50. who yields time?

mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president, i -- the presiding officer: may we have order, please? the senator from oklahoma is recognized. mr. inhofe: which senator from oklahoma? okay. senator leahy is somewhere around here, but since he is not on the floor, i will go ahead and present this. this is a leahy-inhofe amendment, and it's two almost unrelated things, but the leahy portion of the amendment extends the public safety officer program to -- benefits to six to ten families whose loved ones died in voluntary services. it's fully offset for ten years.

but the important part of this amendment is mine, and that is -- if i could have your attention over here, and i'm speaking to republicans now -- we have been trying to do this for a number of years, and senator leahy and i agreed to this. those of us who have been pilots -- and i have been for 55 years -- have been involved in a lot of humanitarian missions. the presiding officer: order, please. mr. inhofe: what this does is offer protection, liability protection to those of us who volunteer ourselves, our money and our aircraft to do missions that no one else will do. they are humanitarian missions. the longest one that i did was all the way down to domenica north of curacas, a, two hurricanes, and we saved a lot of lives down there. this would offer liability protection to those individuals who make those sacrifices. there are 8,000 of us, by the way, from around the country, i'm sure from every state represented here, so i would encourage you to support this

amendment. the presiding officer: the junior senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: thank you. i have no problems at all with my senior senators' modification of the leahy amendment, and i'm going to ask that we have a voice vote on this to accommodate everybody, recognizing the late hour, but i want to make a point. what senator leahy is want to go do is great, to help people, but the one question we have not asked and we're going to be asked to ask it all the time here forward given where we lie is is it a federal responsibility to supply these benefits? you can't find it in the constitution, you can't find it anywhere, and when we go and look at the hard decisions we're going to make over the next two years in terms of trimming both mandatory programs and discretionary programs, when we

set an example that we're going to expand something that's not in our constitutional role, we're making a mistake and we're setting ourselves up for failure. with that, i ask for the yeas and nays, a voice vote. the presiding officer: is all time yielded back? mr. coburn: i would ask unanimous consent to waive the

60-vote threshold on this vote and have a voice vote. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the question is on the amendment. all those in favor say aye. opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i would just ask consent that the statement i had before we voted -- and i appreciate my colleagues supporting my amendment. i ask that it be placed in the record before the vote as though

read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: "displo

mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the order of the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. without objection, the managers' amendment is agreed to. -- package is agreed to, excuse me. the clerk will read the bill for the third time. the clerk: calendar number 5, s. 223, a bill to modernize the air traffic control system and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the question is on the passage of the bill, as amended. mr. rockefeller: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there -- any senators wishing to vote or to change his or her vote? if not, the ayes are 87, the nays are 8. the bill is passed as amended. under the previous order the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid on the table and the measure will be held at the desk.

ms. murkowski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president, on roll call vote 24, i voted no, it was my intention to vote ayes aye, i ask unanimous consent to change my vote since it will not affect the outcome. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection.

quorum call:

mr. rockefeller: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: before we wrap this up entirely, there are just a couple of people i want to really thank. particularly i want to thank my ranking member, i refer to as my cochair, senator kay bailey hutchison for incredibly hard, smart, indefatigable commitment, pure determination to see this bill through. i could not have asked for a better partner on this bill or

as a partner on the commerce committee. we work in sync. it doesn't mean we have to agree on everything, but as it happens we usually do. i know and our colleagues should know that this bill simply would not have happened without her hard work, without her negotiating skills. everywhere, constantly. she was tenacious in getting a lot of deals done on what was the most contentious issue, slots, and she was patient and she was fair. i want my colleagues to know, i want the whole world to know how much i admire her as a person, as a professional, and i am grateful that she has applied her considerable expertise and legislative savvy to this effort. i also want to take a moment to tell my colleagues that i am very disappoint thad senator hutchison has chosen not -- disappointed that senator hutchison has chosen not to seek re-election. she has been a model public servant, she is a real model public servant who has made a difference in the lives of

americans. she has made texans proud. the senate will be worse off without her, the commerce committee will be worse off without her, the aviation world will be worse off without her, and most importantly, the people of texas will miss her talent and her clear ability to represent their interests at the federal level, and she is just amazing. i will reluctantly not begrudge her the opportunity to bring her considerable talents to her post-senate life, which she fully deserves, but i have her as my partner on the commerce committee for two more years, and for that i'm very grateful. we have two more years to team up and see what we can accomplish together and as a committee. we have a full agenda, and this bill is just the first of what i hope will be many joint successes in this congress. i want to take a few minutes to thank the staff that has worked so incredibly hard on this bill. the issues we deal with are very

difficult. sometimes they're very boring. sometimes they're just persistent. you have to scratch them all the time. and they're always arcane. we would not be able to do our jobs without the assistance of a very dedicated and smart staff on both sides of the aisle. i'm going to start with senator hutchison's staff first. i would like to thank jerry thompson, senator hutchison's lead aviation staffer, who worked seemlessly with my staff. -- seamlessly with my staff. such is not always the case in this body. the importance of his work on this bill cannot be overstated. he managed every issue in this bill with a calm professionalism that made a challenging process a lot easier. i'd also like to thank her staff director, ann beggan, who is truly a gem. that's called a jewel. and has been -- ann has been nominated to be commissioner of

