[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11014]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Senate returns to business today 
following the Memorial Day recess. I hope everyone had a safe and 
productive break.
  Today, we will be in a period for morning business until 12:30 p.m., 
with the time equally divided between both sides of the aisle. At 
12:30, we will recess until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly Republican policy 
luncheon. I understand the Democratic policy luncheon will occur 
tomorrow.
  As a reminder, prior to the Memorial Day break, we tried to reach 
consent to begin consideration of the class action fairness bill. I 
reiterate that it has always been my hope we could finish the Defense 
authorization and the class action bill in a reasonable and timely way. 
Unfortunately, after spending a week on the Defense authorization bill 
we were still unable to reach an agreement for an amendment limitation.
  In addition, there was an objection to proceeding to the class action 
fairness measure. A cloture vote is currently scheduled for 5:30 p.m. 
today on the motion to proceed to the class action bill. I hope it will 
not be necessary.
  I will be talking with the Democratic leadership to see if we can 
find a way to finish the Defense authorization bill and begin the class 
action fairness bill without unnecessary delay.
  We need to reach an agreement on how and when we will complete this 
important Defense authorization bill, and then we will begin the class 
action bill without the need for cloture.
  I hope to announce shortly that we have reached an agreement for 
vitiating the 5:30 p.m. vote and that we will continue on the Defense 
bill with the expectation that Members will cooperate with the two 
managers to allow us to finish this Defense authorization bill.
  I also should remind my colleagues that we will continue to work on 
judicial nominations as we proceed forward. I will be setting votes on 
those nominations each day. If we are able to vitiate the cloture vote 
today, we will schedule a vote on a judicial nomination today in its 
place as we will have a vote at 5:30 p.m. today.
  Again, I will announce the voting schedule shortly.
  Finally, we have 4 weeks during this legislative period. We have a 
lot to accomplish over that period of time. I hope we can use our time 
efficiently and get our work done.

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