Richard Blumenthal

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, like many of my colleagues, I have attended and spoken at a number of college and law school graduations and commencements. I had the great privilege of speaking to the graduates of Post University on Saturday and at the Quinnipiac Law School just yesterday--both wonderfully exciting and rewarding days full of celebration and pride, well-justified joy and pride in the great accomplishments of these graduates, and more than their past accomplishments, their contributions of the future. These young people are our future. I spoke to them about the challenges and responsibilities that come with the great privilege of having an education from great colleges and universities, undergraduate and law school, the opportunities for public service, to be a champion of right and responsibility, to advocate for people who need their voices and their advocacy, and the responsibilities and opportunities for public service. Each of them has a great opportunity to give back to our country and to use that education to better all of us as well as themselves. Yet they are leaving college and law school burdened with debt that would have been unthinkable and even unimaginable a decade or so ago. The average in Connecticut is $27,000 of debt per graduate from undergraduate education today. What I have done over the last 2 days, over the last 2 weeks, over the past month, is really listen to our students at every level--high school as recently as Friday at Bassick High School in Bridgeport, colleges throughout the State of Connecticut--crisscrossing our State to talk on campuses, at roundtables, with students who are burdened-- indeed, financially crippled with debt that would have been unthinkable and unimaginable when I was going through the same education. In those days, working to pay for college was possible. Today, the tuition costs are so high it is impossible. Listening to students across the State of Connecticut, I have heard their stories. I have listened to the amounts they owe and the levels of interest they have to pay. Each of them, by first name--whether it is Buckley at $56,000 or Jerry at $260,000--I could go through them one by one, story by story, voice and face, each with great accomplishment and great potential achievement for the future, for our Nation. Yet they leave college and law school burdened by these debts. These are only a few. I have promised to come here to tell their stories. I will tell their stories--not all of them but as many as I can, not all today but as many as I can over the next days and weeks--because each of them simply wants a fair shot at American opportunity, at the American dream, at the America all of us thought was possible for all of us when we went to school, a fair shot at the American dream and opportunity in the workplace, at home, in our society. I venture to guess that every Senator in this body would agree that higher education offers a path to success for hard-working students. There is nothing controversial or partisan about that notion. An opportunity to move more Americans into the middle class is what education does for our Nation. It secures our middle class and enlarges and enhances it. So investing in higher education really offers a fair shot to everyone seeking to make something of himself or herself to earn a higher standard of living, the professional innovators, business creators, and thinkers whom the system will give us from all kinds of backgrounds all across the country and certainly in Connecticut. So what we need is to maintain educational success so we can sustain our success in the global economy and confront the challenges ahead. Attending college or graduate school or technical school is a great opportunity but also a great responsibility. Students understand that they are taking on a significant trust obligation with the understanding that they will pay it back. None of them goes into these debts lightly, thinking that they can just avoid it. They are well aware that these debts, by and large, are nondischargeable in bankruptcy, unlike most other debts. They are told and they rightly expect that these additional qualifications will enable them to find a good job and go on to a successful life and have a fair shot at the American dream. They are willing to work for that success. They are willing to pay back these debts. But too often they are not given or afforded the opportunity, realistically, to earn at a level that enables them to reach these goals, which leaves them with a financially crippling debt that serves no one. Working people who bear a heavy debt burden have to make tough choices about getting married, buying homes, and having children. Entrepreneurs are blocked from starting new businesses. The risk takers and job creators of America have to go to other lines of work where their contribution is derivative, dependent on others rather than inventing and innovating and starting new businesses. The risk taking that is the foundation and core of the entrepreneurial spirit in America is inhibited--indeed, impeded and sometimes crippled by these