[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Page 26016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will resume 
consideration of the nomination of Michael Leavitt to be Administrator 
of the Environmental Protection Agency. There will be 1 hour of debate 
prior to the nomination. I am pleased this distinguished nominee for 
the President's Cabinet will receive an up-or-down vote and anticipate 
his confirmation by an overwhelming majority this morning.
  Following the disposition of the Leavitt nomination, the Senate will 
resume debate on the foreign operations appropriations bill. There are 
several amendments pending to the bill. We hope to begin scheduling 
votes on those amendments. Senator McConnell will be here following the 
nomination vote. We anticipate completing action on the bill during 
today's session. Therefore, Senators should expect rollcall votes 
throughout the day and possibly votes into the evening, if necessary.
  Each day I come to the floor I mention the schedule and the remaining 
business before the Senate. Again, I would like to reiterate that the 
days of this session are waning, but we have a full legislative agenda 
and executive matters to finish. We have the appropriations bills and 
the conference reports, Healthy Forests--and the tragic events in 
California underscore the need for this crucial legislation. Regarding 
the Fair Credit Reporting Act, we are in discussions, and I hope an 
agreement can be reached on its consideration. If not, it will be 
necessary to take the procedural steps to ensure that the Senate does 
act on this very important piece of bipartisan legislation.
  We have the Internet tax moratorium. Discussions are underway on an 
agreement to allow us to act before the expiration of the existing law.
  On the climate change legislation, we have a 6-hour agreement. I hope 
we can possibly use less time than those 6 hours. We are looking for an 
available time to consider it this week.
  We have the judicial nominations as well.
  Again, I hope to make efficient use of the Senate's time over the 
coming days, and I hope and look forward to working with the Democratic 
leadership so we can consider these bills under time agreements and in 
a timely fashion.
  Everybody is aware of the scheduling challenges we have during this 
time of year. But with the cooperation of all Members, we will be able 
to finish our work and adjourn at the earliest possible time. As 
always, I thank our colleagues and Senators for their cooperation and 
energy and patience to accomplish this as we go forward.

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