[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16604]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will immediately 
resume consideration of S. 1, the prescription drug benefit/Medicare 
bill. Under the previous agreement, the Senate will begin two back-to-
back rollcall votes shortly. We were in late last night, and we set 
those votes to occur the first thing this morning.
  The voting schedule will be as follows: The first vote will be in 
relation to the Harkin amendment No. 991 dealing with demonstration 
programs. The second vote will be in relation to the Edwards amendment 
No. 1052 dealing with drug advertising. For the remainder of the day, 
we will continue to debate and vote on amendments to S. 1.
  We have made very good progress over the last 2 weeks on this bill. 
The Democratic leader and I were just talking, and we still have 50 
amendments pending. It is my hope a number of these amendments will be 
disposed of by voice vote. I know the managers are working along that 
line. Inevitably, though, we are going to have a very heavy voting 
schedule today and into this evening. Members should expect rollcall 
votes throughout the day and, if necessary, into the wee hours of the 
morning on Friday. We will know a little bit later today the pace of 
these amendments and how they can best be handled.
  My intention was to finish this bill before the July 4 recess. I 
think everybody is working in good faith to do just that. With the 
cooperation of all Members, and if we are able to continue voting 
throughout the day and the debate-and-amendment process, we may be able 
to pass this legislation this evening.

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