debts. These consequences are so widely understood that I hesitate even to take the body's time to recount them now. Yet the U.S. student debt totals $1.2 trillion--much higher than it has ever been before. I have listened in roundtables to its personal impact on our citizens and their children. I am here to tell their stories--Brittany, for example, who is the first in her family to attend college. She took out loans to attend school. She is over $100,000 in debt. Her school does not offer much in financial aid. Alese, a mother of three, went back to school when her children were young because, she said, she ``wanted to make sure they had an example to follow when they finished high school'' and she wanted them to ``push forward and excel in their lives.'' She wrote to me, ``I knew that when I finished I would have to pay back those debts . . . what I didn't anticipate was that I would still be paying those debts when my children started going to college.'' She is now $46,000 in debt. Her loans carry a 7-percent interest rate. Our economy is still recovering from the greatest recession probably in most of our lifetimes. We need people such as Brittany and Alese to participate, young woman to invest in the future. We need to invest in them. They need to feel secure in their ability to support their children. But the mountains of debt confronting students and graduates today are overwhelming. I am proud to be here with my colleagues to support their fair shot-- all of our fair shot in the future because we live through our children. They are our future. It is a platitude we repeat so often, but it is true. These interest rates are, first of all, unconscionably and unfairly high. Many of them are variable so they can continue in their unprecedented rise when interest rates begin going up again. The money that comes from increased payments is nothing but profit for the Federal Government. The Federal Government is scheduled to make more than $50 billion in profit on the loans it makes this year. We should see higher education as an investment, not as a revenue opportunity. Those students are our future, not a profit center. We ought to set repayments based on what is in students' and graduates' best interests. It is our best interest as well. I am proud to join my colleague Senator Elizabeth Warren in introducing legislation that would allow borrowers to refinance their student loans. I am proud to join my colleagues in an effort to enable refinancing of student loans at more affordable rates, just as they do car payments and house payments. We cannot forget about current graduates with existing debt. As much as we want to make available more aid through Pell grants, lower interest rates on loans being made now, opportunities to pay down those loans based on public service, more disclosure, and more accurate disclosure through the kinds of measures that Senator Franken has introduced and I have joined him, right now we can take this profoundly significant step by supporting a measure that enables refinancing of student loans so that everyone has the benefit of the best, lowest, most affordable interest rate. I believe graduates who pursue public service ought to have the opportunity to pay down those debts in ways that are expanded, made more flexible and more accessible to more of these graduates. They are necessary to everyone's health and safety, whether they are teaching or policing or fire fighting or advocating for people who need legal assistance or caring for people as doctors in areas where they are needed. Those public service opportunities, as I told the graduates at Post University and at the Quinnipiac Law School, ought to be expanded and enhanced for them and all of our students around the country today, as well as those who graduated in recent years. Let's make sure in the meantime for people who have this grinding, financial, crippling debt that overhangs them and inhibits economic growth, it is made more affordable. Let's give them a fair shot at economic opportunity. Let's give all the students who are aspiring now in high school, at Bassick or elsewhere, the opportunity to have a fair shot. I am going to briefly quote some of what some said to me. ``There is no end in sight.'' ``I feel like I will never escape this.'' ``I don't own a home. I can't. I just work to pay my loan.'' These messages--and I am going to bring them again to the floor--are from the heart of Connecticut. The Presiding Officer could do the same from Hawaii. Every Member of this body could come to the floor with these same messages from the students and graduates of America, the innovators and creators, the home builders and family men and women who simply want a fair shot for themselves and their children. One person said: ``If there is anything that can be done for struggling families with student loan debt please help.'' Let's help. Let's give them a fair shot. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I was unavoidably detained and unable to participate in the vote to confirm Indira Talwani to be U.S. district judge for the District of Massachusetts. Had I been present, I would have voted aye.