[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18131]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, 
tomorrow following morning business the Senate will resume 
consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. It is 
imperative that we finish the Homeland Security bill prior to the 
observance of Rosh Hashanah on Wednesday. The chairman and ranking 
member will be here in the morning to begin working through the final 
amendments. Senators should expect a long day with numerous rollcall 
votes. Senators should make themselves available throughout the day 
tomorrow as we move forward to complete this bill.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if the Senator will allow me a few words 
before we finish, as I have stated on the floor, I believe we can 
finish the Homeland Security appropriations bill tomorrow. I think we 
can do that. Senator Daschle has stated that he believes that is the 
case also. There is a complicating factor, and that is the reason we 
didn't have a cutoff time this evening for filing amendments. There is 
some interest in tying this together with supplemental appropriations 
for the catastrophes--I say that in the plural--that have hit Florida. 
The last one is not yet there. We understand the importance of that.
  I say as sincerely as I can to my friend, who is my counterpart on 
the majority side, don't connect these two bills. We are aware and 
concerned about the problems in Florida and we will work to help. We 
have two Democratic Senators from Florida. We know how important that 
is. But to tie these two together is only making our work more 
difficult. We can finish this bill tomorrow. If the leadership on the 
Republican side decides they want to go to another supplemental even 
before, let us do that separately. We are going to do everything we can 
to take care of the people of Florida. But this is so important.
  I will not guarantee anything, but I think if the supplemental is 
tied to Homeland Security, we are not going to finish this tomorrow, 
and I think we will be lucky to finish it Wednesday morning.
  That is my observation. I am doing everything I can to work on this 
matter. I am making that suggestion.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I appreciate the suggestions of my good 
friend from Nevada. We both share a desire to help the people of 
Florida who have certainly been lambasted by two horrendous hurricanes 
and are about to be hit by one that may be even bigger. We will work 
with the other side of the aisle to see the best way to accommodate the 
needs of our folks down in Florida.

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