Latest Bill Frist Stories
By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate sought to jump-start stalled pension reform talks on Tuesday by meeting with lawmakers who have been haggling over the legislation since March, but no headway was reported. Lawmakers said they were still vexed by the most difficult pension issue facing them: the question of how to determine whether a company is at risk of defaulting on its pension obligations and therefore must add funds. Still, House...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Friday said he hoped the Senate would vote on the nomination of Henry Paulson for U.S. Treasury Secretary by July. Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting with Paulson, Frist said the Goldman Sach chairman was a "superb" choice by President George W. Bush to replace Treasury Secretary John Snow. "I have tremendous confidence in Mr. Paulson ... from the view point of the U.S. Senate it is our goal and I believe it will...
By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate proposal for a privately funded trust to pay asbestos injury claims is laden with uncertainty and taxpayers risk footing the bill, the former head of the Congressional Budget Office plans to tell a Senate committee on Wednesday. The highly critical assessment of the asbestos legislation by Douglas Holtz-Eakin appears in testimony prepared for delivery on Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. A copy was made available...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An FBI raid on the Capitol Hill office of a congressman under investigation in a bribery scandal did not violate the constitutional separation of powers, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Sunday. Frist, whose comments follow an uproar over the search, said he reviewed the Constitution's requirement on separation of powers and called the FBI's execution of a search warrant on Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson's office "OK." "I don't think it was a...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist strongly defended on Sunday the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants offered in the Senate's immigration reform bill, citing national security concerns. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the Tennessee Republican said a failure to hold out the hope of citizenship to people living illegally in the United States would encourage the estimated 12 million illegal aliens to "stay in the shadows." "The reality is you can't just...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist strongly defended on Sunday the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants offered in the Senate's immigration reform bill, citing national security concerns. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the Tennessee Republican said a failure to hold out the hope of citizenship to people living illegally in the United States would encourage the estimated 12 million illegal aliens to "stay in the shadows." "The reality is you can't just...
By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sponsors of legislation to compensate U.S. asbestos victims said on Friday they had expanded it to include access to payments for people sickened by the mineral as a result of disasters such as hurricanes or the September 11 attacks. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy announced they were reviving their efforts to get a Senate vote on the bill, which would create a privately financed $140 billion fund to compensate...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed White House lawyer Brett Kavanaugh to be a federal appeals court judge, despite scathing criticism from a top Democrat who said he was unfit for the job. With the Senate's 57-36 vote, Kavanaugh, 41, will take a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called "the second most important federal court in our country." Kavanaugh has worked in the George W. Bush White...
By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate cleared the way on Thursday for a vote to confirm White House aide Brett Kavanaugh as a federal appeals court judge despite concerns by some Democrats that he was too partisan and not experienced. The U.S. Senate voted 67 to 30 to take up his nomination to the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia. The vote could occur Friday before the Senate adjourns for a weeklong break. Many Democrats oppose the nomination of Kavanaugh,...
By Donna Smith WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sweeping immigration law overhaul that would toughen border security and give millions of illegal immigrants a chance to earn U.S. citizenship headed for Senate passage on Thursday and backers prepared for a bruising battle with the House of Representatives. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said the bill was "on a glide path" to passage after the measure passed a key test vote on Wednesday by a strong margin. A...
