Jeff Merkley

Well, I'm just asking you to make your agency as visible as possible with OMB for their review to be completed.

It took 4 years and 4 months for the FDA to send it to OMB which, to me, is an egregious amount of time.

I will just leave that as a concern I have for that particular area and the challenges that are faced in managing it appropriately.

If we are going to go forward on resource management plans, which require significant additional resources, and if the budget is cut, and if the current projects in the forest are greatly underfunded as it is, doesn't this mean just…

But the budget has been cut by $10.5 million.

One of the things that I wanted to address was the budget for the O&C lands that are in Oregon.

The SAFE Act that Senator Tom Udall and I are championing stops these predatory practices.

Thank goodness you passed that bill, because we used to have a stream of people coming to the food bank who were driven into bankruptcy by payday loans and now we do not.

If we can phenomenally increase the quality of life for millions of people across this country, why do we not do it?

I did not see anything in there that explained why someone would choose a 500 percent loan.

There is no cap in the bill, right?

Why would anyone in Oregon want to go from a 36 percent cap to no limit?

In Oregon, we have a 36 percent cap, and we put it in place in 2007.

So I have 1 minute before I turn this conversation back over.

So one idea that I recall from the Card Act debate--and this may have been Senator Wyden's bill, but if it is not, Senator Wyden, do not take offense.

I think that it helps me get my hands around how significant those monthly payments are, or even a modest private sector pension, how it is equivalent to a sizable amount of savings.

Furthermore, as Senator Warren and people have mentioned, they really understand just the magnitude of the impact of that over a lifetime, particularly with this, you know, compounding.

I am certainly going to be sharing many of these ideas with my colleagues as we wrestle with this nationally.

To clarify, are you saying the revenue-sharing payments went to the employer or to the original sales force?

I hope that as your task force proceeds, that my team can stay in contact and share that with the Committee because I think that would be relevant.

The American dream is a powerful concept that has driven generations of Americans to strive for a better life.

I would love to see that be 2 percent.

I believe there would be a strong interest in it, Senator.

Social Security is the foundation of so many Americans' retirement.

I should expand to if anyone has comments on the myRA, which the President put in his State of the Union as one approach to fill in for folks who do not have access to retirement plans.