ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from mest. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. first, i want to congratulate the bill's sponsors, senators shaheen and portman, for crafting the underlying bipartisan, commonsense energy efficiency bill. i'm proud to be a cosponsor of their legislation, and i'm pleased to see that the bill is being considered and look forward to the debate on energy efficiency. i would hope that, as we consider amendments to this bill, that we could consider amendments that relate to the issue of energy so that we can make real progress and that we don't end up, as happened before the recess when i was managing a bill on the transportation and housing appropriations for the minority side, that we became distracted on two issues that had nothing to do with the underlying bill, important though it was. so i'm very pleased to join my colleague, the distinguished senator from colorado, mr. udall, in sponsoring an amendment to help streamline the available f

ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, madam president. madam president, 12 years ago, al qaeda terrorists attacked our homeland, quilg nearl killing n0 people. i will never forget the heroes of that day, many of whom laid down their lives for others. their courage is epitomized by the words spoken by a fire department captain at the world trade center. he radioed in to say, "we're still heading up." indeed, these firefighters were still heading up while others were fleeing the flames and the acrid smoke. where that kind of courage and determination comes from is hard to contemplate, but we're so grateful that our first responders have that kind of dedication and courage. florida i ever forget the many people -- nor will i ever forget the many people who continued to live with scars. whether they are civilians who lost a loved one that day, firefighters or police officers or other first responders who rushed to the scene, or our brave military service members who answered the call to defend our country i

ms. banks explains. >> reporter: today is no ordinary sunday for this rain weary congregation. timber line church in fort collinss a red cross shelter for those who fled the floods above the city. >> pray with me for the first respond responders. >> reporter: she fled from colorado with her dog fred and no home to return to. >> we sat down to eat our supper that night and the water was at the end of the driveway and by the time we got done eating our supper it was up to the windows of our vehicles. >> reporter: to the south, the scene is equally grim. the swallow river and the creek are full and not spared. >> we didn't lose anything that can't be replaced. >> reporter: hef rain and unstable conditions wreak havoc up and down the stretch here and hundreds of people who need to be evacuateed but it's via helicopter but the weather is so bad they will be grounded for quite a while. but choppers did fly friday and saturday rescuing hundreds and the sheriff justin smith got up in the air for a tour to survey his county. >> how can we ever recover from this? i know exactly, inch by inch, mile by mile, community by co

ms. jacobson, as ranking member collins said, it is important to have a personal faith and i appreciate your coming here today. i would like to just ask a question about helping people save more for retirement. the idea of how to best take care of themselves, how people can take care of themselves, we know that if there is an employer-sponsored plan, as you said, that we will see more people in that plan. i think he said 14 times as many people. we will get into a retirement plan that we have employer's sponsorship of those plants. yet we know from the employment benefit research institute in about half of all employers offer no retirement plans in kind and that the gao tells us that for companies that have 100 or fewer employees, at the rate at which 72% offer no retirement plans of any kind. as i understand it for small businesses, since his is obviously the problem, fewer small businesses are offering retirement plans and one of the principal reasons we talk about are the high administrative costs. that it's very expensive for small businesses to do this. businesses have pulled together a

collins former poet laureate of the united states. a "b"? i don't get it. we even had "the end" right at the end of the poem, and it rhymed and everything. i guess ms.on't believe it. i'm home. i guess i've learned my lesson. no more writing poems on my own. hey, got anything for me? (barking) a poem? great. "forgetfulness." hmm... well, if you say so. thanks, billy! good boy. similes and metaphors are colorful ways of comparing things. i'm as hungry as a wolf. good simile. huh? a simile is when you compare two things okay, ask me how i'm like a bear. a metaphor is when you compare things without saying "like" or "as." for instance, if you say "i'm an early bird," or, "td's idea is half-baked." mmm... baked. or if you say, "i have a beef with you," you're not actually talking about meat. oh, but i am! i'm talking about meat. this is dinnertime. oh, you're right. time is flying. that's a metaphor, right? because time doesn't actually have wings and all. right. martha, you're a sponge. getting fed around here is a trial. (dice rolling) helen: eight! yes! one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. hey, you know why they call them board games? beca

ms. jacobsen we will start with you. >> thank you, sir. chairman nelson, senators collins scott and ms. warren my name is joanne jacobsen. i am 63 years old. i was born, who grew up and lived in massachusetts until i was 56. i now live in venice florida whose average age by the way a 67.6 so i'm speaking for the other 24,000 people that live there. i have to sons who live in new england won in massachusetts and one in a hampshire. i have saved money. i supported my sons. i plan for retirement. yet when i reached what should've been my retirement age the promise that i would receive health and benefit for the rest of my life was broken and so were my hopes of retiring comfortably in florida. like many baby boomers battered by the recession i'm still in the workforce and will probably remain on the job force in the future. i have worked in some form since i was 15 years old. although i dropped out of college because my father got sick i had a good job at the phone company is weiss to call it. then at&t. i got married, they got divorced raise two sons with no support. i worked for the phon