The Focus of Today's Session will be a Variety of Bills:
The Fair Credit Reporting bill, the Agriculture Appropriations bill,
and the Syria Accountability bill

            6:15 P.M.         

By voice vote the Senate accepted the following list of amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations bill: S.Amdt.2091, S.Amdt.2092, S.Amdt.2093, S.Amdt.2094, S.Amdt.2095, S.Amdt.2096, S.Amdt.2097, S.Amdt.2098, S.Amdt.209, S.Amdt.2100, S.Amdt.2101, S.Amdt.2102, S.Amdt.2103, S.Amdt.2104, S.Amdt.2105.  There will be no further roll call votes this evening in the Senate.  Senator John Cornyn of Texas is speaking about the continuity of government.

            5:30 P.M.         

The Senate is voting on whether to waive the budget act with respect to the Dayton Amendment, S.Amdt.2089, that would provide $6.3 billion in emergency funding for crop and livestock losses for 2001, 2002, and 2003.  The Senate agreed to and amendment by Senator Daniel Akaka, S.Amdt.2088 by a voice vote and Senator Cantwell's amendment by a vote of 57-40. 

            4:30 P.M.         

The Senate voted 97-0 to approve the nomination of Roger Titus and is now voting on Senator Maria Cantwell's amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill, S.Amdt.2087.

            3:15 P.M.         

The Senate has just completed two votes, the first on Senator Feinstein's amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill, that was defeated by a vote of 41-56.  The Senate then passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 2003 with a vote of 95-2.  The Senate is now voting on Executive Calendar #402, the nomination of Roger Titus to be a US District Judge for the District of Maryland. 

            1:45 P.M.         

Senator Bennett has just requested a vote on Senator Feinstein's amendment at 2:30 this afternoon. Following that vote, Senator Bennett has asked that the Senate vote on final passage of H.R.2622, the Fair Credit Reporting bill, and on the nomination of Roger W. Titus, of Maryland, to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of Maryland.

            12:30 P.M.         

The Senate has turned to consideration of the Agriculture Appropriations bill, and is now debating an amendment, S.Amdt.2083 offered by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California about regulatory oversight over energy trading. Senators Dick Lugar, Carl Levin, Tom Harkin, Maria Cantwell, Barbara Boxer, Ron Wyden, Fritz Hollings, Dick Durbin, and Patrick Leahy are co-sponsors of this amendment. The Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Services is led by Chairman Robert Bennett of Utah and Ranking Member Herb Kohl of Wisconsin. Senator Kohl is an avid sportsman who bought the Milwaukee Bucks in 1985 to ensure that the basketball team would remain in Milwaukee.

            10:30 A.M.         

During the period of morning business, Senators Kit Bond of Missouri, Trent Lott of Mississippi, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Dick Durbin of Illinois came to the floor to discuss their concerns of the Senate Intelligence Committee and its role in overseeing the intelligence community. The Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Senator Roberts, conducts oversight of and authorizes the budget for the U.S. intelligence community and has recently been conducting an investigation on the findings of the intelligence community regarding the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the use of this information by the Administration.  Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii also came to the floor, to speak about the Mutual Fund Transparency Act of 2003, a bill to improve transparency relating to the fees and costs that mutual fund investors incur and to improve corporate governance of mutual funds.

            9:30 A.M.         

The Senate starts today with a period of morning business for one hour prior to beginning consideration of  the Agriculture Appropriations bill, S.2673. After debate on S.2673, the Senate will resume discussion of the Fair Credit Reporting bill, S.1753.  A vote on the final passage of S.1753 is expected today, after which the Senate will begin consideration on H.R.1828, the Syria Accountability bill. There will be 90 minutes of debate on this bill, including consideration of an amendment offered by Senators Lugar, Boxer, and Santorum.  A vote is expected today on this bill.

Appropriations vs. Authorization: While the power over appropriations is granted to Congress by the U.S. Constitution, the authorization-appropriation process is derived from House and Senate rules. The process consists of two sequential steps: (1) enactment of an authorization measure that may create or continue an agency or program as well as authorize the subsequent enactment of appropriations; and (2) enactment of appropriations to provide funds for the authorized agency or program.