quorum call: mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i rise today to discuss a topic of great importance to our country's security, economy and

social fabric and that is our broken immigration system. no one can dispute that our system is broken. we do not yet have sufficient resources on our border or in our interior to prevent illegal immigration, and our legal immigration system takes far too long, has far too much bureaucratic red tape and does not sufficiently serve our economic needs. and in the meantime, our broken system has created millions of broken families. many of these families are separated simply because of immigration status. all of these problems can be solved by passing immigration reform legislation. immigration reform will jump-start our economy, reduce our national debt, secure our country and heal these broken families. the truth is, we've heard excuse after excuse after excuse from house republicans about why they haven't put immigration reform legislation on the floor.

first, it was the senate had to act first with broad bipartisan support. well, that was taken away when the senate passed bipartisan comprehensive reform legislation with 68 votes, a vote total which is virtually unprecedented for such important legislation. then it was the house could only pass things under the hastert rule, which meant that a majority of the republicans in the house had to support a bill in order to get a vote. this excuse was also taken away when the house showed it could pass other legislation, like the debt ceiling, sandy relief, and the violence against women act without needing to fulfill the hastert rule. then it was that the house could not pass one bill, it needed to break up the bill into component pieces. they thought this would be a deal killer. we said, fine, we'll work with on the smaller pieces of immigration reform as long as all of the important pieces are addressed at or around the same time. then it was lack of trust of the president. that, too, was a phony security,

give than the president has deported more individuals than any other president. but even here we said, if that's really your problem, let's pass a bill now and delay implementation until 2017. we'll get the president out of this equation so he is not used as an excuse. and the house had no answers for that suggestion. now we have a new excuse. the excuse is that we supposedly cannot pass immigration reform because eric cantor lost to his primary election. well, madam president, just like all of the other excuses that have proven to be illusory, the idea they can't do immigration reform because eric cantor lost his election is another phony excuse for not passing immigration reform put together by those who willingly and unashamedly hand the leadership gavel on immigration to far-right extremists like steven

king. i want to be very clear about two things today. first, eric cantor was never the solution on immigration, he was always the problem. every time i talked to republican members, business leaders, growers and faith leaders about immigration reform in the last several months, i consistently heard that the house leadership wanted to move forward but they did not have cantor's support. cantor was the choke point for immigration reform for these past few months. contrary to the conventional wisdom, cantor's loss makes it easier, not harder, for house leadership to pass immigration reform. secondly, the polling is clear. eric cantor did not lose his primary because of support for immigration reform. it has been widely reported that 72% of registered voters in cantor's district polled on tuesday said they either

strongly or somewhat support immigration reform that would secure the borders, block employers from hiring those illegally, and allow undocumented residents without criminal backgrounds to gain legal status. and this is the case in one of the most conservative districts in virginia and the country. the polling is consistent with other recent polling which shows support for immigration reform among a majority of republicans and a plurality of tea party supporters across the country. even 70% of republicans in cantor's district support refo reform. again, to be clear, not even the majority of the farthest right segment of the republican party supports deportations and the current broken system, but that is what we still have in place today. so, to repeat, eric cantor did not lose his primary yesterday

because of immigration. he lost it because he had lost touch with the people in his district. so, madam president, the election shows the republican party has two paths it can take on immigration: the graham path of showing leadership and solving a problem in a mainstream way, which leads to victory; or the cantor path of trying to play both sides, which is a path to defeat. the lesson republicans should take from last night is that embracing and showing leadership on immigration reform is a far better path to victory than running from it, particularly for republicans who are not tea party members but mainstream conservatives. the example shown by senator graham is dispositive. rather than trying to be all things to all people, he defended immigration reform strongly in his state and was rewarded by the people of south

carolina, the republicans of south carolina, which is an extremely republican and conservative state. senator graham sat with us from day one and crafted an immigration reform bill that he could sell to the mainstream conservatives in south carolina, and he was rewarded last night by his state for being a man of principle. and one final thing about last night's election. david bratt won by receiving 36,000 votes in a republican primary in rural virginia in an election where 65,000 people showed up. the total population of the cantor district is over 750,000 people and there are 11% more republicans in the district than democrats. for some context, in the 2012 election, eric cantor received 220,000 votes and his democratic challenger 160,000 votes. the point here is that it would

be a monumentally lame excuse for republicans to say that our nation's immigration policy should be dictated by the whims of less than 20% of the republican voters in a rural virginia republican district. so, madam president, the time for excuses is over. the time for action is now. it has been nearly one year since the senate passed bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform legislation that would secure the border, turbocharge america's economic growth, and provide a chance too heal's american immigrant families that has been broken for far too long. for years, the republican leaders have handed it to the gleetheextreme right of their p,

like steven king, who has repeatedly described it as a "slow-motion holocaust." the question is whether house leadership will side with the steven kings or david bratts of the world or will they side with the opinions of the vast majority of republican voters and even the vast majority of voters in the 7th congressional district in virginia? time is running out. the window is now open for passing immigration reform legislation and the clock is furiously ticking. we have less than seven weeks to go to get something passed and the time is now for republicans to give us their proposal on fixing the broken system. i say seven weeks because it is highly unlikely that immigration reform could pass during a republican presidential primary season where the party leaders will have to move to the extreme right to try and capture the presidential nomination.

