[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17046-17047]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                            SENATE SUCCESSES

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, after a few more moments of gathering 
papers, in 10 or 15 minutes, we will likely be closing. We are working 
on some of the final nominations and the nomination process.
  Before we leave for the August recess, I will take a moment to 
reflect on the Senate's tremendous productivity over the last month. We 
can all be very proud of the progress we made in this Senate over the 
last 4 weeks. We have had several agenda items.
  First, we worked hard to secure our homeland, to secure America's 
homeland. Specifically, we passed, this month, both the Homeland 
Security appropriations bill, the spending bill, as well as the Foreign 
Investment and National Security Act of 2006 which strengthens the 
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the so-called 
CFIUS.
  Over the past 3 days, we made substantial progress on the Department 
of Defense appropriations bill. We were unable to finish it today, but 
we have a glidepath to finish it within 2 days after we return from the 
recess.
  The Senate's productivity this past month goes way beyond securing 
America's homeland. We have taken action to ensure that the homeland we 
secure is a homeland we value that is worth securing. We have taken 
action to secure America's prosperity by passing an important bill, the 
Water Resources Development Act, an act which focuses on building that 
infrastructure along the waterways, and by passing the Gulf of Mexico 
Energy Security Act, an act we passed just a couple of

[[Page 17047]]

days ago that addresses opening up an area to deep sea exploration that 
will have more than a billion barrels of oil and more than 5.5 trillion 
cubic feet of natural gas--a huge amount of natural gas to increase our 
supply, enough to supply 6 million homes for 15 years.
  In securing America's prosperity, just a few moments ago we passed 
the pensions bill which will affect millions of Americans. In America, 
we have a rich history of working hard, of setting ambitious goals, 
setting that ambitious vision, and doggedly pursuing that vision, 
pursuing that goal. That tradition of hard work has brought us the 
prosperity we know today.
  In the Senate, we have the responsibility to protect that prosperity. 
We have the responsibility to ensure that hard work is rewarded just as 
richly tomorrow as it was yesterday or is rewarded today. Securing 
America's prosperity is a noble goal toward which we made considerable 
progress this month.
  To enjoy that prosperity, we also have to secure America's health. 
Again, as we look over the last 4 weeks, just this month we engaged in 
a thorough debate, a thoughtful debate on the future of stem cell 
research, a tough issue for many. We have adult stem cells, we have 
embryonic stem cells; we had to examine and struggle with that nexus of 
advancing science and ethics and morality--a topic that is comfortable 
to many, but it is an issue all of us need to be very comfortable with 
because we will see that topic and topics like that which involve 
ethics, medicine, and advances in science increasingly over the years 
ahead.
  At the end of that debate, we passed the Stem Cell Therapies 
Enhancement Act which supports the alternative ways of developing these 
powerful so-called pluripotential stem cells that give us so much hope 
for the future. That is progress. On that particular piece of 
legislation, the House has not yet acted, but I have high hope they 
will do so in the near future. That bill is broadly supported in the 
Senate, as well as by the American people.
  Finally, this month we also worked hard to secure America's values by 
passing the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, by passing a tremendously 
exciting bill, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which 
was billed by the Walsh Family as being probably the most significant 
piece of child safety and child protection legislation in the last 20 
years. In securing America's values, we passed the Child Custody 
Protection Act, although I have to say I am disappointed that the 
Democrats have stopped us from going to conference. The House of 
Representatives has passed it, and it is time for the Senate to go to 
conference and time to end that obstruction.
  This month, we authorized the historic Voting Rights Act, and we 
confirmed five nominees to Federal judgeships.
  Yes, we have been tremendously productive this month, but we will 
have a lot more to do. We will have a recess that will give us the time 
to go back to our States and talk to our constituents, to interact, to 
be with our families, but we have a lot to do when we return in 
September.
  As I look ahead, we will continue to secure America's homeland. The 
most pressing issues we should address as we look into September 
include port security, the Homeland Security conference report, 
complete Defense appropriations, confirm John Bolton, the authorization 
of military commissions for terrorist combatants, consistent with the 
Supreme Court's Hamdan decision.
  In September, we will work to secure America's prosperity by bringing 
budget process reform to the Senate--specifically, the line-item 
rescission veto--and by finalizing a very exciting bipartisan 
competitiveness agenda package.
  We will also work to continue securing America's health by focusing 
on a bill that has already passed this Senate and has passed the House 
and is now in conference on health information technology, the health 
information technology that we know will establish interoperability 
platforms and the ability to communicate in a seamless way to improve 
that quality of care for patients and reduce the cost, to eliminate the 
unnecessary health expenditures, and to eliminate the waste, fraud, and 
abuse.
  I also would like to come back to something we were blocked, once 
again, by the other side, the small business health plans, the 
association health plans. Chairman Enzi has done a tremendous job in 
leading us forward, but we were unsuccessful in the past because we 
were obstructed. I hope to have the opportunity to bring those back.
  Finally, as I look into September, we must continue securing 
America's values by promoting sound government. That begins with 
fulfilling our constitutional duty of advice and consent, by bringing 
more judicial nominations to the Senate for confirmation.
  We have a lot on our plate for September. I realize we are not going 
to be able to get all of that done over those 4 weeks, but we will try. 
We will move in that direction. I am confident we will use the limited 
time remaining after the August recess productively and efficiently, 
and with continued hard work and determination we will keep that ball 
moving forward.
  I thank all of my colleagues for their tremendous efforts to make 
this past month productive. I am confident that when we do return from 
our recess we will continue to secure a freer, safer, and healthier 
future for generations of Americans to come.
  Indeed, finally, I extend to our colleagues the wish for a happy, 
restful, productive, and wonderful August recess.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. DeMint). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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