[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 14327]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do want to welcome everyone back 
following the Fourth of July recess. Today, we return to business for a 
relatively brief, under-3-week legislative period, but what I know will 
be a very productive legislative period. This morning we will proceed 
to executive session and the consideration of J. Leon Holmes to be a 
U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Pursuant to 
the agreement reached prior to adjourning, there will be up to 6 hours 
of debate today before the vote on the confirmation of this nomination. 
I anticipate that vote occurring sometime around 5:30 today, and that 
will be the first vote of the day.
  We also expect to consider additional judicial nominations throughout 
this period prior to the August recess, and we will be scheduling those 
nominations as they become available.
  Following the vote on the Holmes nomination, we will begin 
consideration of the class action fairness legislation, and that debate 
will begin after the vote and continue tonight. This class action bill 
is a bipartisan bill, and I hope we will be able to consider it in a 
fair and expeditious way. As I mentioned, this is an abbreviated 
legislative period due to the respective party conventions which begin 
later this month. There is a lot of work to do over the next 3 weeks, 
including consideration of the appropriations bills.
  The best way for us to ensure we complete the class action measure is 
for the Senate to focus on related amendments on that bill. The issue 
has been before this body previously; therefore, I hope we can consider 
relevant amendments and ultimately pass this legislation with a large 
bipartisan vote. If this bill becomes a vehicle for every unrelated 
issue that is stored in people's desks and in their minds, I am afraid 
this abbreviated schedule will not make it possible to do that. And if 
we insist upon offering a lot of unrelated amendments, the ultimate 
consideration of the bill clearly will be impossible because of the 
time involved.
  Having said that, I will be working with the Democratic leadership to 
see if we can finish this bill in a reasonable period of time. Again, I 
welcome back all of my colleagues. It will be a very busy session over 
the next 3 weeks. I ask in advance for everyone's patience and 
cooperation during this period.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, if the majority leader will yield?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Let me welcome him back and express the hope that we can 
work together on a number of issues this work period. Could the 
majority leader give us some indication as to what we might expect once 
the class action bill has been completed? What other issues do you 
expect to take during this 3-week period and in what order of sequence? 
If the majority leader could share that with us, it would be helpful as 
well.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as we get back and do our planning over the 
course of the next several hours and days, we will do just that. As I 
mentioned, we have the class action bill. Once we complete that, we 
have appropriations bills. We are, at some juncture, going to consider 
the Federal marriage amendment, and there will be a number of other 
issues. But as they come forward, I would be happy to discuss it with 
the leader.

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