Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. President, today, hopefully, we will finally extend unemployment insurance to those who can't find a job in this difficult economic climate. Our next task is to help small employers and entrepreneurs grow their businesses and hire new workers. That is the only way we will fully emerge from this recession.

Over the past 15 years, small businesses have created almost two- thirds of the new jobs in America. Small businesses are the cornerstone of New Hampshire's economy. Over 96 percent of businesses in the Granite State are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. That is why we need, once we have passed the extension of unemployment insurance, to pass the Small Business Jobs Act as soon as possible. This is legislation that will dramatically increase lending to small businesses, it will enhance the ability of small companies to export, and it will provide tax relief to small firms.

I am proud that as a member of the Small Business Committee I helped craft this bill under the leadership of the chair of that committee, Senator Mary Landrieu, and ranking member Senator Olympia Snowe. I want to thank both of them for their work and for their leadership on this bill.

While many community banks in New Hampshire have increased their lending, I consistently hear from small businesses that they have run out of financing for the working capital they need. Last year, my office organized a financing fair to bring together lenders and small businesses who need financing, and over 500 people showed up. It was a huge turnout. But still, wherever I go in New Hampshire, small business owners tell me they are running out of financing options. In some cases, their only choice is to turn to credit cards, often personal credit cards, paying exorbitant interest rates to get the working capital they need to keep their businesses going.

The small business jobs bill will enhance Small Business Administration loan programs that help small businesses in New Hampshire and throughout the country as they try to access the credit they need to hire workers, to grow their businesses, and to weather the economic storm.

In the past year, many small businesses in New Hampshire have taken advantage of the enhancements to the SBA programs that were included in the Recovery Act. One business owner in New Hampshire, Janet Dunican, was able to save her business with an SBA loan. Janet owns an innovative manufacturing company in Hooksett, NH. She has over 50 employees, and what they do is help take trucks that are owned by other small businesses and transform them by adding custom-fit utility buckets--the kind we see when the cable company fixes the power lines after a storm.

When Janet needed a loan to save her company, she looked everywhere for help. But with credit tight and with this uncertain economy, she had a hard time finding a bank that would finance her project to keep the business afloat. Then she turned to a bank that participated in an SBA loan guarantee program. She was able to work with her bank to get the credit she needed to save her business.

Unfortunately, too many small businesses can't take advantage of loan guarantees because the loans have been too limited, and they do not fit their needs. But the small business jobs bill opens these programs to more businesses. It increases the size of the loans that businesses can obtain, it allows small businesses to refinance their debt at lower rates, and it extends the higher guarantee rates that were included in the Recovery Act. The SBA estimates that these provisions will put over $5 billion in credit into the hands of small businesses.

The bill also funds successful State small business lending programs--programs that have helped save many small businesses and helped others finance their growth. These programs, such as our own-- the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority's Capital Access Program-- and other successful small business lending programs, can quickly get credit into the hands of the small companies that need it the most.

The bill also includes a proposal that I worked very hard on to allow more small businesses in New Hampshire to access the SBA's Express Loan Program. The Express Loan Program is popular with banks in New Hampshire because it cuts redtape and allows them to use their own paperwork in making the loans. It is a simple way to quickly put working capital into the hands of small business owners.

Another important way we can increase the bottom lines of small businesses is by helping them sell their products overseas, something I have been supportive of for a very long time. Of the small- and medium- sized businesses in this country, only about 5 percent are selling into markets overseas. Yet 99 percent of those markets are outside of the United States. For many of these small businesses that would like to export, it can be very challenging because, unlike big companies, they often don't have the technical capacity or the resources to identify new markets, to go on trade missions, and to market their products to foreign buyers.

The small business jobs bill will help these small firms access new markets because it boosts Federal and State programs that help small businesses export their products. It also strengthens SBA export financing programs so that small businesses can get loans to put them in a better position to compete locally.

Finally, this legislation also provides over $12 billion in targeted tax relief for small businesses. These are tax cuts that will help free up capital for small firms to make investments and, most importantly, to hire workers because that, in fact, is what the small business jobs bill is all about. It is to help provide the boost that small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country need, not just so they can be successful and grow, but so they can create jobs--the jobs that we need to put people back to work in this country.

I am excited that we are going to be taking up this legislation. I hope it is going to be today. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical bill to help improve job prospects for people across the country.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I am pleased, though frustrated, like my colleagues, to be here this morning on the floor to talk about the critical need to extend unemployment insurance.

Across the Nation, there are almost 15 million Americans who are out of work, and although we are making progress on our unemployment rate, it is still too high at 9.5 percent. We need to extend unemployment insurance, and we need to do it now, today, before one more family is put on the street and before one more child goes to bed hungry.

This legislation is every bit as important to our economy as it is to those who are struggling to get by. Nearly 7 million people, or half of all Americans collecting unemployment insurance, have been out of work for 6 months or longer. They have run out of the insurance that is provided by their State. These are the workers who will collect this Federal unemployment extension, which they are using, as my colleagues have said--the Senator from Ohio, with his letters, was eloquent as he reported on the people from Ohio who are talking about why they need this to pay their rent, to make mortgage payments, to buy groceries, and to put gas in their cars to go out and look for their next job.

