mr. moran to make the first. >> thank you, mr. president, it would be my pleasure to place into nomination anne caen. >> is there a second? >> second. >> >> any discussion? did you want to make a candidate discussion? >> i thank you for the second. >> all those in favor, signify by saying aye? aye. >> any nays? there being none, congratulations madame vice president. >> thank you. >> the chair will entertain motions for president of the commission. mr. moran. >> it would be my pleasure to nominate the current vice president courtney to be our president for the next year. >> second? >> second. >> any discussion? all those in favor, signify by saying aye? >> aye. >> opposed? there being none, congratulations, mr. president, you can take over now. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> mr. president, commissioner caen. >> i would like to make some comments about your outgoing president. you know, it's really been quite a thrill to work under art torres. he has a certain style about him, a wonderful manageme

mr. moran: i ask the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: thank you very much. last month, i was at the world war ii memorial, greeting a number of kansans who had arrived on an honor flight and certainly want to pay tribute to each of our service men and women and veterans and what a great experience it was on a beautiful day at the memorial. one of those veterans was someone i want to talk about this evening to my colleagues here in the united states senate. getting off the bus that day was my friend and a former member of the united states house of representatives for the fifth congressional district of kansas, dick nichols. there are many things i admire about kansans. folks from my home state, they always look out for others. they commit their lives to helping and improving the lives of their communities. of our state and our nation in order to make certain that it is an even better opportunity for the next generation. dick nichols, congressman nichols is certainly one of those individuals, and i'd like to pay my regards to him to

mr. moran: thank you. i'm a new member of the united states senate serving in my first term, and i was a member of towps before coming to -- the house of representatives before coming to the united states senate and i had great expectation of the opportunities that serve us here -- service here in this body presented to me. the presiding officer today has had similar experiences. we served in the house of representatives together. and the ability for an individual senator, particularly a new united states senator and perhaps even more so someone from a smaller, rural state, our ability to influence the outcome, to receive attention, to have the administration nominees come pay a call on us to get acquainted is diminished. and so today is in my view the day that reduces the ability for all united states senators to have influence in the outcome of the decisions of this body and therefore the outcome of the future of our country. and i don't really understand why this happened today. the empirical evidence d

mr. moran: it's hard to narrow down the best story to tell. they are all bad stories, all terrible stories. but kansans too are struggling under the consequences of the passage of the affordable care act, and it bothers me so many times, it's suggested that this is just a problem with implementation. but the problems that americans and kansans are facing today really is the crux, the underlying basis for the provisions of the affordable care act. this is not a problem just with implementation. it is not just a computer problem. it's the theory on which the affordable care act was based. an example i'd like to describe to my colleagues in the senate is from a constituent in newton, kansas, right in the center of the state. he writes to tell me that we were notified by our health insurance carrier that our premiums on our small business plan were to increase 24% on our renewal date because of the coverage mandated by the affordable care act starting in 2014. as a small business owner in our late 50's, we have struggled to find affordable health

mr. chairman. >> senator moran. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. director cordray, thank you for being here and the opportunity to ask you a couple of questions. you're aware in regard to automobile financing a number of us sent a letter to you to consumer protection financial bureau, that letter was dated october 30th. it was signed by 21 or 22 of us requesting information you've responded. thank you for your response. but i want to follow up and see if you can provide a broader answer and perhaps a more specific answer. what we ask in that letter was for details concerning the statistical methodology the bureau employs to determine whether dispariate impact portfolio methodology for each group of consumers the bureau has examined. what i know is that the borrowers don't self-identify. they don't say their gender or their race. you are using, the bureau is using a proxy to determine those criteria. but apparently a conclusion has been reached there is discrimination or disparate finance charges based upon those characteristics. you describe in the

mr. chairman. >> senator moran. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. director cordray, thank you for being here and the opportunity to ask you a couple of questions. you're aware in regard to automobile financing a number of us sent a letter to you to consumer protection financial bureau, that letter was dated october 30th. it was signed by 21 or 22 of us requesting information you've responded. thank you for your response. but i want to follow up and see if you can provide a broader answer and perhaps a more specific answer. what we ask in that letter was for details concerning the statistical methodology the bureau employs to determine whether dispariate impact portfolio methodology for each group of consumers the bureau has examined. what i know is that the borrowers don't self-identify. they don't say their gender or their race. you are using, the bureau is using a proxy to determine those criteria. but apparently a conclusion has been reached there is discrimination or disparate finance charges based upon those characteristics. you describe in the