merkley: thank you, mr. president. i rise to speak to amendment number 428, the regulation of mortgage servicing. madam president, we've spent a lot of time here in washington talking about many topics, but often not getting to the issue most important to the american citizens. that is, getting them comeback to work, creating jobs -- getting them back to work, creating jobs. creating jobs should be the paramount concern of every person in this town, and we're not going to get job growth going again until we deal with the housing crisis that started this recession and that is blocking our recovery. three years ago our economy was nearly destroyed by a combination of high-risk, high-cost, subprime mortgages and reckless bets on wall street. since then, we've fixed many of those problems in subprime mortgages. we have ended three of the key predatory practices. one of those was undocumented loans, otherwise known commonly as liar loans, where the information was fictionalized. and then we had the prepayment penalty. it wa

merkley: i -- the junior senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, judicial independence is extremely important in having a court system that can both be effective and carry the faith of the citizens of this nation that they have a system of true justice. mr. president, i rise in support of the nomination of michael simon to the post of u.s. district judge for the court of oregon. quite simply, michael simon is a man of enormous integrity, intellectual breadth and depth. michael earned a reputation as a top lawyer in commercial litigation, appellate law and constitutional law. he is respected nationally. he is eminently qualified for this seat. after graduating summa cum laude from ucla, mr. simon attended harvard law school where he graduated cum laude. he began his legal career in the department of justice's antitrust division where he served as a trial attorney for five years. during this time, he also volunteered for and served as a special assistant u.s. attorney for the eastern district of virginia. mr. simon is currently a partner o

merkley: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask for the privileges of floor to be extended to britta lockley argues to understand lucy kessel. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. we're involved in a very important national debate over our finances, over our deficits, over our debt, and over thevestment our economy, the creation of jobs. and how we take on those in the most effective manner to build a strong financial foundation for our nation going ahead, a strong set of opportunities for families to thrive. in the course of that, there's been a very interesting development that merits our attention, and that development is this: some of my colleagues across the aisle have, over time, chosen to put key programs for the wealthy and well-connected not in the appropriations bill but in the tax legislation, and there's advantages to doing so. with appropriations, you

merkley: thank you, madam president.i'd like to also speak to the bill before us on the economic development administration. i rise specifically to talk about the issue that is on the minds of all americans, and that is the topic of jobs. unemployment is far too high. my home state unemployment is too high. and that's before you count all of the folks who are underemployed, who have found some type of part-time work but it is not enough to support their family. we all know how worried americans are about this. it goes to the heart of their financial foundations, the success of their families, and it should be our top focus. the good news is that the bill before us creates jobs and stimulates the economy in our towns and regions that need the help the most. the economic development administration assistance is targeted to both rural and urban areas experiencing high unemployment, low income, a natural disaster, or other severe economic distress. and it does this at a low cost and gets the most bang for our buck. the bill

senator merkley circulated that letter and i believe 26 or 27 signed that letter to the president. when i voted ten years ago against the invasion of iraq, there were 23 of us. i voted for the invasion of afghanistan. to go after those responsible for 9/11. i didn't vote for the longest war in american history. i didn't vote for 100,000 troops ten years later in afghanistan. and the notion that somehow we're going to build this into some nation that's a democracy. what we need to do is to have enough security on the ground in afghanistan that we can bring our troops home. the president made that promise. we should keep that promise. bring these troops home and let the afghans deal with the future of their country. the united states cannot literally go from one country to another around the world with all the instability and say ultimately our men and women in uniform will put their lives on the line for the stability of every nation in transition. >> senators, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >>> coming up, decision 2012, the campaign heating up. now after two debates for th

merkley: thank you, madam president. and i also ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: we have a lot of discussion on the floor of this chamber about the challenge of our deficit and our debt, and these are, indeed, very important issues. and it's important to remember exactly how we got here because it was only a decade ago that we were running large surpluses at the conclusion of the clinton administration. in fact, these surpluses were so large that economists were starting to argue over just what would you do if we paid off our entire debt? didn't there need to be instruments of last resort, of great security, like treasury bonds, and didn't we need to preserve some deficit or debt in order to have that instrument available as a stabilizing society -- stabilizer in society? well, wouldn't it be great to have that debate now? i remember being absolutely thrilled that we were going to turn over a debt-free america to our children. but what ensued

