The Focus of Today's Session will be the
Energy Policy Act

           2:40 P.M.         

Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois is currently on the floor, speaking critically of AARP's recent decision to support the proposed prescription drug plan.  He has sited a poll from Wednesday in which 66% of AARP members did not approve of the benefits included in this bill.  Senator Durbin has also referenced the $100 million royalties that AARP receives from its insurance ties, in questioning why AARP would support this bill when 2/3 of its members are not if favor of the proposed benefits.  

           1:45 P.M.         

Senator Frist is currently speaking on the floor about childhood obesity.  He has not announced what business the Senate will consider this afternoon and this weekend.  The Senate is currently scheduled to be in session tomorrow.

           11:30 A.M.         

Senator Frist came to the floor immediately after the vote to announce his position, changing the final vote to 58-39. In addition, he asked for unanimous consent that the Senate take up consideration up of the Intelligence Authorization conference report. The Senate agreed to this. Prior to beginning debate on H.R.2417, Senator Harry Reid asked to speak briefly about how good the debate was on the energy bill. The Majority Leader followed by laying out a general schedule for the next few days. Following debate on the Intelligence Authorization conference, the Senate will be considering the Healthy Forest bill, the Medicare bill and the pending appropriations bills.

           11:25 A.M.         

The Senate voted 57-40 not to invoke cloture on the energy policy act's conference report.

           11:00 A.M.         

Majority Leader Frist made a very quick speech asking senators to support the energy bill before the vote on the motion to invoke cloture began. The vote is now occuring.

           10:45 A.M.         

Senator Pete Domenici, Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is speaking vehemently about the claim that this bill was written behind closed doors. He refuted this claim by saying that the press was constantly writing about the bill.

           10:15 A.M.         

Senator Tom Daschle is expressing his concerns with how this bill was created, especially with how some provisions were not debated but were secretly included in the conference report. The Senator stated that he finds the language concerning MTBE the most egregious. The provision concerning MTBE has been one of the most debated matters during consideration of this bill.

           10:00 A.M.         

Senator John McCain of Arizona is passionately speaking about the conference report, quoting phrases from editorials from newspapers around the country. He stated that he has yet to read a single editorial which supports this report. Senator Harry Reid spoke briefly this morning about the heated debate that has taken place during the consideration of this conference report, and he called the last few days "some of the finest hours of the Senate this year."

           9:30 A.M.         

The Senate will resume consideration of the Energy Policy Act conference report this morning and will vote on the motion to cloture the report at 10:30. To read the statement that Senator Leahy gave yesterday on the Senate floor about this conference report, please click here.

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.