[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24747]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we are going to be in session tomorrow to 
resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill. Chairman Warner 
and Senator Levin expect to have amendments offered on Friday, but we 
will not have votes on those amendments on Friday. We will return to 
the bill on Monday and, as announced earlier, we will begin voting 
Monday evening at approximately 5:30.
  Again, I appreciate everyone's patience over the last 9 hours. Vote-
aramas are not a pretty part of the budget process, but under the 
direction of our able, our outstanding chairman and ranking member, it 
was made a lot less painful than it could have been. They give 
tremendous success to the American people--35, or just right at $35 
billion in savings, and that goes directly to the bottom line when it 
comes to deficit reduction. As we travel around the country, people 
will say: Get serious, Congress, on fiscal discipline, on spending.
  Well, this is the first time in 8 years that this body has gone after 
mandatory spending in a responsible way to the tune of $35 billion.
  I also wish to thank my colleague, the assistant Republican leader, 
Mitch McConnell, who did a tremendous job. We had, I guess, 22 rollcall 
votes today, and he did a terrific job in terms of whipping those votes 
on our side of the aisle, a truly remarkable accomplishment.

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