mr. franken: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator minnesota. mr. franken: mr. president, i ask that the quoarmt call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. i wish to speak today as if in morning business. the presiding officer: the senator -- the senate is currently in morning business. mr. franken: oh, thank you. i rise today to talk about the growing problem of student debt and the college affordable caree crisis that is gripping our naismtion i also rise to talk about one of the things that we need to do to address this crisis and sthas t that is to pe bank on student loans r act, whh i was proud to pass introduce with senator elizabeth warren yesterday. it is a huge ro problem in this country. the total amount of student debt, of student loan debt held by americans is more than d 1.2 trillion today, surpassing the total amount of debt -- of credit card debt in our nation. more and more americans are becoming saddled with large amounts of student debt that limits their ability to buy homes, save for reti

mr. franken: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you. i want to thank senator klobuchar for her moving words, her moving tribute to jim oberstar. we both had the honor of speaking today at his funeral. we were both honored by his wife jean and by his family. jim served the eighth district for 36 years as -- as their representative. he served for 11 years before that, senator klobuchar said as a staffer here on the hill. and as she said, he died last week in his sleep. i think amy told me -- senator klobuchar told me that the family said that he wasn't 99%, he was 100%. so this came as a shock to all of us who knew jim, and obviously deeply saddened us all. i announced for the u.s. senate in february of 2007. a few days later, i had my first public event where i took questions from folks, and this is at a coffee shop in st. james, minnesota, in the southwest corner of our state in the first district. the first question i got was from a woman asking if i believe there should be term limits, and from the way she asked it, i knew she thought

mr. franken: well, in that cairks twcase,two minutes. increasing the minimum wage boosts the purchasing power of consumers and creates more quo's merse for local businesses -- more customers for local businesses. the economic policy institute estimates that the increased economic activity from an increase to $10.10 minimum wage could crease 85,000 nut jobs and boost g.d.p. by $22.2 billion over the three years of implementation. increasing the minimum wage helps businesses in another way, too. workers who are better-paid are also more productive and less likely to quit. that means businesses save on recruiting and training costs. it also means they have better, more loyal, harder-workingworkig employees. businesses in minnesota understand this. i spoke with the owner of common roots cafe and catering in minneapolis. danny pays his employees a minimum of $11 per hour, plus benefits like paid time off and health insurance. danny has written -- quote -- "over time, other businesses will see what i have seen; that paying people more yields m

mr. franken: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you. want to thank senator klobuchar for her moving words, her moving tribute to jim oberstar. we both had the honor of speaking today at his funeral. we were both honored by his wife jean and by his family. jim served the eighth district for 36 years as -- as their representative. he served for 11 years before that, senator klobuchar said as a staffer here on the hill. and as she said, he died last week in his sleep. i think amy told me -- senator klobuchar told me that the family said that he wasn't 99%, he was 100%. so this came as a shock to all of us who knew jim, and obviously deeply saddened us all. i announced for the u.s. senate in february of 2007. a few days later, i had my first public event where i took questions from folks, and this is at a coffee shop in st. james, minnesota, in the southwest corner of our state in the first district. the first question i got was from a woman asking if i believe there should be term limits, and from the way she asked it, i knew she thought t

franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i do have some questions for judge boggs. i know that mainly -- the rest of you should feel good about that. that is what i am saying. you should feel very happy about that. judge boggs, i had the opportunity to meet you a couple of weeks ago. i enjoyed that meeting. i believe that judges can decide things by, you know, in the proper way even if they have had a record before of votes when they are in the legislature that are contrary to constitutional -- what has been decided constitutionally. i don't want a situation where we cannot ever have people confirmed because they had some public record on something. i think that is a bad tendency. that is a bad tendency to do that. so, i think that -- because a judge's role is to make decisions based on what the law is. not take their personal opinions, although, personal opinions or experience do shape how a judge invariably has to. experience is the law in many ways for judges. i think it is important we have to factor that in but we cannot establish a system here where just looki

