[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24132]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we will have 30 minutes of 
debate prior to the cloture vote on the miscellaneous trade and 
technical corrections conference report. Therefore, I expect cloture to 
occur shortly after 10 a.m. I expect cloture to be invoked, and if it 
is invoked I hope we can complete the conference report in short order.
  I will talk to the Democratic leadership after the vote to see what 
time may be necessary during that postcloture period.
  I also expect the appropriations conference report, the so-called 
omnibus package, will be filed today. If so, I hope we will be able to 
act on that measure at some point today or this evening. I am 
optimistic that we can, in fact, finish our work sometime today and 
adjourn this Congress.
  While we are waiting for the omnibus conference reports, we will 
continue to try to process other cleared legislative items. The IDEA, 
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act conference report, is 
expected to arrive today from the House, and we will consider that 
legislation before we adjourn this year.
  Finally, we have a very large number of nominations that are 
available on the Executive Calendar. It would be irresponsible to leave 
without acting on at least those nominations which we know are 
noncontroversial. We must move toward resolution of these nominations 
over the course of the day. We need to continue to pursue a way of 
clearing that Executive Calendar.
  I will close so we can move on for the vote, but I have to add that I 
personally had a remarkable day yesterday. I had the opportunity to 
visit the Clinton Library for what was an exceptional and remarkable 
day in terms of having our former Presidents together in a wonderful 
bipartisan spirit. It was a rainy day so we all sat in 2 or 3 hours of 
the downpour. It really was an inspiration to see what has made and 
continues to make this country so great. It is a wonderful library. I 
have three boys and look forward to going back and taking them through 
a magnificent structure. It really does capture President Clinton's 
upbeat, optimistic enthusiasm, his whole view of life. A number of the 
Senators attended. I wanted to mention it because it was quite 
remarkable for me, personally.

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