[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 124 (Thursday, September 28, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S10494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we had a very busy day. We passed the 
Military Commissions Act, the Terrorist Tribunal Act, and also invoked 
cloture on the border fence bill, another very important piece of 
legislation. This evening, we reached agreement to consider the 
Department of Defense appropriations bill conference report, and 
tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock the Senate will vote on that conference 
report, and then we will resume the postcloture debate on the border 
fence bill.
  I remind my colleagues to be prepared for a busy day tomorrow, with 
votes throughout the day. Given the cloture vote this evening of 71 to 
28, I hope we can expedite the border fence bill and finish it at an 
early hour tomorrow.
  This is a very important bill that focuses on border security and 
border security first, recognizing we have a lot more to do in the 
future, but it does give us that opportunity to address the fact that 
we have millions of people coming across the U.S. border every year 
illegally, and we need to start the enforcement of that border and that 
border security by a physical structure, UAVs, with cameras and 
sensors, specifically 700 miles of fence along that border.
  Following that, we will have the cloture vote on the message on the 
Child Custody Act, a very important bill that addresses one of our 
major initiatives here; that is, to secure America's values and look at 
the issue of a young girl being taken for an abortion across State 
lines without parental permission. It is common sense. We passed it on 
the floor of the Senate not too long ago, and this is an amended 
version that came over from the House, and now is the time for us to 
pass it once again.

  Beyond that, we have a number of other outstanding items that will 
need to be addressed before the recess. As we speak, issues surrounding 
our ports, again another part of that major thematic for this month of 
securing our homeland as we work on border security and funding the war 
on terror and giving our Government, our military, and our CIA the 
tools that we need to carry out this war on terror for our ports.
  Our port security has to be addressed. It is being addressed in 
conference. Conferees were appointed by the House earlier tonight and 
that conference met tonight, so I am very hopeful that we will be able 
to address port security over the next 24, 36 hours.
  In addition, we have nominations of the various judges that we need 
to consider before we leave. We have a treaty, U.S.-U.K. extradition 
that we need to address before we leave. There are other cleared items, 
including a large energy package. All of these are being held up 
tonight by the other side of the aisle, but I am very hopeful that we 
will be able to address these issues over the course of the next day or 
so.
  If we are unable to complete all of our work tomorrow, Senators can 
expect a Saturday session. It is clear, as I set out really 2 weeks 
ago, that we have a large agenda. We are moving along very, very well, 
making real progress, as shown by the six votes that we had over the 
course of the day. But we have a lot more to do, and we will stay until 
we finish that work either late tomorrow or into Saturday.

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