As the Senator said so eloquently, sometimes the real people whom this legislation affects are forgotten during this debate. While Members of this body stand and give economic lessons and talk about the macro situation, there are honest hard-working people out there who are suffering because of our failure to act.

I recently heard from a woman in Canterbury, NH, named Jo Ellen. She is a professional psychiatric nurse with a graduate degree. She had a good job until she was laid off because of cutbacks to our mental health system. She is in her sixties and has been working since she was 11 years old. Since being laid off, she has applied for dozens of jobs, from part time to retail positions. She has cut back on her professional experience on her resume so that she is not ruled out for being overqualified. She always mentions that she is willing to accept any salary, but nonetheless she has not yet been called for an interview--not once.

Jo Ellen wrote to me not just because her unemployment was going to run out but because she is so troubled by what she keeps hearing from people who voted against the extension of unemployment benefits, who say that people who are collecting unemployment are irresponsible or that they are not looking for a job, they are looking for a handout. Jo Ellen is not looking for a handout; she is looking for a job.

While we still face one of the most difficult job markets in history, with five applicants for every one job, we need to make sure people such as Jo Ellen stay afloat. There are millions of people across this country who are just like Jo Ellen, who are working hard, who want to find a new job, who are one step away from disaster if they don't get an extension of unemployment benefits.

In New Hampshire, 20,000 people could see their unemployment insurance expire within the next 4 months if we don't act. By supporting the legislation today, we can make sure New Hampshire's unemployed workers receive $75 million in essential Federal assistance. This money, as has been pointed out, won't sit quietly in savings accounts; it will go to grocery stores, pharmacies, and small businesses in the communities where the unemployed are living. In fact, conservative economist Mark Zandi, a former adviser to Senator McCain, has cited unemployment insurance as one of the three most effective uses of Federal funding. According to his analysis, every dollar we invest today will create $1.61 in economic growth.

When I was Governor, after the September 11 attacks, when this country went into a recession, one of the first things we did in New Hampshire was to increase unemployment benefits because we knew what Mark Zandi said was correct--that people would put that money back into the economy, help stimulate the economy, and help create economic growth. We did that with bipartisan support from a Republican legislature. I don't know what has changed in the last 9 years since September 11 that we have our colleagues on the other side of the aisle who, by and large, say we can't support unemployment benefits and extending those benefits but we can have tax cuts for the wealthy without funding those. There is something wrong with that kind of logic.

These benefits that, hopefully, we are going to pass today will help people all across America invest in their community. At a time like this, with our economy poised to turn the corner, this funding is critical to our future. Quite simply, these are investments we can't afford not to make.

I am pleased to join my colleagues, and I hope we will get those 60 votes and extend the unemployment benefits for millions of Americans.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I am pleased to join my colleague from Connecticut, Senator Chris Dodd, and be here on the floor this afternoon to talk about the financial regulatory reform bill that is pending.

Before I begin my remarks, I wish to recognize Senator Dodd for his leadership and hard work in getting this conference report to the floor so that we can hopefully adopt it this afternoon. It is important because of what has happened in this country and what has happened in my State of New Hampshire.

Over the past 2 years, people in New Hampshire and across the country have suffered the consequences of Wall Street's gambles. While we are seeing our economy in New Hampshire begin to rebound, which is thanks in no small part to the job creation that was spurred by the Recovery Act, it is critical that we act to prevent Wall

Street's risky, reckless behavior from ever again bringing our economy to its knees.

We need to put in place reforms to stop Wall Street firms from growing so big and so interconnected that they can threaten our entire economy. We need to protect consumers from abusive practices and empower them to make sound financial decisions for their families. We need more transparency and regulation in the now shadowy markets where Wall Street executives and investment banks have made gambles. In those shadowy markets, the Wall Street firms got all the upside and American families got all the downside. We need to do everything we can to ensure that a financial crisis, such as the one we experienced in late 2008, never happens again. We need to ensure that taxpayers will not be asked to bail out Wall Street. In short, we need to pass the strong Wall Street reform bill that is before us today.

It is also important to note that while this bill requires Wall Street banks to be held more accountable, it does not unfairly burden community banks. Community banks did not cause the financial crisis, and they should not have to pay for Wall Street's reckless behavior. That is particularly important to us in New Hampshire, where community banks make a huge difference for our cities and towns. That is why I joined with Senator Snowe on her amendment to eliminate the unnecessary, burdensome requirement that community banks and credit unions collect and report on various data about their depositors.

I also sponsored another bipartisan amendment, one to make large, riskier banks pay their fair share of FDIC premiums and lower assessments for community banks. Community bank lending is really the lifeblood of New Hampshire's economy. Every dollar community banks have to pay for Wall Street's mistakes is a dollar that could be going to extend credit to small businesses and to home and consumer loans to families.

I also joined Senator Collins on her amendment to require Wall Street banks to follow the same capital and risk standards small depository banks must follow. This amendment will make the risky banks that led us into this financial crisis--banks such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers--follow the same standards that already apply to small depository banks.

