[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8265]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, the 
Senate will be in a period for morning business until 10 a.m. to allow 
Members to continue to make statements in support of the troops. At 10 
a.m., the Senate will resume consideration of the supplemental 
appropriations bill. The chairman has been talking to colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle regarding the lineup of amendments. Senator 
Boxer will go first, and we will try to reach a 30-minute time 
limitation on her amendment.
  I understand that following Senator Boxer's amendment, Senator Bayh 
will be prepared with an amendment regarding bioterrorism, and Senator 
Graham of Florida will have an amendment regarding VA health.
  We have also had discussions about stacking the votes on amendments 
until early afternoon to accommodate some scheduling problems. We will 
be prepared to do that tomorrow morning.
  The Senate will complete action on the supplemental appropriations 
bill tomorrow. I thank the two managers for their diligent, hard work, 
and I especially thank the assistant Democratic leader for helping to 
expedite the completion of this important bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the majority leader is absolutely right. We 
have made progress on this bill. Senator Boxer had originally agreed on 
20 minutes. She would have 20 minutes, and Senator Stevens would have 
10 minutes. The amendment is not here so there was no way Senator 
Stevens could look at the amendment. Senator Bayh agreed to 10 minutes 
and Senator Stevens agreed to 10 minutes. Senator Graham also agreed to 
10 minutes and Senator Stevens 10 minutes. We hope to work that out as 
soon as the amendments are here so the majority can look at them 
tomorrow.
  We had Senator Stevens make an announcement, as I have for the 
Democratic leader, to make sure people realize we are going to finish 
the bill tomorrow. Senator Breaux has an amendment that Senator Daschle 
wants him to offer. So we will have to see what else we can work out. I 
know Senator Stevens has amendments on his side. We have a goal in mind 
to finish this bill tomorrow so we can get it immediately to conference 
and have a bill on the President's desk before we leave for our Easter 
break.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, again, I thank all of our colleagues for 
working very hard, especially the managers of this bill, to complete it 
tomorrow night or tomorrow afternoon, or as soon tomorrow as possible. 
I think we will be able to accomplish that goal.

                          ____________________