Madam President, I have come to the Senate floor a number of times over the past year to speak about my concerns about the rapid growth of for-profit colleges. I believe some for-profit colleges are quality institutions, but I also believe…

I do. First of all, let me thank you for focusing not just tonight but so many days on the floor of this House on jobs, especially since the new majority has done nothing, absolutely nothing to create jobs for the American people since…

Colstrip, Montana, is home to the second largest coal plant west of the Mississippi. One boxcar-full of coal is burned every 5 minutes. The burning coal creates sodium, thallium, mercury, boron, aluminum, and arsenic, which is pumped out…

Mr. President, I have been around Congress a few years. When I served in the House of Representatives 16 years ago, the Republicans won control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. They promised to change how business was done in…

Now, Kahr is no mouthpiece for merchants. He is a financial consultant who is recognized as the creator of many aspects of the modern card industry. But he says what I have been saying for months--that the arguments small banks have been…

I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer) and the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, this Congress, members from both sides of the aisle recognize the need to reduce the national deficit. Today, I am introducing the Medicare Prescription Drugs Savings and Choice Act of 2011, a bill that would save taxpayer…

Mr. President, are we still in morning business? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Yes. ____________________

Mr. President, I rise to speak about the issue of interchange fee reform. Last year, Congress enacted landmark reform of the swipe fees that Visa and MasterCard impose on the debit card system. An amendment I offered to Wall Street reform…

I urge my colleagues to read it. It shows how Visa leveraged its dominance in the credit card industry to enter into and dominate the debit card industry. Visa then changed the debit interchange fee system so it looked like the credit card…

Mr. President, We are borrowing over $5 billion per day. That's $35 billion borrowed per week to run our government, totaling over $1.5 trillion in borrowed money just to run for a year. Harvard's great economic historian, Niall Ferguson…

Ask Americans if we should reduce government spending and most say yes. I agree. But let's dig a little deeper. Let's make the kind of choices that families make. H.R. 1 that the Republicans have offered in cuts will result in 218,000…

I demand a recorded vote. A recorded vote was ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 5-minute vote. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 326, noes 91, answered ``present'' 1, not voting 14, as follows…

Mr. President, I would like to share my perspectives about the funding for agencies and programs under the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. It has been my privilege to chair this…

Madam President, I wish to follow up on what was said by the majority leader. This exercise we are engaged in here, this conversation about how to finish this fiscal year which ends on October 1, is one that I think has gotten out of hand…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the President pro tempore of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort the…

I announce that the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Conrad), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Webb) are necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present…

I announce that the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Conrad), the Senator from North Carolina (Mrs. Hagan), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Webb) are…