This bill requires the big Wall Street banks to have adequate capital to prevent taxpayers from having to bail them out again.

I am very pleased that those bipartisan amendments, which have strengthened the bill by protecting community banks, have been adopted. It speaks to the conversation Senator Dodd was having with Senator Kaufman earlier that this is a bill that has gotten broad support in this body and a lot of input that has made it better.

I am glad we have been able to work in this bipartisan manner to craft a strong bill that reins in the reckless Wall Street conduct that brought us to the edge of financial disaster. It keeps community banks strong, and it protects consumers and taxpayers.

I look forward to voting ``aye'' this afternoon when we get to the vote on the conference report.

I also understand that the intent of this section is not to create any inference that minimum capital requirements are the appropriate standard or safeguard for the council to recommend to be applied to any nonbank financial company that is not subject to supervision by the Federal Reserve under title I of this legislation, with respect to any activity subject to section 120. Rather, the council should have full discretion not to recommend the application of capital requirements to any such nonbank financial company engaged in any such activity.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3462, a bill to provide subpoena power to the national commission on the British Petroleum oilspill in the Gulf of Mexico, and that the Senate then proceed to its consideration; that the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record, with no further intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 442, H.R. 5481, a bill to give subpoena power to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling; that the bill be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

This is legislation that passed the House 420 to 1.

Madam President, I think we are witnessing exhibit B to Senator Dorgan's exhibit A about what the problems are in this Chamber.

I don't understand what is so objectionable. In the House, 169 Republicans voted in favor of giving the Presidential commission subpoena power. They understand how important that is because this commission begins their investigation in the next few weeks. This should not be a partisan issue. I don't understand why my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are turning this into a partisan issue.

I find it unbelievable that after everything the people of the gulf region have endured, and that this entire country has witnessed for over 2 months now, that anyone is still standing with the oil company that caused this disaster instead of the victims who are suffering from it.

We recently learned that while BP was publicly telling us that the Deepwater Horizon rig was leaking an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil a day, internal BP documents showed, in a worst-case scenario, up to 100,000 barrels of oil could actually leak into the Gulf of Mexico. What that says to me is that we need to make sure when we are investigating this oilspill, whether it be with employees of BP or anyone else, that they are being straight with the American people. That is what subpoena power would do. If we want to get to the bottom of what happened so we can stop it from happening again, the Presidential commission needs the authority to compel people to provide documents and to testify under oath.

The full devastation of this catastrophic spill is far from being known, but surely we know now that it will be one of the worst, if not the worst, economic and environmental disasters in American history. We need to make sure this never happens again. The Presidential commission needs subpoena power to get the job done for the American people. The House moved quickly to pass this legislation and the Senate should now pass this important legislation also. I can't understand why anyone is objecting to this.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I am here to speak to the bill that is pending before us. Small businesses are the cornerstone of New Hampshire's economy, just as they are the cornerstone of the economies of so many of our States.

Over 96 percent of employers in New Hampshire are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees, 96 percent. The economic recovery of New Hampshire depends on the ability of those small businesses to invest in their future, to grow their businesses, and to hire new workers.

But right now many of these small businesses are hurting and they continue to have trouble accessing credit, the credit they need to help turn our economy around. While community banks in New Hampshire have increased their lending, I consistently hear from small businesses that they still need additional working capital.

Last year my office organized a financing fair to bring together lenders and small businesses who need financing. Over 500 people showed up. That is a crowd in New Hampshire. Wherever I go in the State, small business owners tell me they have run out of financing options. In some cases their only choice is to turn to credit cards, their personal credit cards where they pay exorbitant interest rates to get the working capital they need to keep their businesses growing.

That is why we need to quickly pass the Small Business Jobs Act. This legislation will help small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country access the credit they need to create jobs and to weather this economic storm. I am very proud of the work of my committee. As the President knows, the Small Business Committee does great work. It is led by Chairman Landrieu and Ranking Member Snowe.

They have worked and we have worked on this committee to fashion bipartisan measures to strengthen critical SBA programs for small businesses. This afternoon I want to talk about two of those provisions in particular that I think will provide tangible credit solutions for small businesses in New Hampshire.

Many creditworthy small businesses have mortgages on their property that are coming due in the next year. In normal times these businesses would simply refinance those mortgages at reasonable rates. But with commercial real estate lending so tight, and real estate values falling, the only option for many businesses is to refinancing at very high rates. This drains them of the cash they need to pay for their workers and buy new inventory.

For small businesses that cannot refinance at all, they face foreclosure even though they may have never missed a payment on their loan. The

Small Business Jobs Act will change an existing SBA program in a way that makes sense. It will change the 504 program to help small businesses refinance these mortgages at low rates. This will free up capital for these small businesses to hire workers and to make other investments to grow their operations, and we can do this in this bill at no cost to the taxpayer.

In New Hampshire, this will help small businesses of all kinds: manufacturers, hotels and restaurants, doctors offices, and many others. This will help them retain hundreds of jobs that would otherwise be lost due to a lack of credit availability. In some cases, it will stop businesses from having to close their doors altogether.

