[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 129 (Tuesday, September 4, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10999-S11000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, under the order that was entered, the Senate 
will conduct a period for morning business for 60 minutes, with the 
time controlled between the two sides as I read. Following this period 
for morning business, the Senate will proceed to the Military 
Construction and VA appropriations bill. This is a very critical, 
important message for our military and for our veterans. I hope we can 
consider this bill in a very expeditious manner.
  At approximately 2:30 this afternoon, the Senate will proceed to 
executive session and consider the Nussle nomination for a period of 3 
hours. The chairs and ranking members of the Budget and Homeland 
Security Committees will each be recognized as indicated in the matter 
I just read before the Senate. There will be 30 minutes, as indicated, 
on each side, with Senator Sanders controlling 1 hour. A vote on the 
nomination is expected to occur about 5:30 this afternoon.
  I spoke with the distinguished Republican leader this morning and 
indicated what we were going to accomplish before we leave for the 
Jewish holiday, which is 1 week from this Wednesday--1 week from 
tomorrow.
  We are going to take up and complete the Nussle nomination this 
afternoon. Prior to that being completed, Senators Jack Reed and Kay 
Bailey Hutchison, who are the managers of the appropriations bill that 
will come

[[Page S11000]]

before the Senate, will manage that bill. It is an extremely important 
piece of legislation. We are going to do our very best to complete that 
bill and then move to Foreign Operations. I don't know how anyone can 
object to the foreign operations matter because it is hundreds of 
millions of dollars under what the President requested. It is something 
that is extremely important. The President feels very strongly about 
this legislation, and we should move forward on it.

  Following that legislation, we are going to move to the 
reconciliation matter which deals with education. I told my friend, the 
senior Senator from Kentucky, that we may have to work this weekend, or 
part of this weekend, the reason being, as I mentioned, we have two 
appropriations bills, and they should move quickly. We have a statutory 
time on the reconciliation matter dealing with education.
  Next week, everyone should understand we are going to have votes 
Monday morning--Monday morning. It is a very short week, and we are 
going to take up next week the Transportation appropriations bill. In 
light of all the attention focused on the deteriorating infrastructure 
of this country, that is a very important piece of legislation, and we 
need to complete it.
  The Jewish holiday starts sundown on Wednesday. It was originally my 
intent to work until sundown on Wednesday, but a number of my Jewish 
colleagues indicated they have to travel. Especially Senator Lieberman 
needs to be in Connecticut prior to sundown. So we are going to 
complete our voting on Wednesday by 1 o'clock. We will work past that 
time on matters perhaps, if we can complete the Transportation 
appropriations bill by that time, but we are going to stop voting 
around 1 o'clock on Wednesday.
  Then, of course, we have other business to do. After that, we have to 
move to the matter dealing with Iraq. We have Defense authorization. I 
have spoken with my friend, the Republican leader, about different ways 
we could set up moving forward on that legislation. We don't have 
anything determined yet, but we are trying to do that. My wish and my 
desire is to move forward and have a number of votes set up so there 
are 50-vote margins. We will not ask for that now. I will give the 
distinguished Republican leader adequate time so we can have a UC 
dealing with that matter.
  I will, during the course of the speech I am going to give today in a 
few minutes, Mr. President, ask unanimous consent that we can go to 
conference on SCHIP. I hope we can do that. I have again spoken with 
the Republican leader about that matter.
  Before I get into my remarks, I ask through the Chair if my friend 
has anything he needs to know or maybe questions I can answer regarding 
the schedule.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I appreciate the majority leader's call 
this morning. He basically covered the items he has gone over. We will 
be cooperating, to the maximum extent possible, to move forward with 
the work in the Senate. I, such as he, will have an opening statement 
as we begin this session shortly after the majority leader completes 
his statement.

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