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I am proud to recognize that today, First Lady Michelle Obama presents Connecticut's Mystic Aquarium with the Institute of Museum and Library Services' National Medal for Museum and Library Services for 2014. This medal is the Nation's highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for service to their communities, and I wish to convey my deepest congratulations and admiration for Mystic Aquarium on this auspicious occasion. Since 1973, Mystic Aquarium has showcased the wonders of the world's oceans through exhibitions, tours, classroom programs, and partnerships with scientific organizations. In addition to worldclass offerings like its diverse collection of more than 4,000 animals ranging from sea lions to penguins, the aquarium boasts New England's only beluga whale habitat, as well as an innovative exhibit that showcases underwater exploration through a partnership with famed explorer Dr. Robert Ballard. The aquarium maintains a laudable commitment to making a difference for marine environments around the globe through research and direct involvement. The Marine Animal Rescue Program rehabilitates dozens of injured seals every year, and a penguin task force has provided similar help to African penguins in South Africa. The aquarium's extensive research includes field observations on wild belugas in the Arctic and closer to home, the aquarium enlists visitors in beach cleanup and marine animal stranding and rehabilitation programs. What I find most meaningful about Mystic Aquarium's work, however, is its consistent focus on inspiring and serving the people of Connecticut and visitors from around the world. Of the Aquarium's 700,000 yearly visitors, one in seven is a Connecticut K-12 student, and because school budget constraints too often limit learning opportunities outside the classroom, the aquarium regularly offers complimentary admission to students and teachers from economically disadvantage communities. The aquarium's deep investment in promoting scientific and environmental understanding among students of all ages and backgrounds is similarly reflected in its innovative programming for Native American high school students and for young people with intellectual disabilities. Having attended numerous events at Mystic Aquarium, I can personally attest to the dedication of everyone there in serving Connecticut and improving animal habitat across the world. I know how hard Dr. Stephen M. Coan, Dr. Ballard, and all of the aquarium's staff members and volunteers work to support these goals. For its legacy of community- focused education and environmental stewardship, I am proud to congratulate Mystic Aquarium on its receipt of the great honor.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I would like to proceed with remarks on the student debt and loan issue, and I will be brief because I know it is late. There have been some very remarkable and eloquent remarks and personal stories about the meaning of college education. My dad came to this country in 1955 at the age of 17 without even a high school degree. He never had one. He spoke very little or no English and had virtually nothing more than the shirt on his back and knew no one. Throughout his life one of his highest aspirations was for his children, my brother and me, to have a college education. He valued it almost more than anything else that he could hope for us to have. It was part of his dream. For him and countless immigrants and countless working men and women born in this country for decades, a college education has been part of the American dream, part of the fair shot that every American should have, an economic opportunity at self- fulfillment and developing their full potential because that is what education helps us to do. That is the reason why Americans are going into debt at unprecedented levels, because they believe in that American dream and the fair shot that it gives people through opportunity in this greatest Nation in the history of the world. It is part of our DNA as Americans that we aspire to educate and fulfill all of our potential, which benefits not only us but the whole country and all of our society. The average level of debt in Connecticut is about $27,000-- calamitously bad not only for those individuals but also for our Nation. For the individuals it means that financially crippling burden stops them from marrying at the time they wish, having children when they might like, starting businesses, buying homes, and moving forward with their lives. Who can start a small business with tens of thousands of dollars of debt? Risk taking is constrained and straitjacketed. People's personal lives are affected and changed forever. Student debt today has increased concurrently to approximately $1.2 trillion in this country. What we are doing in this proposal by providing a fair shot to those folks who have debt now and those who will incur it in the future is simply enabling them to do what people are able to do with other kinds of debt, whether it is their homes or their cars--to refinance so that they get the benefit of