Jeff Merkley

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent it adjourn under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 8:21 p.m., adjourned until Friday, September 21, 2012, at 12 noon…

Unless we reach an agreement, the next rollcall vote will be after midnight tomorrow evening, but we hope we can work something out in order to complete our work. ____________________

I think this hearing is very important to create some momentum.

I hold a lot of town halls. I think it is now 144 since I was elected.

I believe a surplus has essentially been dedicated to national debt.

I just think that Senators who don't come from coastal States and understand how important those ports are, we need to collectively, from inside the building and from outside the building, educate them about that.

I will be advocating for whatever pools of grant or financing exist for the projects in Oregon.

Senators Wyden and Merkley, and their staff, are to be commended for writing legislation that amends several outdated laws.

We thank Senators Merkley and Wyden for introducing this bill that represents a balance amongst varied basin interests.

I look forward to working with the Chair, Ranking Member, Senator Wyden, and other members of the committee to move this legislation forward.

It's nice when occasionally stakeholders can come together and wrestle with the very difficult issues about how to share this precious resource.

I introduced this bill with my colleague, Senator Wyden, in early August.

This bill is important for the economic security and the ecological health of the region.

I want to note that my colleague, Senator Akaka, has been, I think, very visible and aggressively working to tackle this topic for a very long time and I thank you, Senator Akaka, for your leadership in this area.

Thank you very much for your testimony, and as we begin questions, I will ask the Clerk to put 5 minutes on the clock for each Member and I will jump in quickly here.

The hearing of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will come to order.

Chairman Johnson is unavailable to attend this morning's hearing. He wanted me to personally thank you, Mr. Cordray, for being here and to commend you and your team for all of their superb work.

I am delighted that we can have this chance to hear from Richard Cordray, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

If we do not act now to stem the worst effects of climate change, we are looking at once greater problems.

We need to get our science from scientists, not politicians nor industry lobbyists.

Nothing is more important to any of us who have children than to care about the kind of a country, the kind of an environment, we are going to be leaving for them.

Global climate change poses a very serious threat to humanity.

The first 6 months of this year have been the hottest on record for the continental United States.

In America you can do almost anything.

We have about 4 million families who are underwater who do not have Fannie and Freddie loans, and they are essentially locked into high interest loans with no chance of refinancing.