therefore, it is time for the house leadership to declare unequivocally that immigration reform will be placed on the floor for a vote before the august recess. without this declaration and the pressure to act, we won't be able to get immigration reform drafted and passed during this window. make no mistake about it, if the house fails to act during this window, a clear indication that they have no indication -- that they have no inclination in solving the problem, the president would be more than justified in acting any time after the summer is over to take whatever changes he feels are necessary to make our immigration system work better for those unfairly burdened by our broken immigration laws. but administrative relief is not what anyone wants to resort to. those measures will be far too limited to fix all of the problems that currently plague our broken system. what we need right now is true

leadership. let's work together to get this done. a true leader will say, "i will do what's good for my country and for my party, even if it means that an extreme wing of my party will be unhappy." that is leadership. that is necessary. we stand ready to work with any of our republican colleagues who want to achieve solutions in good faith. but for now, i'll conclude by saying that immigration reform is both necessary and inevitab inevitable. it is necessary because it will secure our country, grow our economy, reduce our deficit and create new jobs and provide us with the best and the brightest. and it is inevitable because the population of voters who believe this is an important issue continues to grow and become more politically active day by day. so to my republican friends, the choice is yours. work with us on immigration reform this year and help the

country now or do nothing and watch as immigration reform eventually passes without your support or your imprint. i hope we can act this year but we will ultimately act. let's hope we can finally do the right thing before every other option has been tried. madam president, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: madam president, i would ask that the proceedings of the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warner: are we still in morning business? the presiding officer: the senate is considering the motion to proceed to s.2432. the student loan refinancing bill.

mr. warner: i'd ask to speak up to ten minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warner: madam president, i come here, and i was disappointed that the senate did not move to full consideration of the legislation that i know the presiding officer has worked on and others to take on the challenge that i believe will be the next great financial crisis that our country will face: student debt, student debt at $1.2 trillion now exceeds credit card debt. and that has been "politifact" out there and validated. and increasingly, this crushing amount of student debt is, i think, slowing economic growth; it is not allowing young workers to go into the marketplace and by buy a house, start a business; and while i'm disappointed that we weren't able to move to full consideration of the legislation that would provide a more

comprehensive ability for students to refinance at a lower rate, i would point out that there are a number of other tools that we can use. i know we'll be joined in a few moments -- our paths may not completely cross here -- by senator rubio. there are two pieces of legislation around this issue that senator rubio and i were working on together, and i want to speak briefly about both of those. the nirs is legislation that we're actually being joined on by juror wyde senator wyden calw before you go." using data that the u.s. department of education already collects says that we ought to put together a user-friendly web site, information for every parent and young student before they go off to college, whether it is a four-year college, a two-year college or a community college, to know that if you attend that university what your chances of graduation are, how

long it is going to take, if you choose to major in art history the way my daughter did, what your chances of getting a job are and what that job would actually pay, so that we can make these people -- young and not-so-young -- better-informed consumers. the cost of the a higher education next to the purchase of a home is the single-largest purchase that most families will make. making these families and parents more informed will, i think, add value and make a more informed consumer. simple, very little cost. we already collect that data. but we don't present in data in a format that is ease atainable by families -- easily attainable by families all across america. the second piece of legislation -- i know that senator rubio is going to speak to it and i think senator rubio and i on this issue share a number of common

background. we are both, i believe, the first in our scwen reagan administration to have graduated from -- in our generation to have graduated from college. i was able to get through college and law school, being quite a bit older than senator rubio, but was able to get through college and law school through direct aid, through work during college and law school, but also through student debt. but i came out that have with only $15,000 in student debt. my personal story was such that after working a bit in politician, i decided i would become an entrepreneur and proceeded to go off and start my own business, which within six weeks failed miserably. and i then start add second enterprise that lasted a little longer. it lasted six months. my third enterprise was in the very early days of cell phones and it managed to do pretty well. going on to cofound the company that became nextel. but as i reflect back upon that period, particularly when i was

literally living out of my car and sleeping on friends' couches, i'm not sure i would have had the courage to try once, twice, or three times if i was looking at the kind of student debt that many, perhaps some of these young pages as they go on to college, mate fac- might face it we don't take on this problem. it is not uncommon to see $70,000, $80,000, $100,000 in debt. the average student in virginia comes out with about $30,000 in debt. and we have to recognize that there should be a variety of tools available to them. again, i wish we could have proceeded to the full debate on the bill of having a comprehensive ability to refinance. but one other piece of legislation, one other solution set -- and i'll be coming to the floor hon a regular basis, because i think there are a variety of idea ideas that we no lay out -- but a piece of legislation that rubio and i are

working on is simplifying into a single form a tool that already exists on student debt in terms of income-based repayment. income-based repayment is a pretty simple idea. it says if you get out of college, get out of graduate school, too many young people now are forced perhaps into careers that may not have been of their initial choice but because of the crushing amount of debt payments they have to make, they don't have the kind of freedom that i had to go out and candidly fail a couple of times before i managed to be successful. income-based repayment says that we will graduate the amount of money that you will pay back on your student debt based upon the income you make. so if at first you need to take that job that might pay a little lower because there's a chance that you can pursue your dream or actually become an entrepreneur, we will allow you to tailor your repayment based