This bill will also increase the maximum loan limit of the Express Loan Program. This is another important provision of this bill that will help small businesses in New Hampshire get the working capital they need. The Express Program is popular with small business lenders in New Hampshire because it cuts redtape and provides a streamlined process for approving loans.

Unlike traditional 7(a) loans, lenders can use their own paperwork for SBA Express Loans, making it easier for them to quickly get capital into the hands of small businesses. Currently, however, Express Loans are capped at $350,000. The Small Business Jobs Act will increase the loan limit to $1 million, making additional working capital available to small businesses.

I thank Senators Landrieu and Snowe for working with me to include this important provision. I am also pleased that the bill includes President Obama's initiative to provide over $30 billion for two new lending funds for small business owners.

I am hopeful the small business lending fund and the State small business credit initiative will provide community banks with the capital cushion they need to expand lending to small businesses.

This bill also lowers taxes on small firms, providing over $12 billion in tax cuts to help free up capital so small companies can invest in their future. These tax cuts are fully paid for, and they will not add to the deficit. The Small Business Jobs Act will help provide the boost that small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country need so desperately so they can create jobs and help continue to grow our economy.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical piece of legislation.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, today I rise to express my deepest sympathies to the family of Army PFC Barry Daniel Smith, who died on May 7 while stationed at Fort Hood, TX. He enlisted in the Army in October of 2009 and completed basic training and Multiple Launch Rocket System training before joining the 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery, MLRS, 41st Fires Brigade. The American people will forever be grateful to Private First Class Smith for his willingness to serve.

A longtime New Hampshire resident, Barry was a graduate of Littleton High School and Hesser College in Manchester, where he earned a degree in criminal justice. He was a lover of the great outdoors, of hunting and camping with family and friends. With his friendly nature and wonderful laugh, Barry made friends easily and had many.

Private Smith exemplified the best in America's long tradition of service to this country. He was extremely proud to serve in the U.S. Army. Our Nation can never adequately thank Private Smith for his willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of the American people, nor can words diminish the pain of losing this young soldier. It is now up to us to honor his memory by supporting our veterans and their families and ensuring America's continued security.

Private Barry Smith is survived by his parents Dan and Shelly Smith of Auburn, ME, and Linda and Jonathan Larrivee of Littleton, NH. He is also survived by numerous siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This young patriot will be dearly missed by all.

I ask my colleagues and all Americans to join me in honoring the life of Army PFC Barry Daniel Smith.

Mr. President, I rise today to join with my colleagues Senator Mark Udall and Chairman Jeff Bingaman of the Senate Energy Committee to introduce the Department of the Interior Research and Technologies for Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 2010. Legislation intended to make sure we have the proper resources available to respond to future oil spills.

While we are still getting to the bottom of what caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf, one thing is absolutely clear: BP was totally unprepared to respond, contain and clean-up this kind of spill.

From ``junk shots'' to containment domes that failed to work at depth, BP was caught totally flat footed by this spill. Even BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, admitted that BP didn't ``have the tools in the toolbox'' to respond to this spill.

The oil and gas industry has poured significant sums of money into developing technologies to find and produce oil and gas, but when I asked oil executives at a recent Energy Committee hearing what they've done in the way of research and development to respond to and clean up oil spills the response I got was: little to nothing.

The technologies being used today in the Gulf are the same technologies we used twenty years ago to clean-up the Exxon Valdez spill. The oil and gas industry needs to do better. Since they won't do it themselves, they can pay the government to lead on research and development. We need to have updated, innovative, and effective technologies at the ready to clean up after any oil spill--large or small.

We have to make sure that--through proper research and development-- we are prepared to prevent and respond to future oil spills. And that is what my legislation is intended to do.

The legislation I am introducing today with Senators Udall and Bingaman does the following:

It creates a new Oil Spill research and development program

within the Interior Department to focus on research and

development technologies to respond to, contain and clean up

oil spills and ensure we're prepared to respond to future

spills.

It establishes an independent Scientific Advisory Board to

identify gaps and focus the research and development program

on priority areas. We know the concerns of the scientists

were ignored leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

This provision will make sure their important voices are

heard.

It makes the oil and gas industry pay for this critical

research and development. In order to make sure this import

effort has the resources it need to be successful, my

legislation creates a dedicated funding source to pay for

this research and development, and

this funding will come entirely from royalties, rent, and

bonuses from domestic oil and gas producers.

This legislation is one part of a broader effort to ensure that we are prepared for future oil spills and that the catastrophe in the Gulf never happens again.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to incorporate this legislation into comprehensive legislation the Senate is crafting to respond to the Deepwater Horizon spill and reform the federal agency responsible for oil and gas development in the outer continental shelf. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation so that we can ensure we are prepared to handle future oil spills.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to join with my colleagues Senator Mark Udall and Chairman Jeff Bingaman of the Senate Energy Committee to introduce the Department of the Interior Research and Technologies for Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 2010. Legislation intended to make sure we have the proper resources available to respond to future oil spills.

While we are still getting to the bottom of what caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf, one thing is absolutely clear: BP was totally unprepared to respond, contain and clean-up this kind of spill.

