mr. schatz: mr. president, i rise today to talk about one of the solutions to one of the driving forces behind global climate change, and that is deforestation. after fossil fuel consumption, deforestation is the single largest contributor to human-induced climate change, but the exciting thing is that we have proven cost-effective solutions at hand that can go a long way in addressing this problem. forests in the united states and around the world provide important services to people, services that are not adequately or appropriately valued by the free market, creating a market failure. these services include many things that we all take for granted -- clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and long-term carbon sinks that absorb and sequester carbon pollution for years. because these functions of a healthy ecoforest system don't have a dollar sign attached to them, they're often not incorporated in the decisions made by businesses and consumers and governments, but just because they don't have a p

mr. schatz: there are two problems here. look normally when something is a waste of taxpayer, it is not only harmful to individuals across the country, this is a double whammy. this is causing students to incur collectively tensions of -- tens of billions of dollars of debt. the obama administration has done the right thing in terms of going after malfeasance in this space. but they are split among their executive agencies. you have the department of justice who understands the fraud and deception. you have even parts of the d.o.e. understand thats what's going on and yet they have been slow on the uptake in terps of using the authority -- in terms of using the authority under the statute to make the accreditation process a little more reliable when it comes to students. that's one of the key things that we're going to be able to accomplish in the next couple of years is get the u.s. d.o.e. to understand that i understand that there are separate accrediting agencies but under the higher education statute u.s. d.o.e. has the

schatz. senator deans. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this is really intriguing subject today.i spent a number of years with a cloud computing customer experience solution, we were a b to c business selling to organizations that touched hundreds of thousands, if not be millions, of consumers. and it's an overused cliche to suggest that the customer is in charge. we all know that, now people are starting to wake up. second, i think feedback is a gift. and i think it's insecure companies like bullies on a playground are insecure that have these anti-disparagement clauses. and, you know, welcome to the free markets and the internet. let's compete and let the consumer have its voice. and i think, frankly, it tends to be a bit condescending to consumers to suggest that the consumer -- i think consumers can weed through. they kind of see that folks are a bit unhinged, perhaps things that are true and not false, let the consumers sort that out is, i guess, my view on it. recognizing there still is a problem with some companies posting false claims to prop it up and competitors posting

mr. schatz: thank you, mr. president.i rise to speak in support of the administration's clean power plan. and i think the first thing that must be said and said over and over again especially this week with so many critical issues facing our country with appropriations bills pending with a transportation bill pending, with perhaps a motion to go to conference on the education reauthorization is that we are wasting floor time. is that this piece of legislation has no chance, that the threshold under the congressional review act is 51 votes, and it's very likely that that threshold will be met. but let's take this through the legislative process. this will eventually, if it passes the house when it passes the house reach the president's desk. and can you imagine that president obama is going to enact legislation that overturns his signature environmental achievement? whether you agree or not with the clean power plan, the idea that he's going to sign this into law is preposterous. so it faces a veto. and so then the only qu

schatz: thank you mr. chairman. thank you ms. palmer for your courage and clarity. you have been through a lot. and i imagine it has been a difficult several years. we appreciate everything that you are doing. your case perfectly illustrates why we need a law. individual consumers are in a new position to fight this injustice. your case also shows why we need federal law, a patchwork of individual statutes are not going to work. my first question is for mr. atkinson. we have been talking little bit about -- two things. one is that consumers don't know what rights they may be waiving as they click "i agree" or sign a contract at the hotel desk. another question related to intimidation and admonishing or warning customers against a negative online review. those are different technical approaches. which is it that these companies are employee? -- are employee in? are they -- emplying? are they treating customers into signing away their rights? or are they warning them against a negative online review? they can be doing both at the same time, it seems to me..... me./ >>

mr. medros: i would wholeheartedly agree. mole. a game of whack-a- sen. schatz: thank you. sen.hune: senator daines. daitor gains: this is a -- nes: this is a really intriguing subject today. tois an overused clichÉ suggest that the customer is in charge. we all know that now. gift.so, feedback is a i think it is insecure companies , like bullies on a playground are insecure, that have these anti-disparagement clauses. welcome to the free market and the internet. let's compete and let the consumer have their voice. frankly, it is condescending to thatmers to suggest consumers can see that the folks are a bit unhinged. some companies posting false claims to prop it up and competitors posting claims to disparage. having said that, i can tell you from montana's economy, tourism is one of our largest businesses. it is $4 billion. 11 million people visit our state and they are going online and booking trips. they are relying on online reviews. i spoke to a small business owner a couple weeks ago. i said, how was your summer? he said, best summer ever. he said, -- i said, why? he said