[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13915-13916]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           CONGRATULATING CHAIRMAN STEVENS AND SENATOR INOUYE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I again congratulate Chairman Stevens and 
Senator Inouye on completing the first appropriations bill of the year. 
The record will show, I am sure, the time spent on this bill was one of 
the fastest, if not the fastest ever, that a Defense Appropriations 
Committee bill has been considered in the U.S. Senate.
  We have to understand that it was only on Tuesday morning of this 
week that the Subcommittee on Defense reported the bill, and the full 
committee reported it out that afternoon. Here we are on Thursday night 
having completed this very important, critical bill.
  I am sure this marathon would not have been possible without the 
excellent cooperation of many Senators and

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the terrific work of the Defense appropriations staff, under the 
leadership of Sid Ashworth for the majority and Charlie Houy for the 
minority.
  I am also particularly happy that conferees on this important bill 
have been appointed and that hopefully shortly after the recess that 
conference can also be completed in record time so critical funds can 
be made available to our service men and women around the globe, 
fighting and standing guard to protect our freedoms and securities.
  Also, I thank the chairman and Senator Inouye for including today 
critical funding for humanitarian assistance in the Sudan. We simply 
can not stand by idly as half a million people are uprooted and forced 
to flee the Darfur region while also suffering unbelievable starvation, 
hunger, and murder from Sudan, government-backed Arab militias.
  The funding we have provided today will go to USAID to assist these 
refugees but of course a political solution needs to found also for 
this part of our world.
  Again, I thank Chairman Stevens and Senator Inouye for their hard 
work today.

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