From ``junk shots'' to containment domes that failed to work at depth, BP was caught totally flat footed by this spill. Even BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, admitted that BP didn't ``have the tools in the toolbox'' to respond to this spill.

The oil and gas industry has poured significant sums of money into developing technologies to find and produce oil and gas, but when I asked oil executives at a recent Energy Committee hearing what they've done in the way of research and development to respond to and clean up oil spills the response I got was: little to nothing.

The technologies being used today in the Gulf are the same technologies we used twenty years ago to clean-up the Exxon Valdez spill. The oil and gas industry needs to do better. Since they won't do it themselves, they can pay the government to lead on research and development. We need to have updated, innovative, and effective technologies at the ready to clean up after any oil spill--large or small.

We have to make sure that--through proper research and development-- we are prepared to prevent and respond to future oil spills. And that is what my legislation is intended to do.

The legislation I am introducing today with Senators Udall and Bingaman does the following:

It creates a new Oil Spill research and development program

within the Interior Department to focus on research and

development technologies to respond to, contain and clean up

oil spills and ensure we're prepared to respond to future

spills.

It establishes an independent Scientific Advisory Board to

identify gaps and focus the research and development program

on priority areas. We know the concerns of the scientists

were ignored leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

This provision will make sure their important voices are

heard.

It makes the oil and gas industry pay for this critical

research and development. In order to make sure this import

effort has the resources it need to be successful, my

legislation creates a dedicated funding source to pay for

this research and development, and

this funding will come entirely from royalties, rent, and

bonuses from domestic oil and gas producers.

This legislation is one part of a broader effort to ensure that we are prepared for future oil spills and that the catastrophe in the Gulf never happens again.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to incorporate this legislation into comprehensive legislation the Senate is crafting to respond to the Deepwater Horizon spill and reform the federal agency responsible for oil and gas development in the outer continental shelf. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation so that we can ensure we are prepared to handle future oil spills.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I rise today to ask that my legislation, S. 3462, which would grant subpoena power to the Presidential commission tasked with investigating the BP oilspill, be passed by unanimous consent.

Madam President, I don't understand. We are 58 days into this oilspill. Eleven lives have been lost. We have seen up to 97 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico that is already on the shores of the gulf. We have thousands of wildlife covered in oil, many of them dead. We have fishermen who have lost their livelihoods, some, we guess, maybe for generations. We have countless hotels and restaurants that are empty during what should be their prime tourist season. I don't understand why, given all of this--the full devastation of this catastrophic spill is far from being known, although we know it is going to be one of the worst economic and environmental disasters in American history, and we need to make absolutely certain this never happens again--why people are still objecting to giving the bipartisan commission charged with investigating this disaster the subpoena power to do what they need to do to make sure this never happens again.

In order to have a full and fruitful investigation, this commission must have subpoena power to get to the bottom of what safety precautions BP did and did not take leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Subpoena power is essential to their task of making meaningful recommendations on how to prevent future disasters. That is why I, along with 18 other Senators, have introduced this legislation to grant subpoena power to this commission. It is unacceptable for BP and the other companies responsible for this oilspill to continue to stonewall the American people.

I don't understand why my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are objecting to this. I would assume they are as interested in getting to the bottom of this disaster as the rest of us are, and this stonewalling is something I just don't understand.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues, Senators Stabenow and Klobuchar, in supporting the nomination of Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. However, before addressing the nomination of Elena Kagan, I wish to echo the remarks of Senator Stabenow about the need to look at the legislation that is going to come before us in a few minutes.

My colleague, Senator Barrasso, talked about wanting to help those people who are most in need of health care. One of the best ways we can do that is to pass the legislation pending before this body which includes an extension of Medicaid benefits, which is so important to States and to the people who are most in need, who have the least ability to get health care. I hope that as our colleagues are thinking about how they can support health care for Americans, they will support this legislation and make sure we extend Medicaid benefits for people throughout the States.

Turning to the Elena Kagan nomination, I am extremely pleased that President Obama has selected a woman with such impressive and unique credentials to serve on the Nation's highest Court. I had the good fortune to meet Solicitor General Kagan a number of years ago when both of us were at Harvard. I was at the Kennedy School as the director of its Institute of Politics, and she had just become dean of the Harvard Law School. It didn't take her very long to get a reputation there as someone who was loved by the students and the faculty, who was able to get everyone to work together. It comes as no surprise to me that she has continued her impressive accomplishments.

My favorable impression of Elena Kagan was confirmed after a recent meeting with her in my Senate office, spending more time really looking at what her record has been with the law. I wish to focus my remarks this morning on Elena Kagan's record that has prepared her to be a Justice.

A number of my colleagues from across the aisle have implied or stated directly that the Solicitor General lacks sufficient range of professional experience. A number of Senators are concerned that Elena Kagan does not have judicial experience. To address this point, it is worth noting that 41 of the Court's 111 Justices have joined the Court without any previous experience as a judge. Among these 41 are some of the most notable jurists of the last century: Justices Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter, William Douglas, Byron White, and Lewis Powell. Chief Justices Harlan Stone, Earl Warren, and William Rehnquist were also chosen for the Court without prior judicial experience. The Presidents who nominated these Justices and the Senators who confirmed them were right to recognize that experiences other than being a judge can prepare one to serve on the Supreme Court with distinction. Elena Kagan certainly has had that experience. She has traveled a path of extraordinary accomplishment. I am confident she will continue that trend once she is elevated to the bench.