upon your income. and as your income goes up, your payments will go up. we also put forward an approach that will generate some controversy, that will say, the length of time that you'll be responsible for paying back this debt will extend from 20 years to 30 years, but it will also allow that if you actually go through certain periods of time when you are unemployed, it will give you more flexibility. this won't mean -- this won't by any means be the only option, re35*eu89 payment option. there are -- repayment options. there are a number of other payments options that will be out there. but we would simplify the income-based repayment option making it the initial default, in effect, provision; that this would be the provision that you would move into in a unified form. if you chose to opt out into a different payment form, that ought to be your right. but rather than making income-based repayment kind of at the end of the line and vericallverycomplicated to sorto it in way that is financially responsible, do it in a way that

gives that potential entrepreneur, the way i was, the chance to go out and take those risks and if you're not successful at first -- and 90% of entrepreneurs are not successful the first time -- to make sure that maybe you get that second shot, get that fair shot that every american ought to have and allow that that student not to be able to crush your dreams. clearly, in america in 2014, in a world that is a global economy that is based upon our knowledge skills to stay competitive, you shouldn't go broke in america if you choose to go to college or get a higher education. i believe the -- these two pieces of legislation that i'm working on with senator rubio -- the "no before you go" so you're more informed about your options before going forward, and this income-based repayment, are two of the options to make sure all of us get the same shot that i'm sure the presiding officer and

my good friend from maryland know that we all had. and we want to make sure that all future americans have it as well. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: let me thank senator warner for his leadership on this issue. senator warner, the bills that you are bringing forward will help deal with the incredible burden that american families are confronting today in order to get a quality education. your story is a story told about the opportunities of america. education is the great equalizer in this country. my grandparents came to america for a better life for their children. my parents benefited from education. they are products of the baltimore city public school system and the public colleges and universities in the state of maryland. as a result of the educational tools given to them, the grandson of those immigrants now serves in the united states

senate. that's the story of america. education is the great equalizer. and that's why we were so disappointed that we couldn't proceed with an important tool to make education available -- more available to families. that's the bill that we just recently voted on it try to at least break a filibuster so that we could help those who currently have student loans. education has been the great equalizer in a growing middle class, which has led to the strength of america. it's been key to global competition. we all talk about the fact that while our countries are doing a better job in stem education or catching up to america, in some cases surpassing america; well, education is the great equalizer. we should make it easier for families to afford a college education. the friewj is it's more -- the truth is it's more expensive here thank it is in the other countries. yet we're expect our country to compete globally. it is hurting ourselves.

a growing middle class, trained workers will strengthen america's economy, creating more jobs and more opportunity. so it's in our collective interest, not just that one family that's debating whether they're going to send their child to college or which college because of cost, it's in all of our interests to make it easier for americans to afford a higher education. the cost of higher education today is just plain too expense six it is jus--expensive. it is too costly. it is the single most important investment a family can make. yet today college debt is around $1.2 trillion, greater than all of our credit card debt held by american families. is that putting a priority on education? i don't think so. we can do a much better job. in maryland, 776,000 students have federal student loan debts. it totals over $21 million in

school debt. over 50% of those graduating students are borrowing money in order to attend college. here is the problem: for too many families it is a decision of whether they're going to go to college or not going to college. for too many families it is going to a school of their second or third or fourth choice rather than the school they want to go to and their making that choice not because they couldn't get into the school that they wanted; they're making that decision because they cannot afford the school that they were -- which is their first choice. and it's clearly affectings the debt that they have when they leave college. it's affecting their career choice. we maifer a brilliant researcher or a brilliant future teacher -- what's more important than being a teacher? they chose a different profession because they had these student loans. and they chose immediate paid

professions because they know it is not fair to their family to continue these large student debts. that's the situation we confront today. you know the numbers. i'm going to he will it you some real stories about real marylanders. last year i visited one of our four-year colleges and i had a round table discussion with students and there was a second-year student there. she told me the situation that she is going to drop out of school after this -- this is a four-year college. she was going to drop out after her seabed year. i said to her --ness a very challenged community. i said to her, well, i guess you're not doing well. she say, i am a straight-a student. i love -- i love the opportunities i'm being given here. i love the knowledge i'm getting. but i can't do it to my family to incur more debt. i look at my classmates from high school that have graduated, and they're making money for their family. here i am a burden to my family by incurring more debt. i can't do it.

i don't know where i'm going to be two years from now. but i know i can't do this to my feasm sfamily. so i got to go out and work and i can't incur them more debt. that's a loss. that's a loss for the student, that's a loss for the community. i tell but another student i met just last week in one of our southern maryland colleges. she told me the story about wanting to become a pediatric dentist. her name is becky. brilliant, she's doing great. but, you see, becky is working full-time and going to college. and she is not going to be able to go to her first choice. she has her first choice where she had like t--where she wouldo school. she is working full-time and incurring debt in order to go to college. so it is going to take her a lot longer. it will take her five, six, maybe more years to get through. whether she will ever become

that pediatric dentist that she wants to be, i don't know. that's what's happening in america today and millions of others could tell you similar stories of career decisions that they made, giving up the investment that would be the most important investment in their life because of the financial considerations. so we have a bill before us, the bill that we have before us, that could do something about it. i would be the first to acknowledge there is a lot we could to to help. but i want to thank senator warren for her leadership for bringing forward a bill thald that could -- that could make a difns for millions of students. it will make it less cost lit for them to take out the loans that they have taken out. it would affect, i said, millions of students. let me give you one number which i find somewhat shocking. and that is i think americans would be upset, disappointed, and outraged to learn that their

government is making money off of student loans. let me repeat that again. the federal government is making money off of student loans. you see, the interest rates are higher than what the costs of the student loan is. taking into consideration defaults, taking into consideration administrative costs, taking into consideration the cost of borrowing, between 2007 and 2012, $56 billion was made off the backs of students who can't afford the loans they have. what senator warren's bill does is allow us -- allow those to hold student debt to refinance, taking advantage of the lower interest rates. it's not going to be subsidized loans. there will be no costs to the taxpayers to do this. this seems like a no-brainer, quite frankly. make it easier for them.

