today I am introducing the Layoff Prevention Act, legislation to strengthen and expand work sharing programs to keep Americans on the job and provide employers with a practical alternative to layoffs that is good for business. While the…

today I introduce with my colleagues Senators Cochran, Murray, Rockefeller, and Whitehouse, the Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries Act bill. Our bipartisan legislation will reauthorize and strengthen the school library…

I ask unanimous consent for 1 additional minute. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are in morning business. The Senator is recognized.

the bills from a decade of ineffective tax cuts and unpaid wars and a recession fueled by lax regulation have come due. I did not support the policies that generated these bills, but pretending these bills do not have to be paid is not an…

I thank the Senator from Illinois for his deference. We understand we have to make tough choices. They have to include expenditure cuts. We have already started with the continuing resolution of the last year where we reduced spending…

Is this now the time for additional stress tests of our banks and major European banks to determine the exposure if a larger Euro economy or other economy defaulted?

The foreclosure backlog is really inhibiting not only the banking industry, but overall economic growth.

It raises the question, do you believe, not just FDIC but in other supervised entities, big as well as small banks, there will be adequate capital measures?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and let me commend you, Chairman Bair, for your extraordinary service----

the idea of coordinating as much as we can imagine, a unified set of rules that apply to the SEC-regulated entities.

In general, more, and in general, if the entities are too big to fail, they should be smaller.

I think, you know, the challenge we gave to regulators was come up with an appropriate balanced mechanism that exempts certain loans from the requirement to hold.

Of course, the other concern is if you do not have any of these rules of the road, you get exactly what we had, which was gaming, no money down, great products, et cetera.

I thank the gentlelady from Alabama for yielding time, and I thank my colleagues for coming to the floor of the House tonight to stand with us as we have a discussion with the American people--an honest and open discussion. That's what we…

I rise today to express my strong support for the nomination of Leon Panetta as the next Secretary of Defense. Director Panetta comes to this job at an extraordinarily challenging time for the Department of Defense and for our Nation…

I ask unanimous consent that Danielle DeFant, a fellow with my office, be granted the privilege of the floor for the remainder of the 112th Congress. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

Is it feasible, practical, to insist that we have jurisdiction--if it is an American entity that has set up the center overseas, that we have jurisdiction and that we can at least inspect, investigate, and correct?

It is less effective--and we saw this particularly in the case of predatory lending--when the national standard is rather low and State standards, much more effective, are legally sort of avoided under Federal regulatory preemption.

I want to commend you for holding this very timely hearing.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, gentlemen, for your excellent testimony.

the U.S. law applies to the U.S. business.

I have seen sort of this debate in many different contexts, and a national standard is terrific if it is tough and strong and reaches all the players.

they should be held accountable by this Committee.

There is no doubt that the SEC has many more tools given to it by Dodd-Frank to regulate the institutions.