[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12407]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Today the first 30 minutes of morning business will be 
under the control of the minority, to be followed by 30 minutes under 
the control of this side of the aisle. Following this morning business 
period, the Senate will resume consideration of the Defense 
authorization bill. The agreement reached last night allows for 30 
additional minutes of debate prior to a vote in relation to the 
amendment of Senator Dodd relating to the use of contractors and the 
custody of prisoners. Therefore, that vote can be expected shortly 
after 10:30 this morning.
  Last night, Senators Warner and Levin began working through a list of 
amendments and potential time agreements. Real progress was made. We 
will continue those discussions this morning to see which amendments 
both sides are prepared to vote on over the course of today. I hope we 
can have another productive day today and dispose of a number of these 
defense-related amendments prior to this evening's commitment.
  Having said that, we are coming to the close of our third week of 
consideration of this bill. We have had somewhere around 78 amendments 
offered, and we have disposed of 74 of those 78 amendments. I do 
appreciate the effort of my Democratic colleagues to facilitate moving 
toward closure on this bill. I know they, working with Chairman Warner, 
are doing everything possible to narrow the list of remaining 
amendments. Both sides are working hard in that regard. They must 
continue to do that because we have a number of amendments still before 
us.
  I have not ruled out filing cloture on this Defense bill if it 
becomes necessary, just from a management perspective. Obviously, it 
would be easier if we could see an end point to the amendments and know 
that we can complete this bill in a short timeframe. So, again, I 
encourage everyone to show restraint in the amendment process. Over the 
course of the day, the leadership on both sides will monitor the course 
of the bill.
  We will likely revisit our situation on the bill later today and see 
if there is an end point that is near, something to which we can agree. 
If not, then cloture may be necessary to bring the bill to conclusion.
  As a reminder, we will stack judicial nominations for votes 
throughout the day as well. As always, Members will be alerted as these 
votes are set.

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