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[Page: S7440]  GPO's PDF
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   Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, in just a few minutes, the Republican leader will be joining me on the Senate floor.

   Before he gets here, I rise to thank my colleagues for the good work we have been able to complete this week. It has been a very productive week. We were able to pass unanimously the new Corporate Accountability Act after a great deal of effort on all sides. I complimented the distinguished Senator from Maryland, the chairman of the Banking Committee, Mr. Sarbanes, on a number of occasions, but I want to complete our week this week by recognizing again his contribution.

   The Appropriations Committee deserves commendation. They have reported out all the appropriations bills now.

   In many ways, they are actually ahead of schedule, even though we have had somewhat of a late start.

   We finished the military construction appropriations bill this week. We also finished the legislative branch appropriations bill and set up an opportunity to complete our work on the DOD appropriations bill next week. There may be other appropriations bills that may be ready for consideration next week as well. On the appropriations front, secondly, I thought we had quite a good week.

   At long last we were able to move to conference on terrorism insurance . I am hopeful in the not too distant future we will complete our work on that measure, as we did the Corporate Accountability Act. We have done a number of nominations. We are now on track with regard to nominations. We confirmed a circuit court judge today, filed cloture Wednesday and got cloture today on second one. That vote will occur on Monday night. It is currently my plan to move forward additional judicial nominees on Monday night as well.

   In addition to the judicial nominees, we were able to complete our work on nominations on some very important commissions. The SEC, for example, had four outstanding vacancies. As a result of our work this week, we were able to complete work on the SEC nominations. There is now a full complement of SEC Commissioners. That, too, was an important aspect of the work of the Senate.

   Off the floor, there were a couple of other important matters that we addressed. The bankruptcy reform conference report is soon to be filed. It was completed, the work was completed, as was the trade promotion authority--not only trade promotion authority but the Andean Trade Promotion Act, as well as the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, the package of bills, late last night. The conference report to that package of bills was agreed to.

   We are in a very good position now to move into the final week of this work period. Senator Lott and I have had a number of constructive discussions about next week.

   Our purpose in coming to the floor is to outline for our colleagues what our expectations are, and I will do that when he arrives.

   I will also say, the confirmation of the district judge this morning brings to a total of 61 the number of confirmations since we took the majority a little over a year ago. That includes 49 district judges and 12 circuit judges.

   On Monday, as I noted, we intend to take up at least 1 more, if not additional judges, and that would then bring to a total anywhere from 62 to 64 judges in the time that we have had the majority.

   We are making progress on judicial nominations. We are determined to attempt to clear the calendar with regard to those judicial nominations over the course of the next few days, if it is at all possible.

   Whether we clear the calendar, I must say, depends on whether we get all the other work done as well. There has to be an understanding that we do not have the luxury of focusing solely on nominations, as much as that would be a good thing to do. We have to complete our work on the prescription drug benefit and generic drug benefit legislation. We want to call up the fast-track conference report and file cloture. We want to complete our work on the Defense appropriations bill, if that is possible. We want to work to proceed to the homeland security legislation and file cloture on the motion to proceed to that bill.

   We have a lot of work we need to complete before the end of next week. Given the fact we will get a late start on Monday afternoon, Senators should be aware that we could be involved in late nights, and we will certainly be here a week from this coming Friday.

   I wanted to be sure my colleagues were made aware of our expectations for the schedule for that period of time.

   I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum until the arrival of the distinguished Republican leader.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.

   The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

   Mr. REID. 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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