therefore, today i have introduced legislation along with senators blumenthal, merkley, franken, whitehouse and bill nelson to end excessive speculation once and for all -- once and for all. the american people cannot continue to be ripped off by wall street, who are artificially driving up the price of oil and gas. i am very pleased to also announce that congressman maurice hinchey will be introducing this piece of legislation in the house. this legislation mandates that the chairman of the cftc take immediate actions to eliminate excessive oil speculation within two weeks -- two weeks. one, our bill requires the chairman to establish speculative oil position limits equal to the position accountability levels that have been in place at the new york mercantile exchange since 2001 -- 2002. 2001. this bill requires the chairman -- so that wall street investment banks back their bets with real capital. three, under this bill, goldman sachs, morgan stanley and other investment banks engage in proprietary oil trading would be classified as "speculators" instead of bonafide hedgers. and, 401(k)'s

reid of nevada, boxer, conrad, kerry, whitehouse, klobuchar, cardin, binge minimum -- bingaman, merkley, menendez, shaheen, sanders, lautenberg, reed of rhode island, durbin, akaka. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:30 a.m. on tuesday, june 7. following the prayer and pledge the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day. following leader remarks, senate proceed to a period of morning business for up to one hour with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half. following morning business the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 782, the economic development act

senator merkley and i have been proud to put forward mr. simon's name for consideration by the president. we're enthused by his subsequent nomination, and we are now hopeful that he will soon be able to continue his service to the people of oregon in this new capacity. michael simon is both a distinguished lawyer and a legal scholar with a diverse and impressive legal career, and that career includes work as a public servant, as a litigator, a pro tempore judge and as a professor. michael simon now is a partner at the firm of parliamentary pen portland and he has worked there since 1986. after graduating suma cum laude from ucla, mr. simon attended harvard law school where he again graduated with honors cum laude. mr. simon began his legal career in the department of justice antitrust division where he served as trial attorney for five years. during his time working in washington, d.c., mr. simon also volunteered for and served as special u.s. attorney for the eastern district of virginia, and it was through his work at the antitrust divisi

servicemembers act cosponsored by senator baucus, blumenthal, boxer senator hagan platenburg, leahy, merkley kolsky, senator nelson, pryor, reid of rhode island senators sanders of another test repeatability of the next noncriminal double penalties for violations of current foreclosure protections. it would also extend the make permanent foreclosure coverage after military service offended. current laws amendment to protection under military service. order provision is due to expire in december 31, 2012. servicemembers will make it 90 days of foreclosure protections. my bill would permanently extend foreclosure protection beyond nine months. i hope senators on both sides will come together and join me in supporting legislation and a thank you again for the opportunity to speak on this important issue. unfortunately chairman murray, and members of this committee to pass legislation from which i believe will discourage phone service from further violations and hope protect the financial and emotional well-being of our military families. >> thank you, senator whitehouse. without all of you what

colleague, senator merkley of oregon, and many other members in urging the president to begin a sizable and sustained reduction in u.s. combat forces from afghanistan this summer. it is time to bring our men and women home. it is my belief that this is the best and most responsible policy for america, a policy that seeks to protect our national security while meeting our fiduciary responsibilities and serving the interests of the service men and women and their families who have sacrificed so much on behalf of a grateful nation. it is time, mr. president, it is time. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and observe the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: i ask unanimous consent that on tuesday, june 21, when the senate resumes consideration of s. 782, the economic development act, that there be up to ten minutes of debate equally divided between the two lead

last week, i joined senator jeff merkley of oregon and 24 of my colleagues in a letter to the presidentxpressing these concerns. i trust the president, the incoming secretary of defense and congress can find a responsible path forward. we need to take a hard look at every aspect of our federal budget including the department of defense to sustain our men and women in uniform but not to waste money on privatization, on contractors and on runaway contracts. as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mullen has commented our greatest national security threat is our ballooning deficit. of course we need to protect our country but we need to do it in a fiscally responsible manner. even as we address the path forward in iraq, afghanistan and libya, even as we trim the spending in the defense budget, we will not back away from our commitment to our men and women in uniform. i know that leon panetta shares that sentiment. mr. president, i support leon panetta as our next secretary of defense because now more than ever we need his steady hand, his leadership to tackle these challenges. in