With more than 24 years of legal experience in a range of settings, she will bring a distinct perspective to judging that will serve both the Court and Americans well. Without a doubt, Ms. Kagan has been a lifelong student of the Supreme Court. As we heard from Senator Stabenow, she began her career as a clerk in the chambers of two highly regarded jurists, including the

legendary Thurgood Marshall. These formative years early in Ms. Kagan's career instilled in her an appreciation of the impact of judicial decisions on people and gave her an ability to zero in on critical facts and issues in cases.

After 3 years in private practice in Washington, Ms. Kagan became a professor of law at the University of Chicago. She focused there on scholarship and constitutional law, particularly the first amendment. She quickly became known as a powerful advocate for individual constitutional rights.

She served as an Associate White House Counsel and later Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council during the Clinton White House. These positions forced Elena Kagan to tackle difficult public policy matters while analyzing the limits of executive branch power.

Later, as dean of the Harvard Law School, Ms. Kagan is credited with making immense progress toward uniting a fractious faculty of very powerful opinions and intellects. She built bridges across academic and political groups.

A recent letter from the deans of law schools across the country describes Ms. Kagan as ``a superb and successful dean'' who ``revealed a strong and consistent aptitude for forging coalitions that achieved smart and sensible solutions, often in the face of insoluble conflict.''

Harvard professor Charles Fried captured the thoughts of many of Ms. Kagan's Harvard colleagues when he described her as someone who had a ``masterful'' ability to work well with diverse faculty.

Ms. Kagan's intellect and work ethic caught the attention of President Obama when she was tapped to serve as Solicitor General. She is the first woman to hold this position which is often referred to as the 10th Justice of the Court. During her tenure, Solicitor General Kagan has filed 66 briefs and has argued numerous times before the Court. I can't imagine better training for a position on the Court than the experience gained by a Solicitor General. Elena Kagan has publicly demonstrated her ability to critically analyze the law and advocate forcefully at the level demanded by our Nation's highest Court.

Elena Kagan has dedicated her life to legal study. She has excelled as a clerk, a teacher, administrator, counsel, and advocate. I know these experiences have given her a full understanding and appreciation of the Supreme Court's role in our democracy. Elena Kagan has built a career that shows she has the technical skills, the intellectual aptitude, and the personal judgment to be an extremely effective Justice. I look forward to the swift confirmation of a very impressive individual and urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support her nomination.

Madam President, I am pleased to be here to join my colleagues and Senator Boxer--and I thank her for her leadership in this effort--to keep from turning back the clock on our air quality. We desperately need to reform our country's energy policies.

Our reliance on fossil fuels means polluting our air, it results in an enormous transfer of wealth to other countries--$1 billion a day-- and it compromises our national security. We are currently sending $150 billion a year to countries that the State Department deems dangerous and unsafe.

There are tremendous costs domestically associated with this reliance on fossil fuels. We saw it in 1989 with the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, and we are seeing it now as the largest environmental disaster in our country's history plays out before our very eyes in the gulf--the loss of life and the tragedy to the environment. The way of life that so many people in the gulf have enjoyed for generations is unfortunately, we think, going to be gone. We pay a very heavy price for our dependence on fossil fuels. Now is the time to work together to get America running on clean energy.

Reforming our Nation's energy policies will help us take control of our future in America, a future that will be built on clean energy and American power.

To those who say we should not be reducing carbon pollution, I simply disagree. We have heard the same tired stories from big oil and big polluters again and again. They tell us reducing carbon pollution will kill jobs and wreck our economy. Time and time again, we have heard these same arguments, and we know they are not true.

Since we passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, we have dramatically reduced emissions of dozens of pollutants, we have improved air quality, and we have improved public health. The EPA estimates that this year, the Clean Air Act prevented an estimated 20,000 deaths, more than 23,000 cases of chronic bronchitis and asthma, and 59,000 hospitalizations.

Yet during this same period, despite the current recession that has set us back, with the Clean Air Act, we have been able to grow our economy. Our gross domestic product has more than tripled, and average household income grew more than 45 percent.

We know we can protect the public health, save our environment, and grow our economy.

The resolution we are debating today will unravel the only ability we have right now to address carbon pollution. For those who say Congress should make a decision about how to address carbon, they are absolutely right. But instead of debating efforts to protect big polluters, we should be using this time to debate how to position our country to lead in the global clean energy economy.

I have no doubt that the American people have the ingenuity and the competitive spirit to solve our energy challenges. What they need is some leadership from us in Washington. Now is the time to get America running on clean energy.

