ms. warren: yes. mr. durbin: first i through the chair would like to thank the senator from massachusetts for her leadership on this effort to refinance student loans. is it true that what was at stake yesterday was an opportunity for 25 million student loan borrowers out of the roughly 40 million nationwide to refinance their student loans at lower interest rates? ms. warren: i want to thank the senator from illinois for his leadership on this issue, and the answer is, yes, this would have permitted 25 million americans to refinance their student loans down to lower interest rates, putting hundreds, even thousands of dollars back in their pockets. mr. durbin: through the chair, i'd also like to ask the senator from massachusetts, is it not true that the way that we paid for this, this loss of interest by the federal government was to impose the buffett rule, which meant that those who were multimillionaires, for example, would have a higher income tax rate, at least as high as the secretaries who work fo

ms. warren: i come to the floor today -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. ms. warren: i'm sorry, mr. president. mr. president, i ask the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. warren: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today to offer my strong support of the environmental protection agency's clean power plan to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants. the e.p.a.'s proposal is a powerful step in the fight to protect our health and our environment. we face a crisis. we know that high carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere are driving climate change. we know those carbon dioxide levels are increasing the acidity of our oceans, disrupting already fragile marine ecosystems, and we know that power plants are responsible for about 40% of america's carbon pollution. add all that up and we know enough to know that reducing carbon pollution from power plant emissions will make a real difference in the fight against climate change. pollution from power plants is also associated with other dangerous chemicals.

ms. warren: thank you. i rise to ask my colleagues to support the bank on loan student emergency financing act. the legislation would reduce student loan debt for millions of americans and provide relief for those who are struggling to keep up with their payments. student loan debt is exploding and it threatens the stability of our young people and the future of our economy. the debt now totals $1.2 trillion, and it is growing bigger every single day. in eight years the average student loan balance increased by 70%, and now seven out of every ten college seniors are dealing with student loan debt. this debt is crushing our young people and dragging down our economy. by keeping borrowers from being able to buy homes, to buy cars, to open small businesses. it's keeping them from making the purchases that get their economic lives started and that help our economy grow. we must act now to provide relief for existing borrowers. and the bank on students emergency loan refinancing act will do exactly that. the leg

warren. and to the witnesses, thank you all for joining us. there is a vote called. ms. hoover, mr. hubbard, mr. geremia and there will be written questions from members who were here or not here. and please answer them within a week if you can. thank you. >>> the reason we are trying to focus on the speaker is because it is the speaker with the full majesty and weight of his position who yesterday made certain allegations, which at this point at least he has not yet answered to. would you prefer i -- well, i was going to yell to mr. wright. >> you don't normally have that in the 26 hours that you presented this case to the public. but the interesting fact is the whole tenor of your remarks going back to 1970 and going back to 1972, taking out of context on mr. bowen, you were there for one and one purpose alone, in my opinion, and that was to imply that members of this side were unamerican in their activities. you stopped, you waited, your motions. will you respond? you knew that there was nobody here. you knew that there was nobody here. >> camscam. put those two men from your per

ms. wertheimer, the recent stress test shows potential vulnerability up to $190 billion of additional. now we need to make sure credit box and senator warren and others have been working how we improve this legislation. so i would simply ask again maybe for the fourth or fifth time. my hope is you will be confirmed that you will get up to speed very, very quickly and that gse reform will be first out of the box on your list of priorities. do you want to add a quick comment so that we can move to senator warren? >> thank you, senator, for the comments and as i mentioned, if i am confirmed, i do look forward to working with you and with the committee to hopefully bringing some fresh energy to this and to helping to move housing finance model that i think works for americans. >> and i will just add, there are improvements on the legislation that senator warren and others of ours have been working on. i would commend the urgency how vulnerable taxpayers are as well as some of the just awful access to credit for low-income people at this moment in time. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator warren. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and thank

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 how much debt is being accumulated on behalf of students, just to get an education, just to basically make their way in a changing economy. arntiondz you know, we did live in an information age and it mean

ms. warren: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i rise to pay tribute to a great friend of mine and a friend to the commonwealth of ken, former senator jim bunning. jim's been an inspiration to kentuckians for decades in many different roles. as a public servant, a man of integrity and a devoted father of nine children, a grandfather of 35, and a great-grandfather of 12 with one more on the way. but few public servants or family men can also claim to be in the baseball hall of fame. jim bunning can, for his extraordinary major league pitching career with the detroit tigers and with the philadelphia phillys. with father's day approaching this weekend, i thought it appropriate to remember what jim bunning accomplished on father's day 1964. the date was june