mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: on the majority leader's time, the majority leader has asked that senator rockefeller have the two and a half minutes that remains on our side which he would divide with senator hutchison. and i would have the two and a half minutes to speak about the highway amendment, and i would share that, if he wants to, with senator inhofe. so i would ask that that be what we do. i'd ask unanimous consent. the presiding officer: senator reid has five minutes total under his control. mrs. boxer: that's what i said. two and a half minutes and two and a half minutes. that adds up to five. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: the last i checked. the presiding officer: you know what -- hang on. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, if i could just clarify. i think the senator from california is saying that the highway bill will get two and a half minutes. the f.a.a. bill will get two and a half minutes. and we will agree to spend our time with the ranking members. mrs. boxer: that is

mrs. boxer: mr. president, i come here frustrated, angry, disturbed, that our republican colleagues are holding up three crucial bills. and america needs to hear this. they are stopping us from completing our work on our emergency fema bill. the moneys are needed throughout this country to rebuild the damage from the storm. a lot of it infrastructure, sewer plants, water plant, roads, bridges, highways. we see pictures of what is happening in places like vermont, where as senator leahy told us yesterday, a woman that he talked to has to drive an hour plus for her chemotherapy because the road is gone and it used to take her five minutes. we need to fix that road. we need to fix the roads, the bridges, the highways, the sewer systems, the water systems, the schools that get harmed in these natural disasters, and the republicans are holding up the bill to let us do that. we have holds on -- more than one. the highway bill, known as the transportation bill, and the f.a.a., our nation's aviation bill. an

boxer. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. i'm proud to be here with senator isakson and he is a long, long profession come a

mrs. boxer: mr.resident, i just wanted to ask the majority leader before he leaves the floor, because i couldn't hear all he said, is this the fact that we're going to vote again on proceeding to a bill that will allow us to take up this emergency fema funding? mr. reid: the gentlewoman from california is absolutely right. we need to do this. the caucus that was just completed was, to me, so enlightening. two senators from new york indicated, for example, that the mohawk river, because of those storms, changed course, and the erie canal lox don't work. they're going to have to spend lots and lots of resources to get the erie canal back so it works and can handle commerce in that part of the state. that part of the country. that's just one thing. so the answer to my friend from california is yes, we need to get people help now. people are desperate. mrs. boxer: mr. president, taking back my time, i'm just very pleased we're having another chance at this because just for the information of the public,

mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispense distinguishedispensed ? the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: thank you, mr. president. i know my colleagues here want to join in on the debate that just transpired, but i wanted to take a minute to talk about senate bill 1542 that passed last night and i know just as people are frustrated here with everything that's going on, i think it is important to so forth and for other purposes a second when something does pass and it is good policy that we talk about it, and that is the child and family services improvement and innovation act. congress took a prett pretty bip a last night by improving the lives of children by the passage of this legislation. it's about keeping families together. it's about rewarding government efficiency and driving down cost and i

boxer. senator isakson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i ask unanimous consent might prepare statement be submitted to the record or >> without objection it shall be. >> thank you for calling this hearing in a particular pleased to join the senator boxer from california and this piece of legislation, which addresses a new phenomenon that has taken place in the most protracted housing recession in america since the great depression. that is called strategic foreclosure. there's 10 million -- 10,900,000 american homeowners underwater right now today as estimated. as 10,900,000 people make payments on mortgages, the payoff is more than the houses were. a new phenomenon something called strategic foreclosure, were homeowners underwater by looking at the future of real estate, looking at the future values and walking away from their mouths and going off in buying a foreclosed house down the street, thinking they'll be better off. this is me the marketplace wares, but more foreclosures in place continue to contribute to the downward pressure on

boxer. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. long time in his profession which before he came here he was in the real-estate business so i'm very proud that he is on this bill, and just to say this before i read any of my statement, our bill is based on a very simple premise. if you have paid your mortgage all along through all these difficult times, and it is at a high interest rate or you never missed a payment and the value of your home went down and down and down and you find yourself under water, mr. chairman, and you are still stuck at that seven per cent or 6% rate, you should be rewarded with a program like this. and what we say as you should have a chance if you want to refinance at the current level. but this is such a win-win. number one, fannie and freddie, because these will all be home mortgages backed by fannie and freddie, fannie and freddie actually make money on this. as we look at the cbo analysis about $100 million because it would stop many people from defaulting right away. second, if you are the homeowner