we let homeowners refinance their mortgages and we've passed special legislation it allow that. we allow businesses to rye finance their loans -- refinance their loans to the lowest competitive rate. why can't students do this? that's wha -- that's what the bill before us does. it lets us move forward at no cost because it is not -- we're not subsidizing the loans. and just because of our unusual scoring reasons here, she provides an offset which, quite frankly, i don't think is necessary but i certainly support the bill and the offset is certainly one that has millionaires paying their fair share and makes sense. so what will this do? will save thousands of dollars for those who currently hold loans. that's an important thing to do. and i know some say, well, don't we need more accountability from higher education? yes, we do. don't we need more transparency in higher education? yes, we do. don't we need to have better consumer information in higher education? yes, i agree with all of the above. but today we can do something

about the interest costs and correct i think an injustice of government making money off of student loans and do this in a way that will make it more affordable for families. we can do something that can truly help. it will provide help to families. president obama's acted and i thank him for doing that. 5 million families will benefit from his executive order or clarification that says no more than 10% of your income needs to be paid -- done in order to repay student loans and capping the number of years. that's going to help. he's also doing more to promote awareness of repayment options. that is good. but we in congress have an opportunity to act and we can act today. i hope that we would get bipartisan support to help middle-income families and to help our country, and i would urge my colleagues to allow us to get on this bill, pass it and help the middle class of america. with that, madam president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: mr. rubio: madam president, i ask unanimous cop sent that the quorum call be done away with. -- i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be done away with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio rubio: thank you very. i'm going to speak and in a few moments i'm going to yield to my colleagues who have an announcement on the progression on the veterans bill. i'm going to talk about two issues. both needing the time and attention of the senate but how they've been treated very differently from one another. the first issue is big here and that's the issue of student loans in america. this is an issue that i care about deeply for two reasons. the first is, i, myself, when i arrived here on the floor of the united states senate in january of 2011, i owed over $100,000 in

student loans. it was -- and even before that for years we strug we would the cost of those -- struggled with the cost of those loans. my parents never made enough money to save for our education so i would able to pay for it through a combination of pell grants and loans for both undergraduate and graduate studies. the undergraduate were manageable and the graduate loans were quite a strain. at one point in our lives, it was the single highest expenditure in our budget. so i know the cost of this. the other is because i have the honor of serving as adjunct professor at florida international university where once or twice a week i interact with the young men and women in south florida who are facing not just the costs of undergraduate education but starting to think about how they're going to pay to go to law school or get a master's degree or any other profession that they choose. this is a very significant issue. and there are two aspects of it that we're going to talk about in a moment. and the second issue that is just critically important for our country is the well-documented problems at the

veterans administration. and i don't need to go into a long dissertation here about how our men and women who have served us so honorably and so bravely in uniform deserve the very best care possible. and it's been well documented the long waiting lists, but even more importantly or even more tragically, efforts among some at the v.a. to cover all of this up. to cover their tracks and to cover up their incompetence. let me be clear -- the enormous majority -- the vast majority of the men and women who work at the v.a. work hard and do a good job. but there are too many that do not and there's not enough accountability with regards to that. as i said a couple of weeks ago when i came to the floor and tried to pass a measure to deal with that, a companion from the issue that had passed in the house, you're likelier to get a promotion or bonus than you are to get demoted or fired for not doing your job at the v.a. two very important issues -- a tale of two bills because they've been handled so differently. in a moment, i anticipate that a number of senators will come to the floor, senators who i thank

for allowing me to work with them to make this possible and we'll have an announcement to make with regards to votes on the veterans bill. that's great news. the men and women who have served us deserve this progress. there's no claim that this is going to be -- solve every problem in the world but it is an important first step. and i thank senators mccain and sanders and burr and coburn and others for all the work they've done on this issue. and we're excited to hear about their announcement here in a few moments. and if they arrive, i'll gladly yield the floor for that at the appropriate moment for them to do that. but i thank them. our men and women who have served them thank them. and the people of florida thank them. we are a state with an enormous number of veterans. this is an important issue. and it was great -- i hope -- i wish people could have seen how people worked across party lines it get this done. the effort. everyone's got great ideas about things they want see added to it, about things they'd like to see in addition to what's been included. but we all understand a sense of urgency about addressing this issue. and as a result, we all have ideas we wanted to pursue but we were all willing to put aside

