[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13497]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--S. 2062

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, briefly I have a consent regarding the 
class action legislation which has been cleared on both sides. Before 
proceeding, I remind everyone that an earlier order provided we would 
proceed to the class action legislation following completion of Defense 
authorization, which I expect we will be able to complete today. 
However, we now have a Defense appropriations bill available and it is 
vitally important for us to proceed with that bill to ensure no 
disruption in funds to our troops. Having said that, this agreement 
will allow us to proceed to the class action legislation without any 
procedural hurdles following the Defense appropriations bill.
  Therefore, I now ask unanimous consent that the previous order with 
respect to Calendar No. 430, S. 2062, the class action bill, be 
vitiated and further that the Senate proceed to its consideration 
following the disposition of the Defense appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, I want to make sure I 
understand. The majority leader is proposing that we go to class action 
immediately following the completion of our work on the Defense 
appropriations bill; is that correct?
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, that is correct. The clarification I made 
was that initially we would follow the Defense authorization with class 
action. Now in effect what we are doing is we are going to finish the 
Defense authorization today, go to Defense appropriations, to be 
followed by class action.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I appreciate that. I have made it clear I 
am not a supporter of the class action bill, but I have made a 
commitment to many of the colleagues in my caucus with regard to the 
assurances we have provided to them in the past that they would have a 
chance to have this legislation brought before the Senate and offer the 
appropriate amendments. They have been very patient. We have asked them 
to delay consideration of this bill now on several occasions, but with 
the assurances given by the majority leader, I have no objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Reserving the right to object, I will not object, I 
express my thanks to both leaders for that colloquy and this brief 
discussion we have had. As both leaders know, the movement of this 
legislation is a priority for a number of us, certainly for me, and I 
am gratified that once we have disposed of the Defense appropriations 
bill, the next bill we will turn to is class action. I express my 
thanks to the majority leader for making that clear, and to the 
Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, for his steadfast position, 
realizing this is not legislation that is at the top of his list of 
priorities.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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