the surface transportation board, and she is going to be a great asset to that commission. the committee will consider her nomination soon, and not trying to look ahead too far, i hate the thought of losing her but she is going to make a fantastic commissioner. finally, i would like to recognize the work of brian hendrix whose fierce tenacity was essential to getting this bill done. he has been absolutely instrumental, quietly working away, constantly getting things done. for my part, i'm fortunate to have a tremendous staff, too. in my state, my personal office is on the committee. i'm genuinely lucky to have managed to hold onto a very talented group of people that each fundamentally appreciate that it is a privilege to be in public service. if you don't have that instinct, you're not going to do a lot around here. the staff of the aviation subcommittee is truly exceptional, because gale

sullivan never seeks recognition, i want to spend a minute giving him the recognition and tremendous credit he deserves. he has spent ten years on the subcommittee and almost 20 years as staffer on the commerce committee. he knows everything that there is to know about aviation. he works enormously hard day in and day out, whether we're on the floor or just trying to solve a problem of a rural airport or small community dependent upon essential air service. gale is here because he is absolutely dedicated to making a difference. gale has been critical to aviation -- every aviation bill that we have tried on this committee. his hard work has helped produce a safer, more efficient air traffic system and a more secure aviation system. working with rich swaiz -- swayze, rich is an aviation expert as well. from his ph.d. thesis on air service to his work at g.a.o., rich has developed his expertise and my colleagues have benefit

interested that. rich has put countless hours into this bill over the last three years. he has worked tirelessly on helping resolve the thorniest of issues, like, for example, slots. adam duffy is the third member of my aviation team. adam keeps the subcommittee running. helping draft materials for the bill or comparing for the floor, he has done yeoman's work in drafting the paper, the amendments and making sure i had what i needed. his is not a glamorous job at times, but sometimes those are the most important jobs of all. and finally, there is james reid. james reid for many years has been a senior advisor to me on the commerce committee issues, including both in my office at the hart building and the committee, including aviation. he is the deputy staff director of the commerce committee since i became chair, and i don't know what i would do without him.

literally don't know. i have known james for many years. i know how smart he is. this tragedy of how things get done and staff is never recognized for what they really are, and that is the group that puts all of it together. and how funny he is. now, it's an art form to get to the funny part, but he is one of the funniest people i know. and what a good heart he has. i still marvel at his sheer skill, whether it's working through the details of a vexing legislative dilemma or thinking through the best strategic maneuver to achieve success. james can do it all. i totally rely on him. i am so grateful for his willingness to sacrifice more lucrative opportunities as so many of our staff are willing to do to make the commerce committee work. i know the entire staff feels the same way that i do. mr. chairman, i yield -- i yield the floor.

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i want to thank my colleague, senator rockefeller, for the wonderful words about myself, about both of our staffs, and just i think suffice it to say that the leadership comes from the top, and senator rockefeller as chairman of the commerce committee has put together a staff and a mandate for all of us that we are going to be a productive committee, we are going to work together, we're going to shoot straight, and that's exactly what our staffs do and it's what we do, and the reason that we get along so well

and have done so much is that we may not agree on every issue, but we try to help each other in a way that achieves the overall goal that we both want and then we have the room to differ on specific ways to get there. so it is a pleasure to be the ranking member of the commerce committee, and i do feel like i am a full partner even though i'm not the chairman of the committee, i do feel like the vice chairman. so thank you, mr. chairman. i think that we have accomplished so much tonight. we haven't passed on final passage this bill, but the authorization bill that preceded this one was passed in 2007. we have had 18 short-term

extensions. the f.a.a. runs our aviation system in this country. it is responsible for the safety, it is responsible for the consumer protection, and it is responsible for managing the air traffic in this country and managing the fund that helps airports with infrastructure. so short-term extensions don't work, and infrastructure and the areas where you have to have long-term planning. we have been trying to start the process of the long-term planning for the next generation of air traffic control systems since 2007. tonight we have passed a major hurdle, and the house is going along on the same track to pass an f.a.a. re-authorization, and i believe that we will pass the

final bill, i hope before the short-term extension runs out at the end of march, and that will be our goal, and i think because we have come together on this bill that we have a good chance of doing that. so i think that having the first major bill on the floor in this session of congress be this one was a big test, and i think the way it was handled -- and i want to commend here our leaders, harry reid and mitch mcconnell. the way harry reid let the process work, we had plenty of time for amendments. senator mcconnell was very helpful in assuring that the amendments were not an overload. there was no attempt to filibuster this bill. and i think that is the way we ought to proceed for the next two years, and i think we've

made a great start on this bill. people have had their say, they have had their debate time, and that, i hope, is the way the senate will resume. i do want to say that there were tough issues. the perimeter rule around washington reagan national airport was the biggest sticking point, and it took a lot of give on all sides to assure that the relaxation of the perimeter rule through exemptions was done in a way that will not hurt any of the stakeholders, i believe. i believe there is a balance. i believe we will have more western senators able -- i mean western senators and their constituents able to have direct access to national airport. i think we have done right by

the airlines that are incumbent carriers at washington national, and we have made room for new entrants into washington national, and it was very difficult. and i just want to single out a few people who made huge contributions to this success. senator kyl from arizona, senator ensign from nevada. they represented the western interests so well, and they know aviation and they knew what we could do, and we have made great progress. i also want to commend senator wyden from oregon, senator cantwell who is going to be the new chairman of the aviation committee in the commerce committee. they both represented the northwest and alaska very well. senator begich and senator