those things for another debate at another day in order to get this done. we need more of that in the united states senate. we need more of that in the united states government. and i thank the senators who have worked so hard to make this happen. and my colleague in the house, jeff miller, for the work he has done in terms of bringing this forward as well. he's done a fantastic job. compare that to the way this issue on student loans has been handled, however. this is a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed. but the bill that was brought before the senate is a bill that included something that the proponents knew was deeply political and controversial, the so-called buffett rule. we've had debates on that issue before. we can have debates about it in future. but they knew that the simple utilization of that rule as part of this measure, as admitted, by the way, by members of the majority who have talked about this measure in the past, they knew that by putting that in there, it politicized it, and, quite frankly, it doomed it to failure. so let me lift the veil a little bit for those who are watching at home or in the gallery or

watching anywhere or are listening, now or in the future -- they knew what the outcome would be when they included that. but it was put in there for the purposes of saying, republicans blocked this. because they knew that that issue in and of itself served as a sort of poison pill that held this up. and it's unfortunate because the issue of student loans is a very valid issue in america. look, there was a time not long ago when higher education was an important option for millions of americans. a time when, for example, even if you didn't have a college education, you could still find a middle-income job that allowed you to make it to the middle class. that's how my parents did it. neither one of my parents had advanced formal h education. neither one, quite frankly, finished the equivalent of high school. and yet we lived in the middle class. we -- we achieved the american dream because working as a bartender and as a maid, my parents were able to make enough money to achieve that. the world has changed. today if you don't have some form of advanced education, you are going to struggle to find a

job that pays you enough to keep up with the cost of living, much less get ahead. this has made higher education no longer an option, it is now a necessity. this is an issue that needs to be looked at in multiple ways, not simply the loan issue, by wait. take, for example, the story of a 41-year-old head of household who has worked their entire lives to provide for their families and now has lost their job or their business. the only way they're going to be able to get a job that makes it to the middle class in the 21st century, because the job they used to have has been auto automated or auto sourced or the -- outsourced or the industry is no long around. the only way they're going to make it back to the middle class and stay there is to acquire the skills and education necessary for 21st century and above jobs. but if you're 41 years old and you have to work full time to provide for your family and you have to raise that family, you can't just drop everything and go back to college for four years. and you probably can't afford it either. so we need to revolutionize what

higher education means in america. so people living those circumstances can access it in a cost-effective way. take the story of a single mother. i used to have an employee when i worked in the state legislature. she was the equivalent of my executive assistant. she made less than $30,000 a year because, by the way, that's what the state pay grade called for. but she went to school at night and became a paralegal. and doubled her pay on the day after her graduation. because she was able to acquire advanced skills and a degree that allowed her to improve not just her lifestyle and her quality of life but that of her daughter as well, a young single mother struggling to provide and move ahead in life. the problem is that our existing higher education system is onl only -- is the one that we had in 209th century. it's largely designed for -- 20th century. it's largely designed for a student who graduates from high school and goes to college for four years. but it is inaccessible and an fordable for americans who are -- un&unaffordable for americans who are later in their

life who have to work full time and raise a family, for people later in their career have found their job outsourced or automated that need to be retrained that. in and of itself calls for higher education to be revolutionized. the second point is there is some revolution in higher education. for example, there are a loft degrees you can get on-line. but you will often find that the cost of those programs programs are often more than a brick-and-mortar institution would charge you. it costs just as much, in many instances more, to get your degree on-line than it would by sitting in a classroom and taking lectures every day. and for many people, that's not realistic. so we do need to revolutionize what higher education means. the traditional four-year college, it would always be an important part of it. but we also have to have programs that do things like allow people to graduate from high school with skills that allow them to immediately be employed. more welders, more electricians. there's nothing wrong with that. those are important jobs that we

have shortages in, by the way. we need to create more innovation so people can acquire learning in the most effective way possible. for example, why can't we allow people to package learning in any way they acquire it. online, work experience, life experience, to be able to package all of your learning and acquire the equivalent of a degree that allows you to go to work. and there are real answers to these problems. i'm involved in at least three of them. one is a program called right to know before you go, that i sponsor with senator wyden. it is a bipartisan proposal. it is very simple. it says when you go to school, before you take out a loan, you have to be told this is how much people who graduate from our school with a degree you're seeking make. so that you can decide whether it's worth taking out thousands of dollars in loans for a degree that doesn't lead to jobs. the other proposal is changing the way we abg credit higher education in america today. accrediting basically means you have permission to give college degrees. but the institutions who control that process are the existing

status quo schools. and they'll always have an important job in our educational portfolio but they can't be the only ones anymore. we need to change that so there are alternative programs available that allow to you package learning no matter how you acquired it, so that you can get credit for that as well. so changing a ccrediting is a big part of this. i believe income based repayments should be a part of this. there is a more responsible way to do it and senator warren and i are working on such praoepl. -- on such a proposal. let me tell you, these student loans, $1 trillion worth, they are owed by both republicans and by democrats. we need to get this issue solved if we're going to move forward. on the veterans administration issue, which i see that a number of senators have now arrived and potentially have an announcement for us, we've made great

progress. the one i'm proudest of, the whole bill is important but the one i've been working on personally is accountability. giving the secretary the power to hire and to fire those mid-level bureaucrats that are not doing their job. that is an important measure. i'm glad it's included in this. i'm glad the senate will be moving forward on this in a few moments and hopefully later today our men and women will deserve better. a tale of two bills. one is an example of how we can get things done to address the need to get things done in our country and the other is a missed opportunity to address one of the single i am pedestrianments in the -- impediments in the american dream and that is higher education. today higher education is no longer an option. we need to make that more accessible and more affordable. and it is my hope in the weeks and months to come we will be