lower interest rates so they avoid that financially crippling burden saddling their lives so that they are able to buy homes, start families, and begin businesses in ways that benefit them and everyone in our society. There is another dark side of this conversation which is that the American government profits off the backs of students who have incurred debt and who are beginning their lives in debt right now. In fact, the United States profits from these loans even at 3.86 percent. So the stark crass fact is that even with this relief that we are suggesting and proposing and agitating to give to these students who have debt now, graduates that are out there with debt with 8, 10, some 11 or 12 percent interest rates, the U.S. Government will still make money from those loans--less money but the loans are still profit-making. We should regard higher education as an investment in the future and not a revenue source or profit source. We should regard students as an investment--a personnel investment, a human resources investment, to put it again in crass business terms--that will pay off for years, not as immediate profit centers. That kind of wise investment looks beyond this quarter or next quarter. It looks to the human revenue in quality of life and contributions and new inventions that will change our lives for the better, in a more productive workplace that will make our companies more successful and profitable. I hear from people all around the State of Connecticut. I got a stirring and moving email today from Bob in Naugatuck who told me his granddaughter has a student loan that he has cosigned and therefore he is potentially liable for it. Dean told me about his master's degree and that he is $55,000 in debt, struggling to support his family with his wife. Between them they have four jobs. Alese, a mother of three, went back to school when her children were young because she ``wanted to make sure they had an example to follow when they finished high school.'' She is now $46,000 in debt. As much as our economy is recovering, these folks are in danger of being left behind. There are other measures that we should adopt, such as the uniform forms for college costs that will fully inform people about what debt they are incurring, the Pell grant expansion, the bills mentioned for net price calculated, and expanding other types of grants. We should take a step forward to provide a fair shot for all Americans in this measure that enables refinancing of loans that otherwise will crush our human potential and leave us poorer as a Nation. I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor for my distinguished colleague from Wisconsin.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am tremendously honored to follow my colleague from Massachusetts, Senator Warren, who has so zealously and thoughtfully developed a program that deals with the breaking, calamitous burden of student debt which affects so many of our young people across this country, including my State of Connecticut, and I thank her for her great work. I wish to talk about that issue following the very eloquent remarks of my colleagues, Senators Durbin, Reid, Brown, as well as Schumer and Senator Warren, to be followed by Senator Baldwin. But first I wish to take a moment or two to express my deepest condolences for the family of Lori Gellatly, who was shot and killed today in Oxford, CT. This tragedy is not only saddening but shocking because Lori is dead and her mother is seriously wounded and in very dire condition. They were shot by her estranged husband who was under an ex parte restraining order from a judge and who is suspected. All we have right now are allegations of his committing this atrocious crime. My heart goes out to their family and to their children. She left two children behind. There will be time to talk about the lessons we can learn from domestic violence like this shocking infamy. In her application for the restraining order she described a violent altercation with her estranged husband which made her ``afraid for her kids and herself.'' She was granted an ex parte order but it was only temporary. A hearing to consider a permanent restraining order was scheduled to take place literally tomorrow. Connecticut law prohibits anybody who is the subject of a full 1-year restraining order from possessing a firearm. Federal law has applications as well to individuals under a permanent restraining order, but this prohibition does not extend under Connecticut law to an individual who is subject to an ex parte order. I recently met with Representative Gabby Giffords to discuss the nexus and close connection between the issue of domestic violence and gun violence. Together with my colleagues Senators Murphy and Durbin we discussed this problem and potential remedies. In this calendar year alone five other homicides have taken place stemming from intimate partner violence in Connecticut alone. So the issue of temporary restraining orders is an even more acute aspect of this problem. According to the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, women in abusive relationships are more than 7 times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner after 2 weeks of leaving the relationship than at any other time. We ought to do much more to protect victims of domestic violence during this extremely vulnerable time--indeed a time when they are most vulnerable. While we will have time in the future to discuss this tragedy, right now my heart, my prayers, and my family's thoughts go out to Mary Jackson, Lori's mom, as well as Lori's two children and all of the family, and my thoughts and prayers are with them.