I think it is legitimate, as we have done already, to raise the question--we have HAMP--whether or not that should not be fixed before we look at something else.

paralysis by analysis

the extraordinary delay

I commend the GAO for the time and professionalism they have brought to this project.

Madam President, exactly 16 years ago, in January of 1995, for the first time in 8 years I found myself as a member of the minority party here in the Senate. At the beginning of that Congress, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 53 to 47…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Danielle Holliday and Megan Culligan of my staff be granted the privilege of the floor for the duration of today's session. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered…

Mr. President, this is the same resolution I offered 16 years ago. I continue to offer it. If you believe the minority ought to have the right to slow things down, that is fine. But if you believe the minority should have the right to veto…

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The question is on agreeing to the resolution. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk…

Madam President, the time has come to end secrecy on the floor of the Senate. The time has come for Senators who think they ought to put a hold on a bill to be able to continue to put a hold on a bill or a nomination, but it is also time…

I agree. If something has passed the Senate, then obviously it is not being held. The Notice of Intent to Object calendar should be updated to reflect that development. Some of my colleagues have raised another small wrinkle on this issue…

My colleague is correct and that is pretty straightforward. The Notice of Intent to Object calendar should reflect all of the matter necessary to understand holds. If no other Senator has come forth and claimed the objection, then the…

Madam President, I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.

It certainly does. Even if the process we talked about is not followed, once a hold comes to light in the form of an objection, someone will be required to own up to that hold. It will no longer be possible for a leader or their designee…

Absolutely correct. One of the defects of the watered- down secret holds provision that was included in the ethics reform bill in the 110th Congress was that it allowed for large windows of secrecy before disclosure was required. Our…

Madam President, I rise to support the Wyden-Grassley- McCaskill public hold proposal. I apologize to my two colleagues from Oregon and Missouri that I was not on the floor at the proper time. It is all my fault. I am pleased to see this…

what this debate needs is more light and less heat.

thanks to health reform Americans now have protections that every Senator on this dais has had for many years.

we believed that one of the great crises in this country, and one of the reasons that 45,000 Americans die every single year, is they don't have access to health care