able to put aside the desire to turn this thing into a political tool and come together to solve this problem because there is $1 trillion of student loan debt sitting out there and there are hundreds of thousands of americans who desperately need to acquire some sort of higher education, and they can't afford it or they can't access it or both. and they deserve, they need us to address this issue. because this cannot be an american century and the american dream will continue to slip out of reach for millions of people in this new century unless we make the acquisition of higher education more accessible and more affordable to people from all walks of life. the 18-year-old that graduates from high school but also the 25-year-old single mother and the 41-year-old father who heads a household, and everything in between. this is an enormous challenge for our country, but one that there are solutions for. all we need now is the willingness to do it. and i hope that in the weeks to come, once we've passed this

moment, that we can get back on this issue and solve it in a real and in a responsible way. so i appreciate the opportunity to speak on these issues. i look forward to working, to pass the veterans bill here hopefully today and to move forward and work together in a serious and meaningful way to make higher education more affordable for every american who needs it in order to achieve their american dream. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the

majority leader. mr. reid: i ask consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, first of all -- madam president, first of all, before i say anything, i really deeply appreciate the ability for democrats and republicans to work together on an extremely important issue. i need not editorialize more than that. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to consideration of calendar number 206, h.r. 3230, that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of s. 2450 be inserted in lieu thereof which is the sanders-mccain veterans bill, that there be no other amendments, motions or points of order in order other than a budget point of order against the bill and the applicable motion to waive, that the time until 4:00 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. that if a budget point of order is made and applicable motion to waive point of order is madors that at 4:00 p.m. today the senate proceed to vote on the motion to waive as agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill as amended.

the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: calendar number 206, h.r. 3230, an act making continuing appropriation during the government shutdown and so forth. mr. reid: madam president, we will have one or two roll call votes starting at 4:00 this afternoon. mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, there is a lot of -- there is a lot we have not completed this legislation, may be subject to a budget point of order. it's not clear yet whether there would be, but according to this unanimous consent agreement, there will be no amendments filed prior to final passage -- vote on final passage, either with or without a budget point of order being considered by the

body. we will have time between now and then to have an in-depth discussion of the provisions of this legislation, but in the meantime, i'd like to thank the senator from vermont for his willingness to make very difficult compromises, and i'd also like to thank many of my colleagues who have foregone the amendment process in order that we may expedite this legislation which is obviously -- if there is a definition of emergency, i would say that this legislation fits that. it is an emergency what is happening to our veterans and the men and women who have served this country, and we need to pass this legislation and get it to conference with the house as soon as possible, but i'd

also like to mention especially two people that i'd like to say are really responsible for this legislation, and i say with not typical modesty that they were the ones who were really responsible for the provisions of this bill, and that's senator burr, the ranking member of the veterans' affairs committee, and senator coburn, who i view as in many respects the conscience of the senate. those two individuals were largely responsible for this legislation, and i am obviously very proud to be part of it. again, we will have time to discuss this legislation -- we don't have time to discuss this legislation, but i'd like to extend my appreciation to the senator from vermont whose chairmanship of the veterans' affairs committee i think has been conducted with patriotism and with the needs of our

veterans uppermost in his priorities. so i thank the senator from vermont, and may i say that we look forward to our passing this legislation, going to conference in as short a possible time bring it back to the body and then to the president's desk for signature. madam president, i yield. mr. sanders: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: the senator from arizona has been too modest. he deserves a great deal of credit for stepping up to the plate when we needed him to step up to the plate. sat down in a serious manner, understanding that we have an emergency, understanding that it is absolutely imperative that the veterans of this country get quality care in a timely manner, and he was determined to make sure that something happened and i was determined. so i just want to thank ?on mccain, senator mccain for his hard work and his staff's hard work on this.

we will discuss this issue more on the floor. he is absolutely right, we got -- we have got an emergency, we have to pass this today, we have to get to conference as soon as possible, and we have to get a good bill on the president's desk next week. i thank senator mccain personally. with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: .

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent the proceedings under the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coons: madam president, i come to the floor of the senate today to speak about an issue that is of urgent concern to me and should be of urgent concern to all of us. that issue is global warming, or climate change. this is a personal issue for me. as the father of three, along with any other parent, i say that my kids are never far from my mind and my heart. this is true for me as a father as well as a united states senator where every day i have to ask the question, what kind of example am i setting?

what kind of a world are my actions going to lead to and what sort of a world will i leave my children and will it be better than the one my parents left to me? madam president, last summer i experienced one of the great joys of parenthood, a family trip. my wife annie and i took our three children and we went to visit one of our nation's most spectacular places, the mountains and glaciers of glacier national park in montana. there was one hike in particular on our summer trip i'll never forget. it was our hike to visit historic grinnell glacier. if we had taken this hike more than 60 years ago, here's what we would have seen. mountains deep in glaciers, thick with ice and snow, covered in the glaciers that gave this national park its name. yet, last year as we took a long and winding hike up the trails, we came up and over the last rise, what we saw was noticeably

