Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the period for morning business be extended until 7 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, to the millions of Americans who are struggling to find jobs or make ends meet, this is simply stating the obvious, but I rise, a decade after we were told the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would stimulate the economy and…

Which would be an enormous body blow to this economy that is already struggling to recover.

It seems to me to be a perverse incentive, you know, or disincentive.

What would happen is you would have both the Federal Government and any hope of getting the private sector back into underwriting mortgages walk away from all properties at flood risk.

It seems to me that we need to do something to help those individuals now caught in this set of circumstances and yet do not have the wherewithal, certainly at the start where they are facing premium shock.

Shouldn't we be looking at how we maybe work to offset some of that ratable loss in a way that still would be an enormous savings to the program but would incentivize mayors to say, OK, let me take this property off the ratable base?

I have real problems having American lives shed and having American treasure continuing to be shed.

I hope you look at it as a fiduciary to the American taxpayer, because right now I do not believe that we are being good fiduciaries to the American taxpayer.

I'm going to support your nomination. That's not the issue.

I am one of those who remains hopeful, while at the same time concerned about the future of Latin America.