murkowski also did so much to help us thread the needle that would be a balanced bill. and then there was senator warner who also had a different interest, and that was to protect his constituents from congestion around washington national, and i think we were able to accommodate the needs of the people who live around national airport as well through the leadership of senator warner. so i want to say that it took a lot of negotiation to get there, and that's why really this bill took several weeks to do. so i'm very proud and pleased that we have done this. i, too, want to recognize the staffs without whom none of us could do the research and the detail work that are necessary. i will start with senator

rockefeller's democratic commerce staff. ellen deneski runs the senate majority on the commerce committee and she is a joy. she and anne beggeman, who runs the republican side, are truly colleagues who can shoot straight, there are never surprise, we trust each other, we don't always agree, the answer's not always "yes," but the answer is straight. and that's what you need when you are working together to achievachieve results. james reid on this bill -- i didn't know he was funny, because, frankly, there hadn't been much fun for the last two weeks. but i'm glad to know that we have a personality trait that i'm going to get to learn. but i did know he was smart. and i did know that he was very

helpful in the capability to work things out with the many, many amendments and needs of all of our colleagues when it got to the -- to the big bill. thank you. gayle sullivan, rich swayze, bruce andrews, adam duffy all really helped in this effort. i want to thank the floor staffs from both sides. you know, they're the ones who are sitting in front of us right now. they've been sitting in front of us about 9:00 every night that we have been on this bill. so i want to thank tim mitchell, gary myrick, trish aengle and the majority staff. on our side, i think we couldn't do without dave schappa, laura dove, jodie hernandez and all the cloakroom staff. honestly, i have to say that the floor staff make the trains run

on time and they also work things out sometimes that we don't even have to do. so i really appreciate so much all you-all do. and you are the wind beneath our wings. i want to thank also on our si side, first senator mcconnell's staff, scott robb, who is the aviation commerce committee staff person, and we really appreciate his efforts to help us keep things on track for the leader. and then my own senate commerce committee staff, and this is where i want to say that we have a great commerce committee sta staff, some of whom will be leaving and this may be their final achievement, and i'm very pleased that they are going to leave on such a high. anne beggeman is the chief of

our commerce committee staff, and as the chairman pointed out, she has been given a great position, a promotion. she's been appointed to be a commissioner on the surface transportation board. and she's going to do a great job. in fact, i think that she's accusing us of holding up her hearing because we like her so much, but she is going to, in fact, have a hearing in the next couple of weeks and i know she will be confirmed because everyone who works with her knows what a great manager and a great leader she has been on our staff. i want to thank brian hendricks. brian was described by the chairman as quietly effective, and we all started laughing on the back bench because brian is a tiger. and we need his brilliance and

his tenacity in all of the major things we do on the commerce committee. and, in fact, brian is going to be the new incoming chief of staff of the republican commerce committee when anne beggeman takes her new position at the surface transportation board. and he has earned this by leading us through some of the toughest things. not only this bill, where he was a help, but also taking the lead on the nasa bill that we also passed through our committee which i think has the nasa authorization bill that was passed through the commerce committee and through the leadership of brian hendricks and all of us on the commerce committee, is saving america's position in space exploration.

and we couldn't have done it without brian hendricks, and i will never forget the contribution that he has made to america. and he's going to be with us for a long time to come as well. jared thompson was the lead on this bill, and as the chairman said, we couldn't have done it without jared. he knows aviation backward and forward. there's wan not a question thats ever asked about what the rules were, what the law was, who was at every airport. he has been the aviation committee clerk through the relaxation of the wright amendment, restrictions around love field and d.f.w. airport. and when we started on this bill and we got to the perimeter rule at washington national, it was like jared thompson had been through this before and he knew

what restrictions were and how you could ease them in a balanced way. and it was, in fact, jared who came up with the way forward when we were at a complete impasse at 9:00 last night. so he is essential to our team as well. nick rossey, a very important part of our staff, is also getting a promotion. susan collins has stolen him from our staff to make him staff director at homeland security, and we never argue when people are promoted and we will miss him very much because he has been an invaluable member of the commerce committee staff and he'll do a great job running the homeland security committee republican side of that committee staff. patrick mulane is going to be moving over to the budget committee. he was a great help.

he knows transportation backward and forward. and todd burdeson is a great member of our team who is staying with us and will continue to contribute so much with his expertise in marine and ocean, which is another part of our commerce committee jurisdiction. so i am very pleased that we have been able to achieve a great bill that i know is taking us the next step toward the reauthorization bill that is going to put the f.a.a., our air traffic control system, our consumer protections and our safety in the place where it ought to be. and, mr. chairman, thank you for your leadership. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. rockefeller: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: i ask unanimous -- i believe there's no order of the quorum call in effect. the presiding officer: that's correct. mr. rockefeller: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 12, s. 365. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 12, s. 365, a bill to make a technical amendment to the education sciences reform act of 2002. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? if not, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i further ask that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed at the appropriate place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the e.p.w. committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 307 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 307, a bill to designate the federal building and united states courthouse located at 217 west king street, martinsburying, wesbering, as t. king federal courthouse. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding? without objection, the senate -- without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and that any statement relating to the measure be printed in the record at the appropriate place. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the

committee on environment and public works be discharged from furthered consideration of s. 266 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 266, a bill to redesignate the inocuby national wildlife refuge as the sam d. wilson national wildlife refuge. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? if not, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. rockefeller: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and in i statements relating to the measure appear at the appropriate place in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration en bloc of the following resolutions which were submitted earlier today: s. res. 72, s. res. 73, s. res. 74, s. res. 75, and s. res. 76.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: i ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc with no intervening action or debate and any statements relating to the resolutions be printed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. con. res. 17, the adjournment resolution, which was received from the house and is at the desk. that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. for the record, the house concurrent resolution 17.

mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to -- to executive session to consider calendar number 12, that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record. that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and that the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that on monday, february 28, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 6, s. 23, the patent reform act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that on monday, february 28, 2011, at 4:30 p.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider

the following nomination, calendar number 2 and calendar number 9. that there be one hour for debate equally divided in the usual form. that upon the use or yielding back of time calendar number 2 be confirmed and the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on calendar number 9, the motions to be reconsidered be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and senate would then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the senate, the president of the senate, the president pro tempore and the majority leader and minority leader be authorized to make appointments to commission, committees, boards, conferences or

parliamentary conferences by concurrent action of the two houses or by order of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment of the senate, the majority leader, senator rockefeller and senator webb, be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn under the provisions of h. con. res. 17 until 2:00 p.m. on monday, february 28th. that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and senator isakson then deliver washington's farewell address to the senate. that following the address, there be a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. with senators permitted to speak

therein for up to 10 minutes each. further at 3:30 the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 6, s. 23, the patent reform act of 2011, and finally i ask at 40:00 the senate proceed -- 4:30 the senate proceed to the executive session to debate the nominations of amy totteberg and steve jones as provided for under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, senators should expect roll call votes at approximately 5:30 on monday, february 28th on confirmation to executive calendar number 9, the nomination of steve jones of georgia to be u.s. district judge of the northern district of georgia, the nomination of amy tottenberg to be the judge of the northern district of georgia will be confirmed by a voice vote. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: under the previous order, under h. con.

previous order, under h. con.

>> secretary of state, hillary clinton, spoke earlier about the

need to avoid more violence in bahrain where demonstrations have taken place. after the meeting, she spoke to reporters. >> good afternoon. general cartwright and i and under secretary burns have just come out of a bipartisan classified briefing with senators where we talked about recent events in egypt enelsewhere in the middle east. joel carte right and secretary burns and i wanted to come up to capitol hill to let our congressional colleagues know what we're doing to support egypt as it works towards an open accountable representative government. it's very clear that there's a great deal of work ahead to ensure an orderly democratic

transition. it's also clear that egypt will be grappling with the immediate and long term economic challenges. united states stands ready to provide assistance to egypt to advance its efforts. i'm pleased to announce today we will be reprogramming $150 million for egypt to put ourselves in a position to support the transition there and assist with their economic recovery. these funds will give us flexibility to respond to egyptian needs moving forward. under secretary burns and diffed lipton, a senior white house adviser on white house economics, will travel to egypt next week to consult with egyptian counterparts and deploying our assistance in line with their priorities. we also doesed the lessons of the recent events in egypt and the broader middle east. these events demonstrate why the

united states must remain fully engaged around the world. in egypt, afghanistan, iraq, yemen, and so many places. the men and women of the state department are working to advance our interests, our values, and most importantly, our national security. this work is vital and it needs proper funding. i told our congressional colleagues that the fy-fiscal year 2011 spending bill on the house floor now would have serious negative consequences for the national security. the 16% cut for state and u.s. aid in that bill would, for example, force us to scale back dramatically on our missions in the front line states of iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan. i certainly realize that these are very tough budget times, and we must justify every single

penny that we ask for, but as general cartwright told our senate colleagues, diplomats, and development experts who are working side by side with our military troops in those countries to sewer the gains we've made, and we cannot do the job with two of our three hands tied behind our back. as the event, of the past month have shown in advancing our interests takes constant and coordinated effort from across our government. congress is a crucial partner in this work, and i look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues here to continue strengthening american national security. general, would you like to say anything? >> i think to reenforce how important it is. every sees the -- everybody sees the soldier out there in iraq and afghanistan, but with every soldier, there's

an association with either state department, diplomatic corp., u.s.-aid, and they are essential. as we make the transition to iraq more essential not to lose the gains and treasure we sacrificed by not recognizing that mission is going to be picked up by the civilians, and it must be resourced. >> thank you. >> madam secretary, can you comment on specifically the recent developments with bahrain, and also could you reflect on a comment when you were there when you said i am impressed with the commitment the government has with the democratic pallet that bahrain is walking on. >> and i am very happy to respond because as we've said repeatedly, the united states strongly apposes the use of violence and supports reform that moves towards democratic institution building and economic openness. i called my counterpart in

bahrain this morning and directly conveyed our deep concern about the actions of the security forces, and i emphasized how important it was that given that there will be both funerals and prayers tomorrow, that that not be marred by violence. i stressed the need to seriously engage all sectors of society in a constructive con tule sative -- consul at alation dialogue to move in a way forward in the aspirations of the people, and there have been reform steps taken which we want to see continue. we want to see strengthed. we believe that all people have universal rights including the right to peaceful assembly, and bahrain is a friend and an ally and has been for many years, and while all governments have a

responsibility to provide citizens with security and stability, we call on restraint. we call on restraint from the government to keep its commitment to hold accountable those who have utilized excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, and we urge a return to a process that will result in real meaningful changes for the people there. >> [inaudible] will the u.s. support spending an envoy on behalf of the u.s. security counsel? >> well, first of all, there already is a mechanism that the u.s. is apart of as well as the european union and russia. we don't -- it represents all four members.