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I think many of my colleagues feel very at home with this image, which is a reminder of a household name-- Ramona and her father. It is a great story written by Beverly Cleary. In fact, it is a prize-winning story, part of a series, and my favorite of the series, Ramona the Pest, was written in 1968. In 1968 and in this story Ramona's dad is struggling, along with his wife Dorothy--his name is Robert--to get by and keep the family together on a minimum wage job, which in 1968 paid $1.60 an hour. Today the minimum wage, if it had kept pace with inflation, would be $10.71 an hour. We know, many of us--and probably many of my colleagues who have read this story--that Robert and Dorothy Quimby are engaged in a quiet struggle to make ends meet. Even as Ramona is engaged in all kinds of antics and play, he is working as a grocery bagger at a local store. Ramona's mother is working too--an early example of a two-family household and two-income family. They are able to keep their family afloat on that minimum wage in 1968--$1.60 an hour in 1968. For millions of Americans who read Ramona's story today, the idea of a minimum wage enabling a family to stay afloat, keep a roof over their heads, and food on the table is a storybook fiction. It is very difficult today to believe that Robert Quimby, as a bagger in a grocery store, could enable his daughters, Ramona and her sister, to have the life they did then. In fact, it would be impossible because today the minimum wage has failed to keep pace with inflation. The minimum wage today is $7.25--nowhere near what it would need to be to keep pace with the rise in the cost of living. That is why we are here today--to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, which is still below the $10.71 it would have been for Robert Quimby, making minimum wage in a grocery store, if it had kept pace with inflation. In fact, it is well below what is necessary to enable families to continue a normal life. That is why they are living in poverty--working men and women living in poverty--despite being paid the minimum wage. That is a travesty and a mockery. It is a moral outrage. It is bad for our economy, it is bad for our families, it is bad for the fabric of our society, and it is bad for America. I am proud to support an increase in the minimum wage. I am proud Connecticut has decided it will raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour--still below that $10.71 that is needed to get by today. We know the impact on families. We know the impact on children. We see them in our schools--millions of children, 14 million children--in families who are paid less than a minimum wage. We know the impact on our veterans. Half a million or more are paid less than the new minimum wage our bill would establish. That is itself an outrage. Men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country come back to civilian life to be paid less than what they need to stay out of poverty. They are working and working hard but still making less than a minimum wage. These are veterans who have served our country, who have put their lives on the line, have put themselves at risk, coming back to a society that rewards them--rewards them--with less than what they need to survive. I have talked to a lot of businesspeople. Some of them are apprehensive, no question about it, but a lot of them say: Our workers are more productive because we pay well above the minimum wage. Many who will be impacted by this law if it is passed say it is the right thing to do, and they support it. I am talking about, for example, Max Kothari. For 25 years he, along with his wife Parul, has owned and operated Star Hardware in Hartford--one of the oldest hardware stores in the State of Connecticut. He supports this measure to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. So does Doug Wade, who operates one of the oldest dairy companies in the State, started by Doug's great-grandfather in 1893--Wade's Dairy in Bridgeport. He supports raising the minimum wage. A thousand businesspeople have signed a statement and petition--we mentioned it this morning--that supports raising the minimum wage. They say it is a fairness issue. It is simply a way to give folks a fair shot at the American dream, a fair shot at a quality of life that is good for their families and children, good for our society, and, by the way, also good for our economy. We know that $35 billion would be added to consumer demand because folks who make minimum wage, if it is raised to $10.10, are not going to put the difference under their mattresses. They