We have been down this road before and have seen how unproductive and destructive lapses of this program can be.

In Montana it is not working at all.

I do not think flood insurance should be controversial or partisan either. It impacts everybody.

Without an extension, in a matter of weeks policyholders and insurers will be in limbo; realtors and homeowners will be forced to put closings on hold contingent on reauthorization of this program.

The unprecedented flooding in the Mississippi River basin last year further drove home the necessity of passing a long-term reauthorization that offers Americans and Montanans certainty in the face of risk.

I think we have an opportunity here to reform this program and put it on more firm ground with a long-term extension.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses this morning about the importance of long-term reauthorization and reform of the National Flood Insurance Program.

The last one, and then I will kick it over to my Ranking Member.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act. I want to first acknowledge my colleague Senator Brown of Ohio for his leadership. They have Ohio State, we have the University of Minnesota…

there seems to be some widespread support for putting some kind of a rule in place to make clear that at least the data that people intend to have be private is private.

Today, I introduced, along with Senator Blumenthal and a few other Senators, a bill on password privacy, and it's called the Password Protection Act.

I think that even if you ask the best companies, companies with the best privacy practices, about that, they would say that's part of the reason why they are interested in things like Do Not Track standards and privacy legislation.

I want to thank you for that, even though it's exactly not on topic, it is kind of, but then move on to some other things.

we really can't afford another year of delay, which may in the end wind up putting America into a default position on this.

every individual American has a right to an expectation of privacy.

the individual consumer has the right to make that decision.

Mr. President, before I speak about the details of the impact of not helping students in this difficult economic climate with student loans that they can afford, I wish to say that I was stunned that my Republican friends refused to give…

I ask unanimous consent that the time from 2:15 until 5:15 be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees and that all quorum calls during that period also be equally divided. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without…