[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1237]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, pending is the Byrd amendment. There will 
be 2 hours of debate on the amendment. Members should be advised that a 
vote will occur sometime between noon and 12:30 p.m. today.
  Following the disposition of the Byrd amendment, other amendments and 
votes are likely. A late night is unavoidable. A number of our 
colleagues have asked about scheduling for today and tomorrow. My 
response has been that in 18 days the President of the United States 
will be delivering a budget to this body for consideration and for the 
next fiscal year. We are already about a quarter of the way through 
this fiscal year, yet the Senate has not yet addressed the 11 
appropriations spending bills. That process is now under way.
  We will be having our first vote in 2\1/2\ hours. I look forward to a 
very productive day. Depending on how productive the Senate is today 
and tonight, and we may go well into the evening because we are working 
against, hopefully, a coming recess, it is going to be incumbent upon 
us to be disciplined, to be focused. All of our colleagues will want to 
talk on every single issue. Clearly they have that opportunity. I do 
ask, in the consideration of the number of amendments on either side, 
that we be disciplined on both sides of the aisle so we can finish this 
bill before we leave.
  We will be here through tomorrow; it could well be tomorrow night. It 
is my goal--my goal--as we are in the early stages on this bill, to 
finish this bill before we leave. People have asked, Could that 
possibly mean Saturday morning? The answer to that is yes. I think it 
is that important that we move forward.
  If we are unable to finish tonight or tomorrow or tomorrow night or 
Saturday or decide that going into Saturday is not the appropriate way 
to address it, we absolutely will be back here Tuesday morning to 
finish these appropriations bills. Whether we finish it then Tuesday or 
later in the week, it remains on how disciplined we are.
  I encourage my colleagues to consider the importance of getting this 
unfinished business done as soon as possible so we can move ahead with 
the Nation's business.

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