different, strikingly so because most of what is left today of the iconic grinnell glacier in the summer is a chilly pool of water and a largely empty valley floor. you can see the difference in these two pictures and this is in one lifetime. since 1966 grin p-- grinnell lost half its total acreage. my children, our children won't just lose the chance to see beautiful acres in an iconic national park but the chance to live in a world as robust and safe and healthy as the ones their parents were born into. madam president, as our global population keeps growing towards nine billion and developing nations keep seeking higher living standards, and climate change accelerates, this is the foundational challenge of the 21st century. climate change impacts everything. human health, agriculture,

national security, migration, patterns for animals and fish and birds. as parents, as a nation i think it is both our responsibility, our challenge and our opportunity to lead the way, to show that prosperity does not need to mean doom for our future. i also think, in my view, that simply put, there is no alternative to action. the world where we don't act isn't a world of vibrant economic growth. it's a world with more frequent and extreme natural disasters, with increased droughts and families, with displaced populations in cities, even regions, in a few cases even nations plunged under water. i represent the lowest mean elevation state in america, the state of delaware. and rising sea levels, it's been documented in a broad study led by our governors department of environment and natural resources, rising sea levels could put up to 11% of my home state of delaware under water by

the end of this century. we know these changes are coming. they're slow, they're gradual, they're cumulative, and so at times hard to perceive, but they've already started and will only get more extreme and more expensive the longer we wait to act. the cost of our inaction will be borne by our children in generations to come. we're not the only one seeing these impacts. although the debate over science raged for many years and i think is settled, i've had had the opportunity to hear from folks that live outside the western world that have profound insight as to what these impacts are and how they're seen in the world. several years ago along with senator leahy i visited the cody tribes in the mountains of khropl kwrafplt they have massive -- colombia. they have massive glaciers in the high mountains and on the

edge of the caribbean sea. the folks who make up this cogi tribe, they don't have sophisticated technology that monitors and tracks climate change but as they sat with us, they shared with us what they see as starkly as our best western monitoring satellites. by observing changes in the snowpack on the glacial mountains that they worship, they see more every year that there is a fundamental change happening in our environment, in our climate, and their purpose in calling us to meet with them was to warn us that climate change is impacting the way of life that's passed down from generation to generation for centuries in their people, and it's moved them to speak out to the world, to tell their story and to urge the rest of us not to hurt mother earth and to understand the consequences of the changes we're making. whether the voices we listen to come from our own children, from our science community or from remote corners of the world, all of them call us to act, to act

in a way that prevents the worst from happening and to ensure that the benefits outweigh the costs. you know, this isn't just wild-eyed or rosy-glassed thinking. it is possible for us to make meaningful change in a bipartisan way. we've done it before. back in 1990, when acid rain was a real and pressing challenge that was threatening the vitality, the vibrancy of many of the lakes and the mountain places in the american west, i remember well that under then-republican president george h.w. bush, congress came together in a bipartisan way and passed the clean air act amendment. these were designed to reduce the contributing elements to acid rain, power plant emissions that produce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that in combination caused acid rain, injuring forests, lakes and ecosystems all over our country. so congress came together to create a novel market-based,

flexibility cap-and-trade program that allowed power plants to find cost-effective alternatives, solutions to limit pollution. and rather than tanking our economy, that cap-and-trade plan to fight acid rain ended up finding new ways to power our country and to improve energy efficiency without so much pollution. we adapted. we changed. and in some ways we thrived. as a study done 13 years later showed, the standards, those standards adopted in 1990 have saved lives at a cost well worth it. $70 billion in health benefits every year cumulatively compared to $1.7 billion in costs. a 40 to 1 trade-off that i think most americans would take any day of the week as a return on investment. more recently my own state of delaware and eight of our northeastern neighbors showed how we can act together to begin to curb climate change and grow our economies at the same time.

in 2003, a bipartisan group of regional leaders, this time led by new york state's republican governor, george pataki, built a regional cap-and-trade system similar to that acid rain prevention program i referenced. but the one in our region was caused the regional greenhouse gas initiative or rg tkpw*eu. it's flexible, market pwaeufpbd pwaeufpbd -- market-based and effective. states can invest in important and valuable energy efficiency. as "the new york times -- "new york times" reported just last weekend, since that program started in 2009, our economies in these regional states have actually grown more than the 41 other states not part of rggi by several percentage points while we cut our emissions over four times more than the rest of the nation. we have created jobs, we have invested in innovation, we have put pollution and -- cut pollution and saved families

millions on their energy bills. that's why i think we should feel optimistic about the important steps the administration has just taken. the president's strong standards for vehicle fuel efficiency were a great start. at first, many argued pushing car companies to make cleaner, more efficient cars would end up costing a huge amount of money with little to show for it, but the opposite has happened. we set more aggressive national standards, engineers have gotten to work, they have innovated, they have invented and america's leading car companies have met the challenge and the improvement in fuel efficiency has been dramatic. although there is a cost in up-front research and development, it's really worth it. as drivers save money at the pump, america becomes less dependent on foreign oil, and we all get to breathe cleaner air. just last week, the obama administration took another step and proposed our nation's first rules to limit carbon pollution from existing power plants. although they won't be final for another year, these limits represent the most significant