our focus is on doing what is best to advance negotiations between the parties that will lead to a two state solution, and we have consistently over many years said that the united nations security counsel and resolutions that would come before the security counsel are not the right vehicle to advance that goal, so we're working with our partners in the security counsel, with our friends in the region to find a consensus way forward that is consistent with our overall approach. there are a lot of rumors flying around, and i'm not getting into specifics at this time. the president, our president, president obama, spoke with president abbas about the peace process and the broader regional context. i don't want to get into the details of that call, but our goal is absolutely the same as it always has been, two states

living side by side. the palestinians having a state of their own to realize the aspirations of the palestinian people. israel with secure borders and normalized relations with all of their neighbors. that is what this administration is working towards, and that is what we're going to continue to pursue. thank you all very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> a number of state governors have rejected frat funding for

high speed rail projects. >> the financial system is getter off today than it was two years ago. he testified before the banking committee with heads of the security and exchange commission

and the deposit insurance corporation. they discussed the dad-frank act. this is duohours and -- two hours and 20 minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> i want to call to order the first committee meeting of the 112th congress. the last several years have been a historic time for this committee. i have big shoes to fill following in the footsteps of my recent predecessors. i'm thankful and humbled by this opportunity, and i look forward to working with all of my colleagues on the committee to make this a productive session of congress. we have five new members joining our committee, and i would like to welcome senators haggen,

muran, and i look forward to working with all of you. there is an important work ahead of us. i'm committed to an agenda that will bolster our economic recovery, make our financial regulations world class, and ensure that consumers and investors have the protections they deserve. to final parts of this agenda with with the implementation of dodd-frank and beginning the process of housing financial reform. we compiled a further list of issues the committee may consider which will be posted on the committee's website today. this morning, we hold the first in ray series of -- in a series of the dodd-frank

implementation. there's no shortage of topics for us to discuss today. in the coming weeks and months, we will take a closer look at many issues important to myself and the members of this committee. the committee's oversight will think to ensure that the letter in this spirit of the new law are being implemented by the regulatory agencies, public comment and proposed rules are being appropriately solicited and concerted and the new law is enforced. legitimate concerns are recognized and addressed and that they have the resources they need. the regulators have been hard at work, and i look forward to learning more about the progress implementing the dodd-frank act. i want to be clear that

dodd-frank act has part significant and much needed reform to our financial system. it improves consumer-investor protection, fills regulatory gaps by bringing oversight to the derivatives market, and helps provide -- avoid another financial crisis. this em policemennation -- implementation will create certainty for the business community, consumers, and investors. in turn, that certainty will bring market participants back to the table and restore consumer and investor confidence. a task of this complexity was such a global impact must be done with great care to avoid unintended consequences that

could impair economic growth or send good paying jobs overseas. our oversight agenda will make sure we're on the right track. i commend the hard work of all of the regulators. i look forward to working closely with all of you to be sure we get this right, and i thank you for being here today in an incredibly busy week with the release of the budget. because of the busy schedules of our regulators, we will limit opening statements today to myself and ranking members shelby and i ask the other members of the committee to submit their opening statements for the record. with that, i turn to senator shelby. >> thank you, mr. chairman. last year, congress passed the dodd-frank financial reform act as the chairman has mentioned.

the president and majority proclaimed the act a his tore click accomplishment. at the signing ceremony, the president declared the act would provide certainty to our markets and lifted our economy -- lift our economy to a more prosperous future. eight months later, the effects are now setting in. unemployment rate still stands at record levels. while the political forces that drove the passing of this, the huge cost of the act are now becoming clier. the dodd-frank party, i believe, is over. unfortunately, our economy is now preparing to pay the tab. our financial regulators have begun to implement dodd-frank and the decisions they make over the next few months will impact every american. regulators will determine if americans can buy a home or a car, if they can get loans to start businesses. they will also determine what

financial products are available and to whom they may be sold. in dodd-frank, the majority party delegate the an unprecedented amount of authority and discretion to the bureaucracy. our regulators now have more than 200 rule makingings to complete by july. the work to implement the rules are staggering. for lobbyists, lawyers, dodd-frank is a gold mine. for the rest of us, however, it means more red tape, more government, fewer choices, and high fees. today, i hope to learn more about how our regulators plan to mansion this un-- manage this workload. concerns are raised about the fairness of the rule making process. in the rush to comply with the unrealistic deadline set in dodd-frank, the regulators had to focus on speed rather than

deliberation. while our regulators will do their best to comply with the deadlines, congress, i believe, should seriously examine whether the speed of the process is underminding its integrity. there are early indications that it is. one of the hallmarks of our regulatory process is openness. yet, with so many rule makings considered simultaneously, public participation could be stifled. it may be practically impossible for parties to provide thorough comments on so many rules and for regulators to fully consider every comment in such a short time frame. they will receive an enormous quality of comments, what matters is the quality of the interaction of the commentators and regulators. i believe we should consider whether the final rules would be better if our regulators had more time to hear from the public. another consequence of the hasty