are going to spend it. They are going to buy more food, clothing, and gas for their cars. They are going to buy things that drive the economy. They are going to purchase stuff that creates demand and more jobs and business for Max Kothari at his hardware store and for Dough Wade at his dairy. This kind of reasoning is not advanced economic theory; it is basic common sense. Americans understand it. That is why Americans support raising the minimum wage as a matter of fairness and enlightened self- interest economically. It is the right thing to do. The arguments made against it are without basis rationally and economically. The ones who suffer from the minimum wage as it exists right now are not teenagers. I know there is a myth that they are part- time workers or teenagers. That is just not true. Nearly ninety percent of minimum wage workers are adults. They are disproportionately women and people of color and workers with disabilities, and they will be helped disproportionately by raising the minimum wage. But they are not teenagers or part-time workers. They are deserving, for the hard work they do, of fair pay and a fair shot. That is all the minimum wage would really do, is give them a fair shot at economic opportunity. And those veterans, they deserve more than a fair shot. They deserve a hand up, not a handout. There is nothing about the minimum wage that is an entitlement. It is simply fair pay and a fair shot. We have trapped half a million of those veterans in poverty--3,800 veterans in Connecticut alone who will benefit from the $10.10 minimum wage. But we should guarantee that in this great land--the greatest in the history of the world--people such as Ramona's dad, Robert Quimby, and Dorothy Quimby and her sister are being paid at least what they were getting back in 1968 in today's dollars. That is the way to keep families together. That is the way to keep faith with the dream all Americans have that they will have a fair shot. No one who works full time should live in poverty. No one who works should be so poor that they can't put food on the table or provide clothes for their children, or give them the erasers that Robert Quimby gave his daughters as a gift. To enable 14 million children in America to have a better life, let's pass this measure. And let's make sure that if it fails this week--and it shouldn't, but if it does, we bring it back, and we continue to bring it back as long as necessary to ensure a fair shot for all Americans who work hard and play by the rules. Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, in just a couple of hours in Milford, CT, at 7 p.m. this evening there will be a vigil that will bring together many different members of the Milford community to celebrate, mourn, and grieve the life of a beautiful young woman who suffered a senseless and brutal death last Friday morning. In this inexplicable act of violence, she was killed by a fellow classmate shortly after 7 in the morning. Jonathan Law High School was turned into a crime scene as members of the emergency responder team--first the police and then the medics-- sought to save her life. Tragically and unfortunately, they were unable to do so. The evening that was to be their junior prom instead became a vigil. We will perhaps never know what prompted this horrific and unimaginable act of brutality. This horrific event has united and brought together people who are now mourning Maren's death. We know with certainty what a wonderful human being Maren Sanchez was, and we also know this community has shown strength and courage by coming together and uniting to help each other--particularly those students who knew her. We also know with certainty how gifted, talented, compassionate, and caring she was as the manager of sports teams, a gifted singer, an athlete, school president, and an honor student. Her whole future was ahead of her. Most remarkably, she was a person of consummate caring and compassion for her fellow students. Those students struggle today to make some sense of this violence, to derive some meaning and maybe some comfort. I went to Jonathan Law High School yesterday for part of the afternoon and spoke with Chief of Police Keith Mello, whose men and women have helped the community so deeply; the mayor of Milford Ben Blake, who has demonstrated leadership in this crisis; the superintendent of schools and principal of Jonathan Law High School; and the many teachers and parents and students and the grief counselors and therapists who came to speak with those students and help them to think and live through this horrible tragedy. What is remarkable and so impressed me yesterday was the love and caring that people from disparate parts of this community showed for each other and continue to show in this testing time. This is a time of extraordinary adversity and tragedy. People who might otherwise be strangers are drawn together by the thread of grief and will reform the fabric of a community by simple acts of caring. They are united today in their grief and bewilderment. They are seeking to honor Maren's legacy and sustain it with the very qualities of courage, strength, caring, and