[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 18759]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today the Senate will be in a period of 
morning business until 1:30 p.m. At 1:30, the Senate will begin 
consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. As I 
mentioned--I think it was Thursday night of last week--this 
appropriations bill will for the first time be considered on this 
floor. So this is a new initiative for us. I look forward to handling 
that expeditiously this week in a thoughtful and deliberate way. These 
are very important issues before this body.
  I announced previously we will not have rollcall votes today. Having 
said that, I encourage Members to come to the floor and proceed with 
their opening statements on the Homeland Security bill. Any amendment 
that is offered today can be debated throughout the day with a vote to 
occur during Tuesday's session at a time determined later.
  Once again, I encourage Members who desire to offer amendments to the 
Homeland Security bill to contact Senator Cochran or the ranking 
member. I hope we can pass this legislation early this week and then 
continue with the other appropriations bills. With only 2 weeks 
remaining prior to the scheduled recess, we need to address as many of 
the appropriations bills as possible this week. As previously stated, 
during the last week, which is next week, we will be addressing and 
completing action on the Energy bill.
  Last week, I discussed with the other side of the aisle the 
possibility of having a filing deadline for amendments to the Energy 
bill. I continue to hope that the objection on the Democratic side will 
be lifted and that we can allow Chairman Domenici and the ranking 
member to look at the legislative language of these amendments.
  We first brought Energy to the floor now several months ago. It was 
May 6. We have had 12 days on the floor. We have a list of amendments 
by title. Now is the time to narrow that list, to look at the 
legislative language.
  One of the purposes of setting aside this week at the end of this 
month so far in advance was that those actions and deliberations could 
be taken by our colleagues so we could best use the time on the floor 
of the Senate in a focused way and in a way that respects people's time 
broadly but allows adequate discussion, debate, amendment, and 
completion of this bill.
  I do want to take a moment to congratulate the chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee. Last week, he made significant progress on 
the appropriations process, but obviously there is a lot of work to be 
done. I am confident that Senator Stevens will continue along this 
road. He is clearly up to the task and will complete these bills in a 
timely fashion.
  In addition to the three appropriations bills that the Senate passed 
last week, we were also able to continue to work on a number of other 
important issues. Senator McConnell helped in ensuring that the Senate 
passed H.R. 2330, the Burma sanctions bill. That bill has now been 
cleared for the President's signature.
  The Senate also passed S. 764, Senator Campbell's bill to extend the 
authority for the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program.
  The Senate was also able to act on a number of Energy Committee 
bills, including S. 470, which extended the authority for the 
construction of a memorial for Martin Luther King, Jr.
  I look forward to a productive couple of weeks before our recess as 
we address the appropriations bills, energy bills, and other 
legislative and executive items that can be cleared.

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