mr. rahal, who is the ranking democrat. i sat last time with barbara boxerwe have done bipartisan hearings. we have got to get this resolved because people are counting on us and we can't play games, particularly on our nation's infrastructure. >> congressman mica, appreciate the time to talk with us tonight. i hope you know that i mean it earnestly the eyes of the nation are upon you in terms of trying to turn all of this talk into something moving through the congress. thank you for speaking with us, sir. >> thank you so much. >> we will be right back. sam higgins? you have frequent heartburn, right? yeah. well we're the two active ingredients in zegerid otc. i'm omeprazole. and i'm sodium bicarbonate. just one pill a day ... gives you 24-hour relief. & one mission. two ingredients heartburn solved. effective political tools democrats had in campaigns was the promise to protect programs like social security and medicare, which they invented and voted for and protect, and which republicans have sort of had a chain saw out for quite some time. the guy in cha

mr. rahal, who is the ranking democrat. i sat last time with barbara boxer bipartisan hearings. we have got to get this resolved because people are counting on us and we can't play games, particularly on our nation's infrastructure. >> congressman mica, appreciate the time to talk with us tonight. i hope you know that i mean it earnestly the eyes of the nation are upon you in terms of trying to turn all of this talk into something moving through the congress. thank you for speaking with us, sir. >> thank you so much. >> we will be right back. [ female announcer ] kiss everything you know about cookies goodbye. new newtons fruit thins. real cranberries and cranberry citrus oat... crispy whole grain. newtons fruit thins, one unique cookie. look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, espresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low fla

mr. rahal, who is the ranking democrat. i sat last time with barbara boxere done bipartisan hearings. we have got to get this resolved because people are counting on us and we can't play games, particularly on our nation's infrastructure. >> congressman mica, appreciate the time to talk with us tonight. i hope you know that i mean it earnestly the eyes of the nation are upon you in terms of trying to turn all of this talk into something moving through the congress. thank you for speaking with us, sir. >> thank you so much. >> we will be right back. effective political tools democrats had in campaigns was the promise to protect programs like social security and medicare, which they invented and voted for and protect, and which republicans have sort of had a chain saw out for quite some time. the guy in charge of electing a democratic majority to the house of representatives in the next election said in may that his strategy for electing a democratic majority in the house in the next election was a three part strategy. the three parts were medicare, medicare,

boxer. >> thank you so much mr. chairman. i'm proud to be here with senator isakson.. so i'm very proud that he is on this bill and just to say this before i read any of my statements, our bill is based on a very simple premise. if you have paid your mortgage all along through all these difficult times, and it is have a high interest rate and you've never missed a payment as the value of your home went down and down you find yourself under water, mr. chairman and stick the seven or 6% rate you should be reworded with a program like this and what we say is you should have a chance if you want to refinance at the current level. but this is such a win-win. number one, fannie and freddie, because these would all be home mortgages backed by fannie and freddie, they actually make money on this. as we look at the cbo analysis about $100 million because a would stop many people from defaulting right away. second, if you are the homeowner you are going to have thousands of dollars in your pocket because you refinanced. i remember the years when bill clinton was president one o

boxer when he was young. i swear to god he was dropping his left because he sounds absolutely adult. he makes mr.f like steven hocking at this point. >> bill: i have to agree with you miller, why anybody in the middle of this intense debate talking about pomegranate at his home and he has to get back there when the country has a 14 trillion-dollar debt. i think we should go to his house and rip up the pomegranates. no, that wouldn't be fun. >> at this point half the palm grant that thes think he is an idiot. they asked for a balanced thing and the republicans say okay we want a balanced budget amendment and they say anything balanced except that anything but that we want balance, not that balanced. >> bill: i don't know. the stuff looks -- if somebody were coming here from mars they would say oh, o'reilly he didn't say that miller made that up. no, it's true. president obama turning 50 tomorrow and going up to chicago for a big fundraiser. top ticket $35,800 to hang out with the president on birthday celebration. you say, miller? >> i say that's the very deaf nation of hollowness of leading a pol

mr. merrimac let me ask you a few final questions and i will let this panel go. how does your refinance proposal differ from boxer and isakson's legislation? if you could give me some sense of that? >> sure. i will just pull up my notes here. so i think there are several things as i commented earlier. mortgage insurers are really a big issue that i think we need to address. the mortgage insurance industry almost all the companies are rated single b. i'm not sure their insurance is as good as we would like to count on as we do now, so we are going to have to deal with a large number of potential folks who have mortgage insurance and i think there are ways to do it but that is going to be one key issue. and refs and warranties as a related issue which gets to the mortgage insurance question. those issues i think are really holding back a lot of people from being able to participate in h.a.r.p. and if we don't address them i don't expect that we are going to get the take up that we should. i think also trying to take steps to bring down closing costs is important, and i think we have to take seriously what the cost