rule making process is that our regulators may not be proposerly conduct -- proposerly conducting proposed rule. everything should include an understanding of its cost. unfortunately, there are serious questions regarding the willingness and the ability of our regulators to conduct such analysis. at the fcc, the position of chief economist has been vacant for 10 months. at the cftc, the commission of the chief economist was vacant for 11 months before finally being filled this past december. i believe the failure to promptly fill these key positions suggest that economic analysis is not a high priority for our regulators. in the light of the fact that the cost imposed by these rules may cause some americans to lose their jobs, our regulatory agency should make themselves aware of the economic impact of proposed rules before adopting

them. while improvements in the rule making process can smooth implementation of dodd-frank, i'm under no illusions it can offer long term consequences. dodd-frank is going to be very, very expensive. dodd-frank may not raise taxes directly, but consumers will soon feel its cost when they pay high regulatory fees, higher compliance costs, and higher prices for financial services. just this past week, the president's budget calls for the cftc to impose $117 million in new taxes in the form of user fees to pay for the cost of dodd-frank. over the coming months, the hidden costs will grow as our regulators impose new rules and regulations. i hope the committee will focus at least as much attention on the cost as it does the rules

over the next few months. thank you, mr. chairman. >> the committee will now turn to executive session. the committee has been in executive session to consider the committee's work budget, procedure, and subcommittee structure and jurisdiction. every member should have received an should have in front of them a copy of the rules of procedure, the resolution of the budget, and the document on the subcommittee membership and structure which were thought of discussions between ourselves over the past three weeks and have now been agreed upon by me and ranking member shelby. budget and committee rules with pretty straightforward, and it will not take a lot of time here on the subcommittees except to commend my colleagues for their interest and willingness to take

on subcommittee assignments. i intend in this congress to encourage robust subcommittee participation. i think it enhances the work of the committee if our subcommittees actually conduct hearings and proceed along those lines. i have always believed in the practice of providing the subcommittee chairs with the necessary resources to be able to do so. it is not just a rhetorical comment like one accompanied by getting work down. i'm very grateful to the subcommittee chairs and the last congress which did a very good job on a range of issues, and to those who have agreed to chair the subcommittees in this congress. holding hearings and providing counsel to the full committee

how we should proceed. there's one clutch in the document before you which is that senators were mistakenly place on four subcommittees and the committee rules only allow membership on three subcommittees. senator has gracefully agreed that this morning to withdraw from the economic subcommittee and senator brom on subcommittees will replace him. i ask consent to make these modifications to the membership list before you. without objection, it is so modified. with that, senator shelby, do you have anything to add under

organizational manners? >> no, sir. >> is there any further discussion? senator merkley, i understand you wanted to discuss a proposal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm going to be very brief because i did agree to withdraw the amendments at the request of our chairman, but i wanted to mention that the thought behind them, i think, is one we should continue to wrestle with which is essentially how do we make the u.s. senate less segregated? most state legislatures provide seating by democrat, republican, democrat, republican or have other mechanisms to decrease the isolation of the parties. the u.s. senators enormously is split, and split in ways that are aggravated of the developments of the last two decades, specifically, senators used to live here with their families, they were here for sweekds, had dinner together,

those connections are largely gone, and the fact, the ability to have connections in settings like this is caused by the size of the room. there's ideas that various senators mentioned for addressing this. one is to have every other seating, and a second is to have our three central figures, our chairman and ranking of both parties occupy permanent seats, but have others grab their name tag on the way in. this is not the time to have a long institution, and i agreed to withdraw the amendments, but i did want to mention it. we have to keep wrestling on making our senate and nation less polarized and increase connection and dialogue between the parties. with that, i wra the two amendments, and thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you. this committee has more often than not operated in a bipartisan manner, and the hope thats is not necessary to sit side by side in order to work

side by side. that said, i appreciate your thoughtfulness on this matter, and i'm confident that both sides of the aisle will continue to work together. since there are no other amendments to be offered, i move the adoption and block of the committee budget resolution, the subcommittee structure, and membership document, and the committee rules of procedure by a proposed vote. all those in favor? all those opposed? the aye's have it, and the measures are adopted and blocked, and the budget resolution is reported. i have unanimous consent that the staff be allowed to make any changes that the rule will be waived. hearing no objections, it is so ordered. i thank my colleagues for their

cooperation, and now we can return to the hearing phase of our meeting to hear from regulators on their implementation thus far on the dodd-frank wall street reform legislation. before i begin the introductions of our witnesses today i want to remind the colleagues that the record will be open for the next seven days for any materials you'd like to submit. the hon national ben s. beer -- bernanke, federal reserve system is serving second term as chairman which began on february 1 of last year before becoming

chairman, he was chairman of the president's counsel of economic for advisers from 2005 to 2006. also, he served the federal reserve system in a variety of roles in addition to serving as professor of economics at princeton university. sheila bair chair of the deposit insurance corporation, before that, she was in the policy of the management at the university of massachusetts. she was also the substantiate secretary for financial institutions at the u.s. department of the treasury from 2001 to 2002. the hon national mary schapiro

is chair of securities and exchange committee. she was appointed by president obama in january of 2009. previously, she was ceo of the financial industry regulatory authority. chairman schapiro served as commissioner of the fcc from 1988 to 1994 and chairman of the teacher's credit commission from 94 to 96. the honorable gary gensler is chair commodity futures and trading commission which oversees the options markets in the u.s.. chairman gensler previously served in the treasury department under secretary of domestic, finance, and

