ms. cantwell: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: thank you, madam president. i rise to express my disappointment in today's earlier vote that we weren't able to pass the student refinancing legislation. i want to thank my colleague, senator warren, for sponsoring that bill and for my colleagues who did support that, and i hope that we will have chance to bring it legislation up again and get bipartisan support and get it passed. we can agree that education is the gateway to opportunity. i was the first in my college to go to college and went to school with the help of financial aid. i know how important it is to many students in the state of washington that we help them makmake education more affordab. student debt has quadrupled over the last ten years. many students in my state are anxious about the situation and want to do something about it. student debt has even surpassed credit card debt. the fact that student debt is enough to pay every american tion credit card balance and still have $450 billion left over tells you

ms. cantwell: madam president, i come to the floor today to talk about the export-import bank, the program that is a vital tool of u.s. manufacturers and small businesses across the united states of america to help them grow jobs and gain access to international be markets. there has been a lot written in the last 24, 48 hours about this because there has been a lot of discussion about people who have previously supported the program, maybe voted for it five or six times and now all of a sudden have either amnesia or have forgotten what's so important about this program, and i'm here this morning to talk about this because i believe it is so vital to the u.s. economy and to the economic opportunities and challenges we face. the export-import bank basically gives assistance in the forms of securitizing loans that are sought by the private sector when a u.s. company tries to sell a product overseas. you can imagine that if you are a u.s. manufacturer and you could be involved in lots of different things in our state, there is everything from aviation to grain silos to music stands to agricul

ms. cantwell: thank you. i just want to close by -- by saying other countries use these same financial tools, and so a lot of my colleagues can see that other countries for the same reason, when the marketplace doesn't provide a private-sector financial tool to securitize these -- these products, it's important that the united states stay competitive with everybody chasing global market opportunities. let's not hobble u.s. manufacturers. let's get the export-import bank out of committee and reauthorized. i thank the president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the committee on health, education, labor and pensions is discharged from further consideration of h.r. 803 and the senate will proceed to the measure, which the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 803, an act to reform and strengthen the work force investment system of the nation to put americans back to work and make the united states more competitive in the 21st century. the presiding offic

ms. collins: madam president, i would ask unanimous consent that senator cantwell's statement be placed at an appropriate location in the record so that it does not interrupt the debate. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: thank you, madam president. madam president, i'm pleased to join with chairman murray as we hope to begin floor consideration of the bipartisan fiscal year 2015 appropriations bill for transportation, housing, and urban development and related agencies. as usual, it has been a great pleasure to work with chairman murray. she is extremely fair-minded and bipartisan in the approach that she has taken to this bill. and i also want to thank her staff for working closely with my staff as we sought to craft a bill that i believe deserves the support of all of our colleagues. let me also take this opportunity to thank chairwoman mikulski and vice chairman shelby for their extraordinary leadership in advancing these three appropriations bills through what at times is turning out to be a daunting process. it is my hope and expectation that we can give members o

ms. cantwell: i applaud the senate judiciary committee for favorably reporting mr. mendoza's bipartisan nomination out of the committee with a 17-1 vote, so a great deal of support. we are happy today because we filled one vacancy for the eastern district bench earlier in april, and now it's time for the senate to move forward in filling the last of the two vacancies by voting to confirm judge mendoza. mr. president, judge mendoza is a well-qualified, dedicated judge whose passion and perspective will serve the eastern district of washington very well. he has had experience serving as a supreme court judge, he served as a prosecutor, he has been in private practice and he has been a community leader in the central part of our state. there is no question that salvador mendoza is ready for the challenge of being a federal judge, but i also want to speak today in terms of the historic nature of this vote. salvador mendoza will become the first-ever hispanic federal judge in eastern washington. that is a major step forward and one that is long overdue. one in every nine