compassion she demonstrated throughout her life. Those qualities of caring, compassion, courage, and strength will see them through this tragedy as they come together for the vigil tonight. We can all honor the legacy of this remarkable young woman by looking for ways to make the world better, as she sought to do, and filling it with song and color, the lust for life, and the joy and pride in her contemporary accomplishments. We need to search for steps we can take to make our schools better and safer. The time to talk about policy or steps to better school safety will come, and I hope we will all be a part of that continuing effort in exploring how to protect anyone and everyone who comes to school, which should be a haven of safety and insulated from violence-- particularly against the most vulnerable members of our community. But those policy responses can wait until after the days of grief and mourning have passed as we celebrate this remarkable young life. She was described by members of her class as an angel. Her cousin Edward Kovac said on Friday: Maren should be celebrating at her prom this evening with her friends and classmates. Instead, we are mourning her death and we are trying to understand this senseless loss of life. He said: She was a bright light full of hope and dreams. In fact, she was among the brightest of lights, full of the most wondrous hopes and dreams. So today my heart and prayers are with her family, her friends, the Milford community, as they gather for this vigil tonight. Separated by distance, I will be with them in spirit, as I know my colleagues who know of this tragedy will be as well. This kind of tragedy is indecipherable, incomprehensible to young men and women--16-year-olds-- but equally so to all of us of any age. My hope is that we will honor Maren Sanchez's legacy, that our hearts and prayers will go to her family, her parents, and all who knew her and all who would like to have known her because she was such a remarkable and wonderful human being. Thank you. I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize and honor the life and legacy of Paul Pawlak, Sr. I knew Paul from my work in Connecticut State government. He was a dedicated public servant and family man who worked on behalf of the town of Seymour and the State of Connecticut for his entire life. Living in Seymour, the town where he graduated from high school, Paul worked as an electrician for more than 40 years. During that time, he also tirelessly served his community in public office, serving as first selectman for 4 years, as second selectman for 8 years, Chairman of Seymour's Board of Education for 12 years, and a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives for 12 years. In the State legislature, he placed particular importance on protecting our natural environment, serving as chair of the Water Resources Committee and helping to fight pollution with the Clean Waters Act. Paul also believed in the importance of public health and of strong and responsive public institutions to maintain it. He was the first chairman of the Lower Naugatuck Valley Public Health Department, as well as a member of the board of directors of the Public Health Nursing and Homemaker's Services. And he understood that all these institutions needed to work together and cooperate in order to accomplish their missions. He helped to form the Valley Council of Governments and served as its first chairman. Paul's passing is mourned by all those who knew him and the many people whose lives he affected for the better through his work. Of course, however, those who will miss him the most are those who were closest to him: his wife Mildred, his brother Andrew, his children Paul Jr., Joseph, David, and Richard, and the many other family members and friends he leaves behind. For his service to Connecticut, and for the legacy of good work and family loyalty that he created, I honor Paul Pawlak, and I know that he will not be forgotten.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 9:45 a.m. in room SR-328A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 10 a.m., to hold a hearing entitled ``National Security and Foreign Policy Priorities in the FY 2015 International Affairs Budget.''

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 10 a.m., in room SD-215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Protecting Taxpayers from Incompetent and Unethical Return Preparers.''

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 2:15 p.m.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Airland of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 3:30 p.m.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 10 a.m. in room SD-406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 2:30 p.m., in room SD-106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct an executive business meeting.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 10 a.m.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 8, 2014, at 10 a.m., in room SR-328A of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled ``Advanced Biofuels: Creating Jobs and Lower Prices at the Pump.''

