[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we will be in a period of morning 
business in order for Senators to make statements. Yesterday we 
completed our work on the Tax Relief Act with a vote of 54 to 44. We 
had a good debate--a great debate--on the importance of this extended 
tax relief, this progrowth policy put forth by the President and 
supported by this body yesterday. We had a lot of Senators participate 
on both sides of that important debate of the direction of the country 
to continue this strong economic growth with the creation of over 5.3 
million jobs in the last 30 or so months. I congratulate Chairman 
Grassley for his tremendous work in helping bring that tax relief 
package to the floor which will ensure continued economic growth and 
job creation.
  Yesterday, unfortunately, we missed an opportunity to assist small 
businesses across this Nation. We all know it is in those small 
businesses that we find the engine of economic growth and the creation 
of new jobs. We had an opportunity to assist them with lowering their 
health care costs by allowing them to group together, to band together 
to capture marketing clout, which would lower prices for health care 
for their employees. We were unsuccessful in that particular effort, 
although it is one that will come back again and again because the cost 
of health care is skyrocketing and is getting increasingly out of the 
reach of everyday working Americans.
  I wish to thank Chairman Enzi, who has worked tirelessly on this 
bipartisan bill which would attempt to do just that and would have 
accomplished that if we had been able to pass it yesterday. Chairman 
Enzi has done a tremendous job in pulling people together and in 
educating people broadly on it. I thank him for his work.
  As we stated yesterday, we will return on Monday to a very important 
bill, the importance of which is captured by the passion expressed 
across the country, whether it is on television or in newspapers, on 
talk shows or on the streets or at the workplace, and that is the 
immigration debate. As we all know, we need to tighten our borders and 
we need to focus on our borders. But we also need to approach the issue 
in a comprehensive way because we are a magnet attracting people across 
that border, and then people are hiring them illegally, so many 
employers are breaking the law. We need to tighten up there and address 
the temporary worker program, as well as the people who have come here 
illegally in the past.
  As we talked about yesterday morning, we will have a robust debate, 
an open debate, and Senators will have ample opportunity to offer their 
amendments. But as the Democratic leader and I said on the floor 24 
hours ago, it is important for people to bring their amendments right 
now to the leadership in language so we can start the process and so 
that process, with debate and amendment, is not pushed off for a few 
days but literally starts on Monday. We should consider several 
amendments on Monday and then begin voting on those on Tuesday. So I do 
encourage our colleagues to come forward.
  On Tuesday morning, we have locked in a vote on a circuit court 
nomination that will begin around 10 o'clock in the morning, and I 
expect we will have votes on the immigration bill shortly thereafter. 
It is my hope that we will have votes over the course of Tuesday and, 
indeed, on each day next week. We may be working into the evenings 
because we will finish this bill prior to the Memorial Day recess.
  With that, Mr. President, over the course of the day, I expect there 
will be a number of Senators coming down to make statements, reflecting 
on what has occurred over the past week and celebrating the great 
victory for the American people in the bill that passed yesterday in 
terms of tax relief. The passage of that bill yesterday will affect 
about 7 million people who report on capital gains each year, about 20 
million people who report on dividends each year, and another 7 
million, almost 8 million people who would otherwise see their taxes go 
up because of the alternative minimum tax.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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