action that any country has taken to halt the devastating warming of our planet. they will have real and lasting health benefits. by cutting power plant pollution over the next 15 years, we will prevent 100,000 asthma attacks by children. 2100 heart attacks and thousands of premature deaths. that will mean nearly 500,000 fewer missed days of school and work and will save $7 in health costs for every $ required of new investment. over the long term, curbing climate change will make large, lasting and meaningful differences, from reduced hunger and heat waves to reducing the spread of infectious diseases or conflict over scarce resources. cynics will argue that even with these limits, we won't stop climate change, and that's true. they will point out that renewable energy technology isn't yet ready to fully replace fossil fuels. they will say that america acting alone can't solve the problem, and that's true. we need global action, especially from large developing

nations like china and india who are on pace to pollute the most going forward. as an exercise in cynicism, they get a lot of things wrong. these rules alone, yes, won't halt our rising seas, but yet again no one is claiming they will alone, but they are a crucial step and we owe it to posterity, to our country, to our future to take what action we can, to send a powerful signal to america's entrepreneurs and engineers, our innovators and inventors that this is a challenge we intend to take on. by acting now, we can begin to birth the innovations that will be at the heart of our planet's clean energy future. innovation in america has never stood still. we have done incredible things that even a few years before we might not have predicted. remember, just a few years ago, natural gas prices were volatile and unreliable and solar power was too expensive for most households, yet in just the last few years, new technologies have flipped those on their head.

we're seeing remarkable changes. solar prices have fallen 60% in just the last three years, and natural gas is today cheaper than coal and there are dramatic changes in our energy future going on because of a huge resurgence in natural gas production in this country. we have every reason to believe that by focusing our greatest minds on this challenge, american ingenuity can change and even save the world. madam president, if the united states is going to lead the 21st century, we have to be at the forefront of climate change, of combating climate change, for although we know that meeting this challenge will take global action, the u.s. needs to lead the way. this is our responsibility. we can't expect other poor nations to act if a leading, wealthy nation like the united states isn't willing to take even the most minimal, responsible actions. we are the second largest polluter of greenhouse gases on the planet, only just eclipsed

by the chinese in the last decade. for more than a century, our economic growth and our strong middle class built on american innovation and industry made us the envy of the world, but they have also contributed to putting our planet in a dangerous position. as village nations work to -- as developing nations work to lift hundreds of millions of people out of desperate poverty, they are looking at us to show that it's possible. also a great but urgent opportunity here lies before us. we have a moral obligation, i believe, to lead because others are looking at competing examples and aren't waiting around. china, our greatest economic competitor, now and into the future is itself choking on the byproducts of coal and investing heavily in cleaner air and cleaner energy. the country that figures out how to prosper without deadly pollution is the country that will dominate the technologies that our world uses and depends on in the decades to come. are we really going to miss out

on this chance to be the country that makes the clean cars, the clean power plants, the clean technologies of the future? i hope no. we in congress have the opportunity and the obligation to pull together and to act responsibly as well. we can pass the bipartisan shaheen-portman energy efficiency bill today, create great jobs and make it easy for families to spend less on energy and save money while they are at it. we can put clean energy on a level playing field by passing the bipartisan master limited act of which i am a cosponsor to start giving coal and natural gas a leg up without an even playing field for renewables and energy efficiency. we can invest in the research that will unlock the energy innovations of the future. all of this, these are actions we could take today. there will be costs, but if we act now, they will be far outweighed by the benefits today and into the future. if we wait, these costs will

only grow. i understand this is a difficult issue politically for us to take on. many of the most dire consequences of global warming are still into the future. and as i know, as a person who struggles to make long-term delayed decisions, whether it's investing for retirement or losing the weight my doctor keeps suggesting would help improve my long-term health, humans aren't really good at taking the small but powerful steps today that over time will lead to a healthier, more secure future. even if the costs are low, when the benefits are farther out, it is so hard for us to take action. madam president, what will we say? what will we say when our children ask what did we do when the science was clear, when the options were before us and when we had the chance? just as we rightly worry in this chamber about the financial debts we are going to leave to future generations, leaving this

debt, leaving the burden of unaddressed, unresolved global warming and climate change to our future and future generations is a debt too deep for us not to address. we are in danger if we don't act of leaving behind not only a worse off world but of leaving ourselves a future where we cannot look our children in the eye and say that we stepped up to the greatest global challenge of this century. what will it mean when my own daughter at some point in the future goes to glacier national park with her future family? will it even have glaciers? how will she explain to them how that amazing national park has changed and what will she say about what this senate and her own father did to take action? it is my hope, my prayer that on that future trip they will reflexibility on how we found the will, we found the determination to act together and to change the trajectory of

our future, to save it for everyone's future. thank you, madam president. with that, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. menendez: may i -- mr. booker: may i request the quorum call be dispensed with. i rise today to express my disappointment, that earlier today this chamber could not even proceed to the consideration of the bank on students emergency loan refinancing act. this would have allowed those with outstanding student loan debt to refinance at the current interest rate currently offered to new borrowers. this is deeply disappointing to me and it should be to the american public that we could not even get on to the bill to discuss, to debate it. and this is why it is

particularly disappointing. our nation's young people and their families are burdened with extraordinary debt, $1.2 trillion of student loan debt. this exceeds the aggregate, the total auto loan, credit card and home equity debt balances in america, making student loans the second-largest debt of the u.s. households following mortgages. today the average student graduates from college with around $29,000 in loans. in new jersey, that sum is up from the average of 27,000 in 2011 to 23,792 in 2010. more than 16% of my constituents now have student debt. that's over one million new jerseyans who are weighed down by a significant financial obligation that limits the amount of money they're able to put