mrs. hagan: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mrs. hagan: thank you. i, too, echo my senator from colorado's comments, and i want to thank senator whitehouse from rhode island for bringing this bill forward and for putting together what the american people expect from people who donate to campaign -- to campaigns. today i join my colleagues, as i did two years ago, to discuss the state of campaign finance and reflect on what i think is a dark cloud that's been cast over our nation's election system. the supreme court decision in citizens united created a wate watershed effect and in our election process. it eviscerated decades of campaign finance law that was in place for the pup of making sure that the american people, not special interests, decided our elections. two years ago i expressed deep concern that this ruling would weaken the voice of the american people in elections, and i am afraid my fear and the fears of many others have come true. since the ruling, many political operatives have established nonprofit supposed social wel

mr. chairman. >> senator hagan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, chairman bernanke for enduring the long hearing today. and i do want to say thank you, too, for your great work and your sacrifice. i understand that -- we talked a lot about libor today. libor is simply a benchmark that lenders voluntarily use to represent the cost of borrowing by large banks. there are other alternative metrics and you mentioned that in your earlier testimony that financial institutions could use benchmarks for loans and derivative contracts such as commercial paper rates, the fid fund rates and the yield on u.s. treasury have all been mentioned as alternative benchmarks to libor but each have shortcomings. could you discuss some of these alternatives and do you have which might be a prmble benchmark? >> as you -- preferable benchmark? >> one that's been considered is the so-called general collateral repoe rate, rate at which repurchase agreements are made. it is a thick market. a lot of trades take place and trades take place at a different maturity

mr. chairman, thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you, senator hagan. senator graham? >> thank you, mr. chairman. to all of you, really accord yourselves will and they want to share senator hagan's comments about the way you recognize her family. i think it speaks volumes of you are as individuals. and i know that a lot of military families suffer, and general kelly and mrs. kelly, we appreciate what you all have gone through very, very much. general kelly, would you say, how would you rate the security on our southern border right now? >> well, the fact that we have such drug problem and availability with drugs north of the border to an awful lot about what speed we are finding tunnels. >> titles, the so-called fuel trains, things coming in across in cargo, and -- >> on a level of the very secure feel very insecure, where du, what would your general opinion -- i know you haven't had time to study it in depth, but going into your job, what is your general view of the security on the border? >> based on the availability of drugs in america, it doesn't seem like it is very secure at all. >> couldn't

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hagan. a couple of final observations. this committee has conducted an extensive investigation into the for-profit school industry. we have had a number of hearings on it. we have had staff involved in this. we will be putting out our findings of the two-year investigation with hundreds of thousands of documents reviewed. we will be putting this out hopefully week after next we will finally have our report. i think it will be startling. right now about 25% of all money that goes to education goes to the for-profit sector. . . i think they have skewed it greatly in many cases. they have not provided the student support services we will point out. it keeps coming up. i have heard from just about everybody in this panel about getting involved in online activities. they are learning how to -- they are adapting to learning through online. what can we do on the federal level to help promote -- whether it is iowa state or community colleges which really ought to be involved in this because you know what needs to be done. when you

reid and mcconnell, our colleagues from the senate, senator hagan and burr, our good friends from florida, senator brown and congressman west, mr. william mcdowell of the montford point marines, honored military guests, gold medal recipients, your families and friends and everyone who's made this ceremony today possible. welcome to your nation's capital and to emancipation hall. public law 112-59 was signed by president barack obama last november. section 2 reads as follows. the speaker of the house of representatives and the president pro temp of the senate shall make arrangements for the award on behalf of the congress of a single gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the montford point marines collectively in recognition of their service and sacrifice for our country. the appointed day has arrived. it is my privilege to welcome all of the recipients. on behalf of every american, we are humbled by your presence here today. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the presentation of colors by the united states marine corps color guard, the national anthem by the united states marine corp band, and retiring

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hagan. a couple of final observations. this committee has conducted an extensive investigation into the poor profit -- for-profit school industry. we have had a number of hearings on it. we have had staff involved in this. we will be putting out our findings of the two-year investigation with hundreds of thousands of documents reviewed. we will be putting this out hopefully week after next we will finally have our report. i think it will be startling. right now about 25% of all money that goes to education goes to the for-profit sector. senator hagan has a bill in to say that none of the money can be used for advertising. no entity that gets federal money should be able to use it for advertising. i happen to be a co-sponsor of the bill. i think it is a step in the right direction. the reason i bring it up is that in our investigation and the time i have spent looking at this, before profits -- the for- profits have stepped into a void not being filled. that is online courses. i think they have skewed it greatly in many cas

mrs. hagan: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mrs. hagan: i request that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hagan: madam president, i rise today to speak in support of the small business tax cut and job creation act. families throughout north carolina are facing a difficult economy right now, and i've said repeatedly that the people of our state cannot wait until after the election for congress to work on solutions to speed up our economic recovery. and that's why i'm pleased that the senate has agreed to consider this small business legislation. this is a bill that will help north cash -- north carolinians get back to work this year in industries such as health care, finance, construction, manufacturing and retail. this legislation supports businesses that expand payroll or invest in new equipment, and there are estimates that it will put 27,000 of unemployed people in my state back to work. and it does this by crea