the owner of the mill said, and I believe I have this right, that it's like a person starving to death in a room full of food.

it's one of those things that doesn't cost much, and actually the businesses are very happy.

I thank my colleague from Minnesota. The vote was closed as I came in the door. Had I been here, I would have voted against cloture. I want that to be a clear part of the Record. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.

Now, I live in a working class neighborhood, three-bedroom ranch houses. There are no $500,000 mortgages where I live because there are no $500,000 houses.

Well, I would just like to point out that the roughly $6 billion in soft money that is in the settlement, at that 500-to-one rate, that is reduced down to $12 million.

This is how you will be able to go.

I am not sure how a borrower who gets $1,000 relief would feel they had gotten $500,000 of relief.

I am afraid I cannot answer it. It would be a good question to ask them to explain.

Have decreased significantly--longer breaks, more half-days, more full days.

So I wish we had the luxury of just doing one thing for a couple of years. We don't have that luxury.

I wanted to turn in my last 50 seconds to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) reorganization.

Are school fees for participation in extracurricular activities a problem in our system?

we are doing a poorer job of providing education to our children than our parents did for us. And that is completely unacceptable.

I would be interested in pursuing this in partnership with you, that we should ask for such data to be part of this process for at least evaluation, looking back at what worked and what did not.

this conversation is much broader than your background.

America should be in the leadership in taking on this challenge.

The challenge is just as large. Can you give a little bit of thought to this?

My goal is that we bring this scientific information to bear so we don't put very different types of products into the same basket.

I hope the EPA will work very hard to utilize that close partnership.

if we do not make things in America, we will not have a middle class.

$8,000 in fuel savings per vehicle, saving families $1.7 trillion at the pump.

I really do appreciate an important decision that was made under your direction for a 3-year deferral on biogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

EDA grants have been very significant to Portland's smaller communities, some of our rural communities.

I want to turn next to NOAA's Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. This is a fund that has been essential to my State and much of the Northwest that have significant salmon runs because it is such a challenge restoring streams, habitat…

the tax expenditures very much impact the deficits in the budget and the allocation of resources