[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 18623]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, let me take a minute to review the schedule 
for the next couple of days and next week. In observance of the Rosh 
Hashanah holiday, we will not be voting tomorrow. In addition, we are 
in a pro forma session which will allow people to appropriately use 
that time for themselves to work, to catch up with families, to see 
constituents, to get back to their States.
  We were able to reach agreement to complete two additional 
appropriations bills with short time limits which allows us to be in a 
pro forma session tomorrow. We will not be conducting business on the 
floor tomorrow.
  Earlier today, we completed debate on the Military Construction 
appropriations bill with the vote on final passage which will occur, as 
just mentioned, at 5:30 on Monday. For the information of my 
colleagues, that will be the next rollcall vote. Today we also reached 
agreement on the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, and that will 
be scheduled for consideration early next week with the vote likely to 
be Tuesday morning.
  Next week we may be able to reach additional agreements on 
appropriations bills, and we will continue to pursue those in the same 
spirit that the assistant Democratic leader just mentioned.
  In addition, we have the Goss nomination that, in all likelihood, 
will become available for full Senate consideration. We will certainly 
schedule that nomination to come to the floor just as soon as we 
possibly can, as soon as it is ready. I expect that to be in the early 
to mid part of next week.
  We also have discussions continuing on the expiring family tax 
provisions. If possible, we would like to be able to pull that package 
together and bring it to the floor just as soon as it is ready as well.
  Next week, on Thursday, September 23, Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq, 
who is also a physician and doctor, will be addressing a joint meeting 
of Congress. That address will be on that Thursday at 10 a.m. in the 
Hall of the House of Representatives. Members will gather in the Senate 
Chamber and will proceed as a body to the House at approximately 9:30 
that morning.
  We will have a very full schedule next week. I know that quite often, 
as the galleries watch what is occurring in the Senate Chamber or view 
on C-SPAN II what happens in the Senate, when we have days like 
tomorrow or the rest of this afternoon, things seem to be slow. In 
truth, there is all sorts of work going on, especially now as we are 
working toward that October 8 adjournment date. People are busy in 
committee hearings and working on various issues that we must address 
and negotiate through this legislative process.
  A perfect example is with the bills that the assistant Democratic 
leader just referred to--the 44 bills that he held up and that we were 
able to pass quickly. A huge amount of work goes into bringing those to 
the floor and having them prepared appropriately. These bills had to do 
with land, water conservation, park measures, and a whole range of 
energy issues. It took about a minute on the Senate floor to pass them, 
but literally hundreds of hours were involved in getting that 
legislation available and ready for consideration.
  I only mention that as another example of what is going on and what 
the challenge is and the huge demands on all of us to accomplish what 
we must before October 8.
  I opened this morning by thanking Senator Thad Cochran for his 
tremendous leadership over the course of the week on Homeland Security 
appropriations. We were here very late last night and we were able to 
complete that bill. Members showed a lot of patience during the day and 
into the evening as we pushed through to final passage. I thank 
everybody for their tremendous efforts.

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