[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10915]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              CLOTURE VOTE

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I think it would be better--I haven't had 
a chance to discuss this with the majority leader--to vitiate the vote 
on cloture and then set a time to complete the debate on Priscilla 
Owen. We would be willing to do that. It would move things along. I 
wanted the leader to know that. We would be happy to talk about 
schedule, how much time people need, and what we are going to do the 
rest of the week. We haven't had time to talk this morning.
  Mr. FRIST. Madam President, we will talk over the course of the 
morning because over the next 5 days, with the memorandum of 
understanding, we would like to move ahead and address many of the 
judges. At the same time, we have the nomination of John Bolton, whom 
the Democratic leader and I have briefly discussed. I do want to be 
able to continue with the cloture vote that is now on the schedule for 
noon today. It is important to do so in part because of the events of 
yesterday, and I want to follow regular order. With that memorandum of 
understanding, which is important--it is not what the Democratic leader 
or I asked for--it is important that we see how it is going to be 
implemented, and the first step will be that vote today.
  We do have a lot to do this week. I want to keep things organized 
efficiently and well and use time wisely.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, if I could direct another question to the 
distinguished leader, it was my understanding of our conversation late 
last night that we were not going to move forward on more judges this 
period but move forward to other matters. Do you now feel differently?
  Mr. FRIST. Well, I think we need to think how much we can do 
realistically this week. With that understanding and the backlog we 
have on judges, if we can move those expeditiously--and we put in a 
plan or process to do so--we should do just that. We have had various 
offers from your side of the aisle on the Michigan judges and on 
Griffith, and now we have this memorandum of understanding for up-or-
down votes on three other nominees we have been debating. Leadership to 
leadership, we ought to sit down and plan how we can deal with judges 
since we have waited a long time for these up-or-down votes and since 
offers have been made back and forth. In light of the understanding the 
14 Senators came to, I think we should move expeditiously and address 
the judges who have been waiting a long time. At the same time, we have 
other very important business--John Bolton to be Ambassador to the 
U.N.--which we do need to address as well.
  As I say that, I want to make an appeal to Senators. A lot has been 
said about many of the judges, and I don't believe we have to say it 
again. Whether it is on Priscilla Owen, who I am confident will get an 
up-or-down vote, or on to some of the other judges, I want to make sure 
everything gets said. But on a lot of these, we have had a lot of 
debate. I would like to sit down with the Democratic leader, in light 
of the events of yesterday, and plan out this week so it will be 
productive. We have a lot of other important business, such as an 
energy bill and a highway bill, that we need to also address.

                          ____________________