I come to the floor today to address several issues. First, I would like to talk a little bit about the DISCLOSE Act. Earlier this week we had two votes on whether to end debate on whether to debate the DISCLOSE Act. The DISCLOSE Act is a…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The DISCLOSE Act

When I was in the State legislature, I pushed to make a financial literacy course a required part of a high school education.

I think it is worth continuing that conversation.

I think it is a powerful concept. We know that in some cases philanthropists have talked to kids in lower income areas, and adopted classrooms, and said, 'We will fund your college.'

This is such an important issue for our future.

One of the things that deeply disturbs me is that we are becoming the first generation of parents whose children are getting less education than we got.

perhaps the most important three words in our constitution are ``We the people.'' But the whole notion of ``We the people'' is threatened by oceans of dark secret cash, oceans of cash used as a threat on the front end and as an election…

It was 85 percent deceptive and 15 percent accurate. To the other point, this is taking one of the contests between Gingrich and Romney. You can see the red bar, the negative ads, benefiting Romney for attacks on Gingrich. Positive ads for…

I was thinking back to a book that a friend gave me to read. It was called ``Treason of the Senate.'' When I first heard him speak about it over the phone, I think he was saying he had a book about the reason of the Senate. It turned out…

Even the corporation itself doesn't know what it is doing; that is, the corporation might have 10,000 shareholders and they are the cooperation. The corporation is a legal fiction, as our colleague says, that allows a board of directors to…

I thank my colleague from Louisiana for her remarks. Would the Senator be able to engage in a question or two?

I do think the municipalities that were involved are feeling that perhaps they were not as aware of the thumb on the scale as they might have been, but that will all be, I guess, sorted out in due course.

To my colleague from Rhode Island, I ask this: How is it possible for 5 members of the Supreme Court to look at this issue of unlimited, secret spending and knowing that can be used to intimidate and corrupt the electoral process and…

I think back to the period when our forefathers and foremothers came here and said: We are going to set up a new set of colonies, a new set of rules. One of the things at the very heart of that was the notion that we the people, we the…

I ask the Senator, when the company gets involved in that manner or a billionaire gets involved in that manner and their motive is largely to advance their financial interests, do they use that to fund ads that are an accurate…

Just a moment ago our colleague from Louisiana was noting that we have important work to do to shore up the American family. Families have lost--the number is, on average, $100,000 of equity in their house per family. That is a phenomenal…

To the Senator's point about the distinction between a corporate forum and an individual justice, John Paul Stevens addressed this in his dissent. He said: In the context of elections to public office, the distinction between corporate and…

I think the point that my colleague Senator DeMint was making earlier was when you know that someone has a thumb on the scale, isn't there a responsibility to alert the customers about that thumb being on the scale?

We are grateful for the support of the Oregon Delegation, including your other colleague, Senator Merkley.

this bill is about holding USDA accountable. Organic farmers, when they get crop insurance, pay a 5- percent premium upfront. The whole concept was that on the back end they would be compensated at the value of their organic crop should…

I call up my amendment No. 2382. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Oregon [Mr. Merkley] proposes an amendment numbered 2382. The amendment is as…

I think it is 2 and a half years before you would require green completion, so a 2 and a half year phase-in.

So what has their experience been? Have citizens been appreciative of the results or has the initial, if you view these kind of as pilot projects for others to observe, what lessons have been learned from that?

It is urgent that we get rules in place to reduce emissions.