[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Pages 27242-27243]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise to congratulate the majority 
leader of the Senate, Bill Frist. I do not do this because he is my 
good friend but because I want to make sure that we all understand that 
we have had an exceptionally productive legislative year. I thank him 
especially for his critical help in passing legislation in areas where 
I have been primarily responsible. In addition to that, I want to 
summarize the things that have been done this year under his 
leadership.
  The reason I came to talk about this is because there is such an 
overwhelming, high-octane negativism in the air that one would hardly 
know the Senate was at work. There is so much politics going on that 
one would wonder whether the Senate is even functioning. Even on the 
floor there is an awful lot of polarization that has occurred. I do not 
say this in any real accusatory sense. It is true.
  In spite of that, in his own way, the majority leader has very 
quietly and with very mature feelings and inordinate ability grasped 
details of legislation and has contributed immensely to a success 
story.
  I would like to start by talking about matters that this Senator has 
particularly been involved in. We were able to pass in this body an 
Energy Policy Act. We have been working at that for almost a decade, 
but for the last 3 years we have tried each year and failed. This year, 
we got it done.
  Obviously, something was done differently. That is, we attempted to 
create a bipartisan bill in the committee under my chairmanship, with 
the help of Senator Bingaman, and the majority leader, as leader in the 
Senate, should take great pride in that accomplishment, and we should 
as a Senate.
  In addition, as it pertains to things the Senator from New Mexico 
works on, we sent to the President for his signature an appropriations 
bill that is called Energy and Water appropriations. That bill 
contained hundreds of millions of dollars that go to the storm-ravaged 
gulf coast. It is there to continue critical projects that are already 
started and moving along. They are projects that are needed. They are 
not part of the great concern about how much may be spent or should not 
be spent. These are public works projects in that four-State area that 
are important. I think that is very good.
  In that bill, the nuclear armament programs of the United States went 
through to the President of the United States and also some very 
important nuclear nonproliferation activities.
  In addition, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee was part of a 
reconciliation bill--let us call that the deficit reduction bill--that 
passed. The occupant of the chair in the committee that we served on 
contributed a piece of that. For the first time, we sent in such a bill 
for the start-up of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge activity where 
we will be starting to find out what is up there in terms of producing 
oil for the United States. That bill was a big achievement, $36 billion 
in deficit reduction. I guarantee that could not have been done without 
the help of the majority leader. So we got that done also with his very 
exceptional attention, his enlightened approach to getting people 
together. We barely did that, and without his help it would not have 
happened.
  Finally, literally scores of small bills that are part of the Energy 
and Natural Resources Committee have passed the Senate within the last 
2 days, for various things around the country. We thank him for getting 
that done. Yesterday, we passed big legislation and who would have 
thought 6 weeks ago we could pass it. It is the tax provisions of the 
Budget Act. We all know that that was hard. That extended the 
alternative minimum tax so it affects far less Americans in a negative 
way on the amount they owe to the Government. It extended research and 
development tax credits for American business so they can continue to 
invest in research. That whole bill had many items in it that are good 
for America's future. We got it passed. There are some things in it, 
obviously, that I do not like, and I hope some of those are not 
continued, because I think some of them are negative to the production 
of oil in the future, but overall, by an overwhelming vote, we passed a 
tax measure that moves us ahead. That was the strategy, for all of that 
was worked out with the help of our leader and the help of other 
distinguished Senators, including the chairman and ranking member of 
that committee.
  I mentioned the Energy Policy Act, but let me back up to some other 
things people take for granted. They say, ``So what?'' We know our 
Founding Fathers said, with reference to bankruptcy in our country, the 
U.S. Government would have exclusive authority. For years we know the 
bankruptcy law of the Nation needed reform. How many times have we had 
bankruptcy reform on the floor only to see it fail? This year it 
finally passed. It will make those who file for bankruptcy slightly 
more responsible. That is, after they are finished, if they can by way 
of their job pay a small portion of what they owed, they will. That is 
all subject to criteria which the judges will administer so we are sure 
we are asking only those who can afford it to pay some. Finally, it was 
passed.
  I say to the Senate that was a great credit to all of the Senate, but 
also to the distinguished majority leader for pushing, for exercising 
the dedication, and most of all, there is a certain steadfastness about 
this leader. He doesn't give up. He says what he is going to do. He 
stays right on it, and this is another example.
  In addition, we have had the issue of excessive litigation. It still 
hangs over us like something we cannot quite fathom, but it is rampant. 
We were told the other day that American companies spend more on 
litigation than they do on research when you add it all up. That is a 
rather startling thing. This bill we passed will not fix that. 
Hopefully, sometime we will address it even more broadly. But we did 
pass a class action reform piece of legislation. We had only one part 
of that pass about 8 years ago. But this one makes