assistance secretary of financial markets. in addition, he served as tenure adviser to the senate ranking committee. mr. john walsh is act comptroller of the currency. mr. chairman walsh assumed the position last august and previously served as chief of staff in public affairs. he has been with the occ since 2005 and prior to that was the executive director of the group 30. mr. walsh also serves with the senate banking committee from 86-92. i thank you for being here today. i regret that i had my surgery

on my voicebox recently, but i hope it will clear up. chairman bernanke, you may begin your testimony. >> thank you. members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify about the federal reserves implementation of the dodd-frank act. it addresses critical gaps in the framework, many revealed by the recent financial crisis. the federal reserve is committed 20 working with the other regulatory agencies to implement the act effectively. we are cooperating with the international counterparts to further strengthen regulation to ensure a level playing field across country, and to enhance supervisory cooperation, and we have enhanced the supervisory function at the federal reserve to better meet the objectives of the meet. the act gives the federal

reserve important responsibilities to make rules to implement the law and apply the new rules. in particular, the act requires the federal reserve to complete more than 50 rule makes and set formal guidelines as well as a number of studies and reports. we've been assigned formal responsibilities to collaborate with other committees on a span number of rules and studies. so that we meet the obligations on time, we draw on expertise and resources across the system in banking supervision, economic research, financial markets, consumer protection, and analysis. in all more than 300 members of the federal reserve staff are working on dodd-frank implementation projects. we created a senior staff commission to coordinate the efforts and created a tracking tool to facilitate management and oversight of the implementations. we made considerable process in our responsibilities.

we have provided oversight to the counsel and assisting the counsel in designing its risk monitoring and evaluation process and in developing its proceed childrens for identifying systemically important nonbank firms and financial market utilities. we also are h new aves of financial research develop data reporting standards to support the counsel's systemic risk monitoring and evaluation duties. we contributed significantly to the counsel's recent studies, one on the rules for trading and private fund activities, and the second one on the exponential limit. we are now developing for public comment the necessary rules to implement the important restrictions and limits. last week, we adopted a final rule to ensure activities prohillary clintoned by the rule are invested or term that the in the time period required by the act. we have been moving forward

rapidly in other areas. we issued a study on the potential effect of the act's credit risk retention requirements on securitization market as well as an advanced notice on credit ratings in the regulations of federal banking agency. in addition, in december,ed board and other agencies requested comment on a proposed rule to implement the rules required by the cullens amendment. in december, we requested comment on proposed rules for debit card interchange fees and inhibit the act on exclusivity arrangements and routeing restrictions. the board together with the fcc, ots provided the congress a comprehensive report on the agency's progress and plans relating to the transfer of the supervisory authority of the ots for thrifts and thrift holding companies. the issue and we and the banks established offices to build on

our existing opportunity programs to promote diversity in management employment and business activities. we continue to work closely with other agencies to develop joint rules to implement the credit risk retention requirements for securitizations, resolution plans or living wills for large bank holding companies and counsel designated nonbank firms, and capital requirements for swap dealers and swap participants. we are consulting with the fcc on a variety of rules to enhance the efficiency of the markets. including rules that would require most standardized derivatives to be traded and cleared require the registration and prudential regulation of swap participants and improve the transparency of derivatives. we are coordinating with the ftc on the agency's respective rule makings on standard for utilities and working with market regulators in central

banks and other countries to update the international standards for these utilities. the transfer of the federal reserve consumer protection responsibilities specified in the act to the new bureau consumer protection is well underway. a team at the board headed by governor duke is working closely with the staff and at the treasury to facilitate the transition. we provided technical assistance as well as staff members to assist it in setting up its functions. we have finalize the funding agreements and provided funding. moreover, we made substantial progress towards a framework for transferring staff members to the cfpb and integrating employees into the benefit programs. one of the federal reserves most important dodd-frank implementation projects is to develop more strict standards for all large banking organizations and for nonbank firms designated by the

counsel. beside capital liquidity, these standards include stress tests, new counterparty credit limits and risk management requirements. we are working to produce a well-integrated set of rules to significantly strengthen the framework for large complex financial firms and the financial system. complementing these issues, the federal reserve has been working for some time with other regulatory agencies and central banks around the world to design and implement a stronger set of prudential requirements for acting banking firms. these efforts resulted in the adoption in the summer of 2009 of more strict capital standards for trading activities and securitization exposures. of course, it also includes the agreements reached in the past couple months on the new framework for globally active banks. this should make the financial system stable and reduce the

likelihood of financial crisis by requiring these banks to hold more and better quality capital and more robust liquidity buffers. . . to oversee a broader range of financial firms and business

models. it also requires supervisors to chicken macroprovincial approach that is the federal reserve and other financial regulatory agencies are expected to supervise financial institutions and critical the infrastructure's with an eye towards multi the safety and soundness of each individual firm but also taking into account risks to the overall financial stability we believe a successful macroprovincial approach to the provision requires both the multidisciplinary perspective. our experience in 2009 with the supervisor decapolis as the program properly known as the bank stress test demonstrated the feasibility and benefits of employing such a perspective. building on the experience and other lessons learned from the recent financial crisis we have reoriented our supervision of the largest most complex banking firms to include greater use of horizontal or cost firm evaluations on the practices and portfolios of the firms. improved quality that surveillance mechanisms and

