[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 25577-25578]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader is recognized.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I appreciate the update of the majority 
leader this morning. I commend him for coming back to the 
appropriations bills. No one cares more about that than the President 
pro tempore. There is a lot of interest on both sides of the aisle in 
working diligently to try to finish the appropriations bills this week 
and next week.
  I am a little concerned about the longer list of other items the 
majority leader mentioned, even though I recognize many of us share his 
desire to bring up these bills at some point soon. I hope we can reach 
agreement on the Fair Credit Reporting Act in the next day or so, so we 
can accommodate its consideration. The Internet tax bill is something I 
think we ought to be able to work through as well.
  He didn't mention but there is still a possibility that we could 
reach some agreement on asbestos or on class action as we work over the 
next couple of weeks. I have indicated, in the most heartfelt way, that 
we would like to negotiate and work with him to find ways to address 
those issues. He didn't mention them, but I know they are priorities of 
his as well.
  We have a lot of work to do in a very short period of time. But I 
think it is important, first and foremost, to try to finish these 
appropriations bills in a way that will allow us to conference each 
bill and then work to try to resolve our differences with the House.
  I still have, unfortunately, grave reservations about the way we have 
conducted our conferences. I read more

[[Page 25578]]

about what happens in conference as the Democratic leader than I get 
from even my Democratic Members who are supposed to be conferees. We 
can't conduct business that way. I am concerned about that. It will 
affect, of course, our ability to go to conference on future bills, 
even if we are able to pass them here.
  We are off to a good start today on appropriations. I hope we can 
deal with Transportation, the District of Columbia, other bills that 
deserve our consideration.
  I think we will receive a fairly expeditious review and debate so we 
can move these bills on. I thank the majority leader for his update. I 
look forward to working with him throughout the day.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I am a little hesitant to add to my list of 
things to do after what we just heard. But as my colleague, Senator 
Daschle, mentioned, on the class action legislation I think we made 
headway yesterday. With that vote yesterday, a lot of people have come 
forward and said this is something we can do. Asbestos is something we 
are working on diligently as well.
  I wish to add one other thing, and that is Healthy Forests. We are 
very close on that as well. It is an important issue to the American 
people. I think that, too, is one we can complete before we adjourn.

                          ____________________