[[Page 27243]]

it more difficult to abuse the class action litigation part of the 
Federal jurisdiction, where we use our Federal courts to accomplish 
class action suits. That is a great feather in the hat of the Senate 
because it has taken so long to get there. For that, we have to say to 
our majority leader: Thank you for your leadership. It is terrific.
  The highway bill--let's leave aside the pieces of the highway bill. 
Let's talk about the overall funding of the highway system of America 
by the gasoline tax imposed on our citizens. That was tied up. It was 
supposed to have been passed 3 years ago. It got passed after that 
period of time. I think the absolute commitment it would get done, and 
the power of a majority leader's office, got us there. That is very 
important.
  The Senate has passed all of its appropriation bills. It looks as 
though we may have been able to avoid an omnibus appropriation bill--or 
we are going to. Let's hope so. If we do, that will be a very big 
credit. But at least we are on the way. We have not gotten them all 
passed in both Houses, but they have all cleared this institution, 
which is a credit at this time of year. We don't do that very often. So 
that is another thing we can say that demonstrates we have had good 
leadership, good direction, and good pressure, the kind of positive 
pressure the Republican leader brings.
  I am going to wrap up by talking about judicial appointments. I would 
be remiss if I did not mention that the United States of America has a 
new Chief Justice. It is pretty fair to say that the extraordinary 
patience and persistence of the majority leader got us to this place. 
The country is pleased with it. That is obvious. While they do not know 
everything about these nominees, they learn about our Supreme Court 
nominees because there is much openness. This man is ultimately a 
credit to the President for nominating him, the Senate for finally 
doing what they should, and to our majority leader for pushing it as he 
did.
  Everybody has to acknowledge there are three or four things we must 
get done. They, too, are being looked at with the precision and the 
dedication and stick-to-it-iveness of our leader. They are right there 
on the horizon for next year.
  I understand the asbestos quagmire is something people wouldn't think 
is big enough to be listed among the most important pieces of pending 
legislation. Let me say there is no question it is. Asbestos liability, 
for better or for worse, the reality of it, brings to the American 
economic system a chance, an opportunity, a probability of real job 
loss, fantastic economic degradation, and it must be resolved.
  The leader has played a big role. Two Senators have been working on 
it on the majority side for years. Senator Specter is very close, with 
the help of our majority leader, to getting a package that can be 
bipartisan. That is next.
  We know broad immigration reform is right up on the screen. That is 
very difficult. I say, and predict, since the majority leader says it 
is going to get done this coming year, I believe those who have been 
waiting are going to be able to say it will be done. I believe so.
  Obviously, much more must be done. Other things we have passed are 
not very publicly known yet, and should be. I can't do much about it. 
But essentially, a bill on health technology passed last night without 
much ado. I say it is a giant step.
  I ask unanimous consent for 2 additional minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Murkowski). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. DOMENICI. It is a giant step in the modernization of the delivery 
system, which will save money. I won't take much time, except to say 
the majority leader had a lot to do with that.
  I failed to mention that while all of this was going on, that I 
mentioned the Senate passed an important bill, the free trade 
agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Who would have 
thought 6 months ago that this, too, would be in this litany of 
successes? But it is.
  All in all, in spite of all the noise, in spite of all the bickering, 
in spite of everything that seems to be moving toward polarization and 
politicization in the Senate, we did get a lot done. I particularly 
think much of that is attributable to the distinguished majority 
leader, Senator Bill Frist. I want to again indicate to him, from this 
Senator, my great appreciation for his work and my admiration for how 
he does that.

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