, 
high medical premiums that result in frivolous lawsuits.
  At 5:15 on Monday, we will have two cloture votes on motions to 
proceed to a comprehensive medical malpractice bill and a tailored bill 
designed to give women access to health care. I hope that cloture will 
be invoked on the motions to proceed so the Senate could begin to 
debate the merits of those bills. They are very important bills. We 
have spoken to the substance of those bills today and will continue to 
do so Monday. I encourage my colleagues to allow us to continue that 
debate on those bills and bring them to resolution.
  If we are unsuccessful, if cloture fails on both of those measures, 
then we would vote on Tuesday morning on a cloture motion on the motion 
to proceed to the small business health plans bill. All three of these 
issues are very important pieces of legislation. We have set them up in 
order that we can deal with them one at a time. We are trying to get on 
them to debate them, and so far there has been indication that there is 
going to be attempts to obstruct and stop and not let us get on those. 
We hopefully will be successful in doing just that.

                          ____________________