Mr. President, today I introduce the National Guard Technician Equity Act to correct inconsistencies in the dual-status technician program. Over 48,000 National Guard dual-status technicians serve our Nation. They are a distinct group of…

I rise to underscore a crucial challenge facing our Nation. There are 14 million Americans who are looking for work. Six million have been unemployed for more than 6 months, and the average length of unemployment is 40 weeks, the longest…

Madam President, I appreciate the courtesy of the Senator from New Hampshire. I will not speak long. I know she is here waiting to speak, as we go back and forth across the aisle in sequence. I want to begin by thanking Chairman Levin and…

I thank the chairman and the ranking member. Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, could I just add my words of appreciation, along with those of the chairman, for Senator Whitehouse's hard work on this very important issue. I yield the floor. The…

Yes. That is a great point, I say to the Senator. One of the unfortunate aspects of the current condition we have in Washington, DC, is that a party that has long supported Pell grants--it has long enjoyed bipartisan support--has suddenly…

That is not our process. We now have a bill and we are simply asking for a redline proposal.

I appreciate the work that you both have done to try to come together on a TSCA reform bill.

Well, my time has expired, but I continue to believe that it would be both advisable and helpful to the process if you would take your wishes for this legislation and actually make them public and write them down in a way that everybody…

It is a positive effort to go through the trouble, as we have all discovered when we are drafting legislation, to try to put something in writing.

This is nobody's first rodeo here, and we have all certainly been involved in legislative matters in which the private sector has a very specific point of view.

I would urge you to do what you can to try to put your desires and wishes into a redline markup format.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Val Molaison, a fellow in Senator Tester's office, be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's session. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I thank the Senator. As my colleague knows, we have a very distinguished colleague from the Senate who has now gone on to be the Secretary of the Interior of the United States, Ken Salazar. I see former attorney general and now Senator…

Madam President, I wish to ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Montana, Mr. Tester, the Senator from Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu, and the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Blumenthal, and I have unanimous consent to engage during majority…

We have just passed through a very significant landmark in this country which is that student debt, the burden of college loan debt Americans have to carry, broke through $1 trillion. That is $1 trillion in debt. And because of the laws…

I say to Senator Blumenthal, one of the things that has taken place is that the value to the individual student of the Pell grant has actually declined quite a lot over the years since it was first initiated. When the first Pell grants…

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 6:51 p.m., adjourned until Thursday, November 17, 2011…

Madam President, I will yield the floor with appreciation to my colleagues, Senator Landrieu, Senator Tester, and Senator Blumenthal, for coming together to urge our colleagues to support the Pell grant. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore…