I ask unanimous consent to speak as in legislative session. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

One of my impressions is that this, the value of these individuals, wasn't truly appreciated until we had the overruns and the inefficiencies and the problems.

We might be at an inflection point, because the permissive environment... is rapidly changing.

And without Barbara's leadership, thousands and thousands of children--and Senator Bond's--would have been not only adversely affected.

I want to stress my disappointment. And can you give us an idea of why we couldn't get more money into the LIHEAP budget from the administration?

I guess I would say to you gentlemen, you're going to be challenged. Senator McCain is going to challenge you, as you know he will, and we all should.

Lead poisoning prevention is critically important, as you say.

There's always the debate whether budgets drive strategy or strategy drives budgets.

Everybody can't be yellow.

I rise to urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan agreement I have reached with five of our colleagues from across the aisle Senators Heller, Collins, Portman, Murkowski, and Kirk to provide emergency unemployment insurance to 2.7…

I ask unanimous consent to yield back all time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, all time is yielded back. If there is no further debate, the question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Matthew H. Tueller…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. Unemployment Insurance

I wish to thank all of my colleagues for this very strong bipartisan vote to move a step closer to restoring unemployment insurance benefits for over 2 million Americans. I particularly wish to thank Senator Heller, whose leadership from…

schools need to have 'skin in the game.'

Today's hearing on student loans is of critical importance. The social and economic implications of the rising tide of student loan debt demand that we take action.

I would ask you to avoid cuts in the future, but also to look at ways that we can invest in a partnership through the labs with the fishing men and women and the fishing industry, not just in Rhode Island but all through the Northeast.

This isn't the system of Federal financial support that was designed to give everybody a fair shot at a higher education and better future.

As part of the War on Poverty we enacted the Higher Education Act with the idea that no American should be denied the ability to go to college because their family lacked the means to pay.

The burden of student debt is crippling our economy.

A final point is that you have a significant cut, 27 percent, $7 million, in ocean exploration, and it becomes more and more important.

To help these borrowers, we have introduced the Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights.

I would like to commend the Chairman and Ranking Member for the thoughtful, thorough, and collaborative process for reviewing the Higher Education Act in preparation for its reauthorization.

I would just ask you to seriously consider the option of not taking the ship out of Narragansett Bay and spending $20 million for it elsewhere but spending very little and simply transferring it across.

Our student loan programs were originally seen as an investment, not a profit center or even a cost-neutral proposition. However, today our student aid investment has been stood on its head.

Given the tightness of your budget, and that's being mild, the idea of generating $20 million to do something that, frankly, could be done as well, and I would argue better, by simply moving the ship across the bay would make sense to me.