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here this morning on a very serious and important subject--the Paycheck Fairness Act. I thank my colleagues who were with me earlier today at an event we attended. The President is doing an event right now. He has announced he will require all Federal contractors to follow the rule that there should be no retaliation against people in the workplace who share information about their pay. It sounds like a basic principle of fairness but, unfortunately, the law has gaps that permit discrimination--gender discrimination, unequal pay for the same work. So today on Equal Pay Day, I am here to advocate for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will help fill some of those gaps. This issue is not a man's issue, it is not a woman's issue. It is a family issue. It is not about women, it is about paycheck fairness. So it is as much about men as it is about women. Right now 40 percent of all our families are supported by women either as the sole or primary breadwinner. That means the children in those families, and the men, depend on that income and on the fairness of their paychecks to keep a roof over their head and to keep food on the table. Paycheck fairness is about a fair shot--a fair shot for every woman and every person in American society. It is part of a larger agenda which includes raising the minimum wage, which we still have to do, and restoring unemployment insurance, which the Senate did yesterday but we still have to do in the House. That larger agenda about a fair shot goes to the core of the American conscience about what is right, but it also happens to be what is economically smart. Paying women equal to men for the same work means that women will come to jobs and they will work better in those jobs, more productively. Women have so much to contribute in jobs where they serve equally or better than men. Unfortunately, the promise of the Equal Pay Act, signed in 1963 by President Kennedy, has yet to be achieved. That promise was that equality would prevail in the workplace. Yet 51 years later the disparities are glaring, the gaps between gender pay are unacceptable and inexcusable. Women make only 77 percent of every dollar earned by men. The disparity is even greater in certain professions. In the janitorial profession, among supervisors, and among CEOs, women make 70 cents or less on the dollar. The same is true among financial advisers and among product inspectors. So the disparities cut across all professions. In fact, in 97 percent of all professions, women make less on average than men. That is why we must work to change the law. The Paycheck Fairness Act would accomplish a number of very simple straightforward goals. No. 1, it would enable workers to share information without fear of retaliation. Right now, a worker can be fired or demoted if he or she shares information about what they are making. The Lilly Ledbetter Act of 2009 advanced these goals and made some progress, but this threat of retaliation is real and completely unconscionable and it should be directly prohibited by law. Second, the burden should be on the employer to establish that pay disparities are business related or job specific. Those disparities ought to be the job of the employer to justify, not the employee. After all, it is not the employee who makes those decisions, it is the employer. So the employer ought to be the one to present a justification based on objective and real business-related or job- specific factors. Finally, the Paycheck Fairness Act provides for punitive damages. Only by establishing punitive damages can the evil and harm done by pay discrimination be effectively deterred. The economic penalty will discourage employers by providing real consequences for their discrimination. This issue is really an American issue that has resonance coast to coast, job to job, and person to person, but mostly it has resonance among families. The estimates are that eliminating the gender pay gap will reduce poverty among families headed by single working mothers from 28.7 percent to 15 percent. It will reduce poverty, most importantly, among children. It will give those children a leg up that they lack now. It will give their moms a sense of justified dignity and self-respect. It will make a practical difference in the lives of families, raising the self-respect and dignity of men as well as women. If they are the beneficiaries of false factors, simple gender discrimination, how can they justify the additional pay that they as men make? Discovering and proving discrimination is a formidable, daunting, sometimes insurmountable challenge. Discovering it is difficult enough. That is why sharing of information is necessary. Proving it is sometimes virtually impossible without the kind of law the Paycheck Fairness Act will provide, the rights and making those rights real that can be achieved, ending systemic pay discrimination that undermines and disserves our entire society. It demeans all of us. It fails to give people a fair shot when that is the ethos, the core conscience of American economic profit. A fair shot is not only fair, it is smart. It will promote jobs and economic growth, which all of us deeply want and deserve. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BLUMENTHAL

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I want to begin by remarking on the extraordinary and remarkable triumph of the UConn men's basketball team last night--a victory that is beyond my words to describe--and the achievement it represents for those players, for the school, for coach Kevin Ollie, and for the entire university, particularly in the face of last year's disqualification--unfair and unjustified, in my view. I am so proud of our team and the University of Connecticut for its steadfast and relentless pursuit of this national championship, which last night culminated in a huge and joyous triumph felt throughout Connecticut and, in fact, throughout the country. I will be commenting in greater length and depth on how this achievement reflects on the University of Connecticut, what it means to college athletics, and what lessons we can take from this great triumph. In the meantime, I am wearing my University of Connecticut tie with the emblem of the Huskies because last night's triumph is only a prelude to tonight. UConn is rolling with momentum toward two national championships. The women, I believe, will prevail tonight, and I expect to collect on another debt--the debt owed to me already by my colleagues from Kentucky I think will be supplemented tomorrow--and I will ask that my Kentucky colleague, Senator Paul, wear this tie, if only for a brief moment, to demonstrate who was the better team last night. They are both great teams, but Connecticut was the greatest.