on the democrat side, shaheen, bennet, franken, manchin, warner. mr. president, it will be hard to find a more partisan consensus piece of legislation, but always, mr. president, always this is a bipartisan piece of legislation. but always it's the shell game. okay, we have got it here. try to figure out where i put that shell. is it here, is it here? where is that dollar? is it here, is it here? i will yield in just a second. mr. president, this is what i talked about earlier. we have been going five years with this. five years, trying to stop anything that obama wants to do. obama would like to see this passed. so would a bipartisan group of senators. but for five years, we have put up with this. it doesn't matter what it is. if obama wants it, they're against it. so, mr. president, we can have all this sweet talk about how the senate should operate. the senate should operate by allowing legislation to go forward. here is a perfect example. but no, no. i have told them they want to vote on keystone, they can have a vote on keystone. that's not good e

mr. president i applaud the efforts of senator franken and senators durbin and warren and jack reed, who will speak after me, for their efforts on dealing with the terrible burden of debt that far too many young people in this country face. we know that it's bad for them. we know this burden is bad for their families. families in many cases mothers and fathers cosign these loans and have to put off other kinds of things that they want to and should do in their lives. we know what it means to those families and to the economy and those communities where these students come out of college with huge debt and they can't buy a car or they can't buy a home. they can't start a business. in many cases they put off getting married and starting a family because of debt. none of this is good. i think mr. president look at the -- think back a generation. i heard senator klobuchar speak today on the floor. she went to a what we consider in this country an exclusive very expensive university. she scrounged together her teacher/mother, her father. i was in the presiding chair as she was speaking. her f

franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i do have some questions for judge boggs. i know that mainly -- the rest of you should feel good about that. that is what i am saying. you should feel very happy about that. judge boggs, i had the opportunity to meet you a couple of weeks ago. i enjoyed that meeting. i believe that judges can decide things by, you know, in the proper way even if they have had a record before of votes when they are in the legislature that are contrary to constitutional -- what has been decided constitutionally. i don't want a situation where we cannot ever have people confirmed because they had some public record on something. i think that is a bad tendency. that is a bad tendency to do that. so, i think that -- because a judge's role is to make decisions based on what the law is. not take their personal opinions, although, personal opinions or experience do shape how a judge invariably has to. experience is the law in many ways for judges. i think it is important we have to factor that in but we cannot establish a system here where just looki

franken. >> i thought that then and now. congratulations. thank you. mr. chairman. >> thanks. questions for our you this morning. we thank you for being here and your families. we wish you well. the positions that you are hopefully going to occupy our ones of a man's trust. thank you for your willingness to serve. we go on now to the next panel. if they would come forward. m. eastern. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. u.s. the street court michael boggs who is currently a judge at the georgia appeals court. he has been criticized for his work while serving in the georgia legislature, including a vote to reinstate the confederate flag. this part of the hearing is two hours. >> please raise your right hand. do you are from the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? please be seated. i invite you toto provide an opening statement. blumenthal,, chair ranking member grassley, senator durbin, senator franken. thank you all for being here and calling this hearing and hearing from us today. i would

mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent to yield back all remaining time on both sides. the presiding officer: without objection. the question occurs on the franken nomination. all in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume legislative session. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i wanted to speak briefly on three topics this afternoon. human trafficking, the terrorist attack at fort hood, texas in 2009 and finally on the way that the senate has become a killing ground for good ideas because of the practices of the majority leader. starting with human trafficking, we know that while slavery was formally abolished in the united states years ago, it continues today in the form of human trafficking. tragically, too many children are victims of modern-day slavery. literally tens of thousands right here in america. that's

mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 92, s. 162, the franken mentally ill offender treatmentreduction act. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 92, s. 162, a bill to reauthorize and improve the mentally ill offender treatment and crime reduction act of '04. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the time until 11:15 will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. at 11:15, there will be a series of roll call votes in relation to several nominees. following those votes, the senate will recess until 1:45 to allow for caucus meetings that we're having today. at 1:45, there will be another series of roll call votes on the nomination as well as cloture vote on the wyden substitute amendment for the tax extenders legislation. the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to the substitute is 3:00 p.m. today. mr. president, a memo from the koch-funded organization americans for prosperity found its way into the national press last week.