I urge my colleagues to reject this resolution and for all of us to work together to craft energy policies that will help us transition to a clean energy economy that will stop carbon pollution and our reliance on fossil fuels.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I am here to speak to this bill we are considering, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. Too many people in New Hampshire and across this country are still struggling. I wish to talk today about some of the provisions that are in the legislation before us, provisions that will create jobs, grow small businesses, and help unemployed Americans who are still struggling to get back to work.

As you know, Mr. President, we have been here before. On March 10 of this year, almost 3 months ago, the Senate took up and passed a bill that contained most of the provisions we are considering today. That day, the Senate voted, with bipartisan support, to stand with working families and extend the safety net legislation and investment incentives that are helping us get through and out of this recession.

Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to send this bill to President Obama for his signature. For the last 3 months, we have had almost weekly standoffs on temporary measures to do what we already voted to do back in March, which is help people throughout this country get back to work. This delay has had real consequences. Over the last 6 months, the Federal unemployment program has expired four times--most recently, over Memorial Day.

Mr. President, you and I know the American people deserve better. The legislation before us will create jobs, it will increase demand for goods and services, and it will provide stability for Americans who have lost their jobs during this recession. In addition to extending unemployment benefits through November, the bill also renews a tax credit to support research and development; it waives the fees on business owners who take out Small Business Administration loans; it helps municipalities make critical infrastructure improvements; and it funds a much needed summer youth jobs program.

I know there are some people who think we have done all we should do. I, too, believe we must get back on a path to a balanced budget, but the best way to do that is to get this economy moving again. The latest jobs report from last Friday showed that we still have a lot of ground to make up. During these very difficult economic times, it is still necessary for the Federal Government to step up and help stimulate job creation through investments and tax cuts.

The national unemployment rate is still over 9 percent. In many communities, it is much higher than that. What is more, nearly 7 million people--nearly half of all Americans collecting unemployment benefits--have been out of work for 6 months or longer. They have run out of the benefits provided by their States. These are the workers who are collecting Federal unemployment benefits, which they are using to pay the rent, make mortgage payments, buy groceries, and put gas in their cars to go out and look for the next job. This legislation extends this vital program until the end of November.

Another group of Americans who are helped by this legislation and who are hurting right now are teenagers. These young people have an unemployment rate that is more than double the national average. In fact, right now young people are having a harder time finding jobs than at any time since World War II.

Last week, I visited Nashua, NH, and Dover High School in Dover, NH, where I used to teach school. A lot of the students in both of those communities are pretty excited about summer beginning. Many of those students want to work this summer. Many of them need to work to help save for college, to help their families. Unfortunately, because of the recession, it is more difficult for a teenager to get a job today than it has been in a very long time. High unemployment has forced more adults to compete for every job, and they are often filling jobs that once went to young people. That is a problem for young people, and it is a threat to the future of the economy.

Last year, Congress stepped in and created a summer jobs program to employ tens of thousands of teens, which included over 500 young people in New Hampshire.

I got to meet two of those students last week. Dawn White, who will be a senior at Dover High School this fall, talked to me about her ``life-changing summer job experience'' that she had last summer as a result of the dollars we put in to help fund summer jobs. She worked setting up exhibits at a local children's museum. Dawn told me that having that summer job built her confidence and helped her identify a new goal for the future to work with children. In Nashua, I met Elizabeth Madol, a senior at Trinity High School in Manchester. She worked at the public library in Manchester and helped young children with summer reading and other activities. She told me that this had been her first job and that because of it she now has the skills and work experience she needs to get another job this year. Those are just two stories out of hundreds of young people in New Hampshire and all across this country. Those are young people who, because of those summer jobs, have had phenomenal results.

An independent study showed that young people were excited by the skills they gained through summer work and they left better prepared to join the workforce. They were exposed to new careers and new opportunities. They learned about responsibility and developed professional relationships. Many even left with job offers for after they graduated. This is particularly important for us because many of these young people are young people who, without those summer jobs, would never have a chance to enter the workforce or they would enter at a time that would leave them behind for years to come.

The legislation before us contains $1 billion to extend the summer jobs program for another year, creating tens of thousands of jobs and giving hundreds more young people in New Hampshire and hundreds of thousands more across this country the chance to work. We can't build a 21st-century economy unless we start building our young workforce. We need workers with all kinds of skills and interests. By giving teenagers a foot in the door today, they will give back to our economy in the future. That is the power of what the funds in this legislation for summer jobs can do.

Finally, the legislation we are considering takes away tax breaks that reward corporations for sending jobs overseas, and it gives tax incentives to small businesses to create jobs right here in America.

This is a good bill. It is legislation that will make a real difference in our communities by creating jobs and helping struggling families. It is an investment in our present, and it is an investment in our future. I urge my colleagues to once again support the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today I congratulate the recipients of the 2010 New Hampshire Excellence in Education Award. The New Hampshire Excellence in Education Awards, or ``ED''ies, honor the best and the brightest among New Hampshire's educators and schools.

For the past 17 years, the ``ED''ies have been presented to teachers, administrators, schools, and school boards who demonstrate the highest level of excellence in education. Outstanding individuals have been compared against criteria set by others in their discipline through their sponsoring organization. Experienced educators and community leaders select outstanding elementary, middle, and secondary schools based upon guidelines established by the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Board of Directors.

