ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. abenow: thank you, mr. president. i'm very pleased to join with a number of colleagues today representing all of those in our caucus who are deeply, deeply concerned about the mounds of debt that students incur when they're doing the right thing. they do -- we say go to college, work hard, get skills for this new economy, come out so you can be successful. they do that. and now way too many of them are coming out with mounds of debt, crushing debt that's stopping them from buying a house, starting a business, being able to move forward with their future. and there is something we can do about that, and that's what we're here to talk about and invite our republican colleagues to join us in. we've had one opportunity where there was a filibuster a number of weeks ago against our student loan debt bill, bank on students bill. we have an opportunity today to come together, rather than seeing a republican filibuster, to actually see us joining together in a bipartisan way to provide incredi

ms. stabenow: thank you. first i want to thank our distinguished chair of the budget committee for both her work in focusing on middle-class families and making sure the economy grows for everyone and for her words, and i want to echo and expand upon the very same things that our distinguished chairwoman has been talking about. first, i think it's important to note that we have seen an improvement in the economy. we are seeing a stock market that has doubled since president obama took office. we have seen deficits going down. we are seeing projections of slowing increases as it relates to health care and medicare costs. we are seeing more jobs being created. the challenge for us is making sure that everyone has an opportunity in that economy, so we see an economy that has turned but yet we see way too many people who are not able to benefit from that economy and who don't have a fair shot to create the opportunity for themselves and their families, and so there is more work to be done, and that's what the fai

ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you very much, madam president. i would ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. madam president, as you are well aware as one of our great leaders on our economic agenda of what we are calling a fair shot, it is incredibly important in the time that we are in session that we have an opportunity to vote again on each of those items and hopefully pass each of the items that are at the front line of what american families, the american people care about in terms of lifting their standard of living and creating more opportunities. it's great that we have seen a stock market more than double in the last five, six years. it's great that someone who is living off of interest earnings has a better portfolio. that's great. but the person who is getting up every day and going to work, maybe takes the shower after work, ought to have the same fair shot to get ahead,

ms. stabenow: thank you. i wanted to say we can go on record saying there's thousands of excuses for reasons not to do things. we're talking about a very specific bill, a very specific vote that would put money in the pockets of 25 million americans. we could do that right now. people can have lots of reasons. it reminds me a lot about hearing from my kids have hundreds of excuses why they can't do something, because of somebody else and this and that and the other. i think the american people just want to get stuff done. we want to get things done. and the motion that senator warren put forward is about getting things done. a vast majority, 58 people, have already said yes, they want to move forward on this; yes, we want to move forward on this and we need to get this done for 25 million people and then move on and work with each other across the aisle to do other things. i greatly regret this and just tell the american people that we will be back and back and back until we get the american people the relief

ms. bauscher, we are so glad you are here. >> thank you, ranking member stabenow. on behalf of the 55,000 members of the school nutrition association we are talking about strengthening nutrition programs. the're recognizing importance of the academic success of students which is why we have expanded our school breakfast options, increased summer feeding sites, launched upper oh grams. we have worked diligently to improve school menus and we support most of the new regulations. variety andg a making limits on calories and fat while reducing sodium. .e are making healthier choices school nutrition professionals are truly committed to the healthy hunger free kids act and its goal of expanding access to school meals. that's why we're so concerned about the historic klein in student lunch participation. the national school lunch program has grown steadily. under the new requirements, student participation is abruptly down in 49 states. more than one million jews school lunch each day even though student enrollment in participating schools -- than one million choose scho

ms. bauscher, we are so glad you are here. >> thank you, ranking member stabenow.n behalf of the 55,000 members of the school nutrition association we are talking about strengthening nutrition programs. they're recognizing the importance of the academic success of students which is why we have expanded our school breakfast options, increased summer feeding sites, launched new supper oh grams. we have worked diligently to improve school menus and we support most of the new regulations. we are making a variety and making limits on calories and fat while reducing sodium. we are making healthier choices. school nutrition professionals are truly committed to the healthy hunger free kids act and its goal of expanding access to school meals. that's why we're so concerned about the historic klein in student lunch participation. for 30 years, the national school lunch program has grown teadily. under the new requirements, student participation is abruptly down in 49 states. more than one million jews school lunch each day even though student enrollment in participating scho