I have been focused, as I think everybody on this Committee has been focused, on how we make the regulatory environment more efficient.

It is just further evidence that this is the friendly Committee that you are willing to defer.

I appreciate you holding this important hearing on this topic.

Thank you so much for being here and answering all of our questions.

A few weeks ago, I stood in this Chamber and called on Congress to take action to improve our Nation's background check system for firearm purchases. Despite an overwhelming amount of support across the country for universal background…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Without objection, it is so ordered. Export-Import Bank

This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. I have been a clear proponent for reducing regulatory burdens…

I am in its current form. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to recommit. The Clerk read as follows: Mr. Peters moves to recommit the bill H.R. 1937 to the Committee on Natural Resources with instructions to report…

I rise to express my support for the Export-Import Bank and to encourage my colleagues in the Senate to take up and pass bipartisan legislation scheduled for consideration in the House next week that would reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank until…

I demand a recorded vote. A recorded vote was ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule XX, this 5-minute vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by 5- minute votes on passage of the bill, if…

On that I demand the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 254, nays 177, not voting 3, as follows: [Roll No. 565]…

Just a few weeks before I was sworn into office, a deranged gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and murdered 20 young children and 6 school employees. What was the response of this Congress to make sure that never…

this week I was pleased to hear some good news about a very special place in the Great Lakes. On the bottom of Lake Michigan, right off the shores of Wisconsin, lies an incredible collection of shipwrecks. People across the Great Lakes…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from Michigan wishes to be recognized, I presume.

I do, indeed. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized. Pipeline Improvement and Preventing Spills Act

I rise today to speak about an issue that is of particular importance in my State of Michigan--preventing an oilspill in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are a part of our way of life in Michigan, supporting our multibillion dollar…

I actually want to continue on some of the themes from Senator Lankford in innovation, making sure that folks have the opportunity to afford education.

Would the use of grants, as well, help some of these high schools and colleges be able to develop these programs?

Certainly the loan repayment rates are worse in the for-profit industry.

The Federal Government I think has an appropriate role in providing information about higher education to consumers.

the strength of public-private partnerships, particularly when it comes to this issue, I think is clearly demonstrated

Does it make sense to have the Coast Guard have to sign off on a response plan saying that, 'We're the principal agency responsible for cleaning this thing up.'

I take this issue very seriously, given the fact that we had a major disaster in the state of Michigan.

If there is a pipeline break in that stretch, it would be catastrophic.

A recent study by the University of Michigan says that the Straits of Mackinac is the absolute worst place to have an oil disaster anywhere in the Great Lakes basin.