It is very important that our children receive a high quality education so that they can succeed in today's global economy. I am proud to recognize this year's recipients who will receive this prestigious award on June 12, 2010, for the positive examples they provide for their peers and the lasting impacts they have made on our future workforce.

The names of the 2010 New Hampshire Excellence in Education Award winners are as follows:

Shelia Adams, Susan Janosz Technology Impact Award.

David April, Meritorious Achievement Award.

Gerard Bastien, Distinguished Music Educator of the Year.

Barbara Belak, Elementary School Counselor of the Year.

Celeste Best, Pat Keyes Technology Award.

Catherine Bond, High School Counselor of the Year.

Daniel J. Clary, Assistant Principal of the Year.

Kathleen Conlin, Special Education Director of the Year.

Andrew Corey, Middle School Principal of the Year.

Anna Marie Davis, School Nurse of the Year.

Moira DeBois, School Psychologist of the Year.

James Dowding, Business Education Achievement Award.

Julia M. Dutton, World Language Teacher of the Year.

Paul Flynn, Outstanding Service Award.

Duane Ford, School Business Administrator of the Year.

Terri Forsten, Supervision and Curriculum Development

Award.

Pamela Harland, School Librarian of the Year.

Christine Haswell, Outstanding Community/Business/School

Partnership.

Kenneth Heuser, EdD, The Dennise Maslakowski PDK Education

Award.

Shea Higley, Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the

Year.

Michael R. Jette, Secondary School Principal of the Year.

Jennifer Lemoine, D.A.R.E. Officer of the Year.

Robert Mailloux, Middle School Counselor of the Year.

Dr. Michael J. Martin, Superintendent of the Year.

Greta S. Mills, Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Award.

Teresa Minogue, Presidential Award for Excellence in Math

and Science Teaching.

Teresa Morris, Educator of the Gifted Award.

Edward R. Murdough, Alexander J. Blastos Distinguished

Service Award.

Eric Nash, Teacher of the Year.

Katy O'Gorman Rhodebeck, Art Educator of the Year.

Joan Ostrowski, Elementary School Principal of the Year.

Janet Prior, English/Language Arts Teacher of the Year.

Julie Ramsey, Educator of the Gifted Award.

Joan Rees, Special Educator of the Year.

Christine Roderick, Reading Teacher of the Year.

Matthew Siranian, Technology Education Teacher of the Year.

Thomas Starratt, Middle School Principal of the Year.

Amy Vandersall, Social Studies Teacher of the Year.

Mascenic Regional School Board, School Board of the Year.

Milan Village School, Elementary School of the Year.

Timberlane Regional Middle School, Middle School of the

Year.

Newfound Regional High School, High School of the

Year.

Mr. President, I rise in support of an amendment that was filed by Chairman Bingaman, Ranking Member Murkowski and myself that would help create jobs in communities across the country and help us transition to a clean energy economy.

When Congress passed the Recovery Act last year, it recognized the challenges that many developers of alternative energy and other clean energy projects are facing in obtaining financing by expanding the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program.

This program, known as the 1705 program, is helping developers to finance their projects, create jobs and spur the development of innovative clean energy technologies across the country, including New Hampshire.

Our amendment would expand the 1705 program further to include loan guarantees for energy efficiency technologies, including making buildings energy efficient.

And that is what I want to talk about today.

I see enormous potential in reducing our Nation's energy consumption by simply investing in energy efficiency, especially through renovating existing buildings. Renovating our existing buildings is a tremendous opportunity for us to cut energy use, save money and create jobs.

According to the Energy Information Administration, buildings account for more than 48 percent of total energy consumption in the United States. That is more than the transportation sector and more than the industrial sector. More than 70 percent of the commercial buildings in this country are older than 20 years and these buildings are significantly less efficient than buildings built today. Improvements to these types of buildings can improve efficiency by 20 to 40 percent using widely available technologies and the payback period can be as little 5 years.

Updating buildings with modern energy efficiency technologies not only saves money on energy costs, it also creates jobs. Jobs in the construction industry. Jobs in the manufacturing industry. Jobs in the retail sector of the economy. These jobs can't be outsourced and they are jobs that can serve as an important part of our clean, alternative energy economy.

Yet despite all this potential, there is actually very little of this energy efficient renovation taking place because of the financial barriers. Lenders typically will not accept projected energy savings-- even if guaranteed by an energy services company as sufficient collateral.

That's why I am working with Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Murkowski to use the DOE loan guarantee program to help unlock private capital and encourage investment in building retrofit projects and programs.

I am also working with Senator Mary Landrieu to develop legislation to further expand the DOE loan guarantee program to cover large building in the commercial sector, in schools and universities, and hospitals so that they can also be renovated to be more energy efficient.

There is so much potential that exists here and I think we need to put existing programs to work, like the loan guarantee program, to unlock private capital and reap the benefits that will come from making these buildings more energy efficient.

We have the opportunity to create jobs, support our continued economic recovery and save money by making these investments in energy efficiency.

While it is unfortunate that we could not get the amendment added to the supplemental appropriations bill, I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this important provision this year.