Jeff Merkley

Why have so few executives at major institutions been prosecuted by the SEC or by the Department of Justice?

Thank you to the panel for your testimony and I just want to thank Chairman Reed for calling this conversation together.

I would love to echo the concern about the standards in which one standard really looks at, the LEED standard looks at energy conservation at the point and therefore discriminates against wood, where if you look at the life cycle of wood…

But in terms of a lot of these technologies around saving energy, and a lot of them around greenhouse gases, and understanding kind of how for what we invest we get back, even if it has multiple dimensions, would be very helpful

I think there is just kind of a thirst for being smart about what we do.

I have to say I am guilty of leaving my cell phone charger plugged in behind the dresser day in and day out, and I would love to have a version that shuts off when I unplug my phone.

Do you have any aspect of your efforts that is related to vampire electronics, that is, that so many of our electric appliances utilize energy when they are not in use

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 6:35 p.m., adjourned until Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at 10 a.m…

Rollcall votes in relation to amendments to the small business jobs bill are possible tomorrow. Senators will be notified when any votes are scheduled. ____________________

We cannot allow the mistakes we made with mortgages over the last 10 years to drive us down the road.

Let us say we have a million people buying homes, and by increasing the down payment from 5 to 10 percent, we proceed to have 10 percent fewer families--or I think the range you had was 7 to 15, but I am taking kind of the center point.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you all for your testimony.

So I was doing a little back-of-the-envelope number here, and I think you found in the vicinity of a 0.02-percent increase in the default rate.

I am just concerned that given the light of the type of studies that have seen vast transfers of wealth to working Americans through home ownership, I mean, Mr. Kling, you may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater here.

Working with the States in this matter is going to be critical to the success of the exchanges--a very valuable tool that will increase competition and make it easier for citizens to find a health care plan that suits their circumstances.

I hold a town hall in every county in my State each year, 36 counties, and when I talk about the different features of the plan and then ask people if they think it's a step forward or a step backwards, people love the idea of the exchange.

I found that very useful when I went to the Federal benefits plan, when I came into office.

I want to start with Mr. Larsen's comments that exchanges provide greater information to consumers; one-stop shopping where consumers will be able to compare a range of plans.

It is certainly important that students have a clear understanding of what they are buying.

Because a great number of the students in the teacher preparation program will be unable to be certified to teach in their State.

Has the concept been brainstormed as to whether in an unaccredited program, the students should be able to access Pell grants?

Wouldn't that kind of solve this overnight? Because every institution would be like, 'OK, we have got to get programmatic accreditation.'

Oregon encourages schools to obtain programmatic accreditation, essentially approval of their program by the appropriate State licensing board.

Oregon, I think, may have the best State oversight system in the country.

That issue of programmatic accreditation may be a piece of the puzzle to make sure students paying tuition... are availing themselves of an opportunity that merits their money and their time.