better use of the broad range of skills of the federal reserve staff. we have created a new office of financial stability within the federal research which will monitor financial developments across a range of markets and firms and coordinate with the council on the other agencies to strengthen oversight. the federal reserve is committed to its longstanding practice of insuring all of its rulemakings are conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner. accordingly we are disclosing our public website of all communications with members of the public including banks, trade associations, consumer groups and academics regarding matters subject to a proposed future rulemakings under the act. we also implemented measures within the act to enhance the federal reserve transparency. in december we released detailed information regarding individual transactions conducted between december 1st, 2007 and july 20, 2010 across a wide range of the federal reserve liquidity programs and we are developing

the necessary processing is to disclose the information concerning the transactions conducted after july 20, 2010 on the delayed basis as provided in the act hope to conclude the dodd-frank act is a step forward for the financial regulation in the united states. the federal reserve will work with overfill regulators, the congress and the administration to ensure the law is implemented expeditiously and in a manner that best protect the stability of our financial system and our economy. thank you. >> thank you, chairman bernanke. ms. bear, members of the committee, think for the opportunity to testify today on the fdic's progress in implementing the dodd-frank act. first a quick to congratulate senator johnson on becoming chairman and it's an honor to be called to testify for the hearing. we appreciate your efforts in the past on issues like deposit insurance reform and we look forward to your leadership as we address future challenges in the

financial industry. the recent financial crisis has great shortcomings in the private sector risk-management and framework for the financial regulation. in the crisis hit, the policy makers were faced with a choice of propping up large failing institutions or risking bankruptcy as we saw in the lehman brothers failure. landmark dodd-frank act enacted last year created a regulatory and resolution regime to protect the american people from the severe economic consequences of financial instability to get it gives the regulators the tools to curb excessive risk-taking, enhanced supervision and facilitate the liquidation of large banks and non-bank financial companies in the event of a failure. the act requires or authorizes the fdic to implement some of 44 regulations including 18 independent and 26 joint rulemakings which we are doing as expeditiously and has transparently as possible. many of the fdic rulemakings stem from the mandate to end to big to fail.

first implementing the new orderly resolution of doherty we are making clear there will be no more bailouts of the large financial institutions. our goal is the market expectations and financial restitution credit ratings should over time fully reflect this reality. consistent with the dodd-frank mandate our recent rule requires creditors and shareholders, not taxpayers to bear the losses of the failure and makes clear that the fdic resolution powers would not be used to bail out another institution to bid to make the most effective use of the new resolution authorities, it is essential that we have access to the information we need to monitor the entities and conduct advanced planning to wind them down without disruption to the broader system. to this end, the fdic and federal reserve are working to establish requirements for the firms to maintain a credible actionable resolution plans that would facilitate the orderly resolution. if the entities are unable to demonstrate they are resolvable, we should be repaired to require

structural changes so they can be run down and they can't make the structural changes we should require the faster. the fdic is working closer with of the counterparts to develop the criteria for designating systemically important resolutions the will be subject to enhanced supervision and the need to maintain the plans. the fdic board has also implemented the authority under dodd-frank to strengthen and reform the deposit insurance fund. the act will enable us to make a positive balance during the crisis. while also maintaining steady and predictable assessment rates over time. we've expanded the assessment base and used the deposit insurance assessments and removed reliance and credit ratings while making a large bank assessments more sensitive to risk. also under the amendment, the capitol requirements for bank holding companies and nonbanks will be made as strong as those applied to the community banks. the federal banking agencies are in the early stages to implement this provision and taking steps to implement the proposals for strengthening the capitol

liquidity standards as the german bernanke mentioned. the dodd-frank act addresses the misaligned incentives and securitization by requiring the agencies to develop risk retention standards for the loan securitizations ed define the standards for the qualified in residential mortgages the would not be subject to the risk retention. as of interagency process moves forward we believe the standards must conclude incentives to appropriately serve as securitized loans. research and recent experience shows the importance of service and to market performance and risk but most securitizations currently don't provide the proper resources or incentives for services to effectively engage in lost litigation. as the implementation moves forward, the industry should understand dodd-frank torian no way intended to impede the ability of small and mid-sized institutions to compete in the marketplace. instead, they should do much to restore the competitive balance by suspecting important institutions to great market discipline and regulatory oversight. history reminds us financial markets cannot function in an

efficient and stable manner without strong clear regulatory guidelines. many americans have lost their jobs, their homes or both. even as some any of our largest financial the institutions receive government assistance that enable them to survive and recover. we have a clear obligation to the members of the public who suffered the greatest losses as a result of the crisis to prevent such an episode from ever occurring. thank you very much. >> thank you, chairman bear. ms. shapiro. >> chairman johnson, ranking member shall be and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of the securities exchange commission regarding implementation of the dodd-frank wall st reform and consumer protection act. the act is intended to fill a number of significant regulatory gaps, bring greater public transparency and market accountability to the financial system and give the sec important tools with which to better protect investors. it also assigns the sec new

authority for over-the-counter derivatives, hedge funds and credit rating agencies among others. to respond, we brought together experts from across the agency creating cross disciplinary teams to draft rules and conduct the required studies. we put in place measures to ensure maximum input from the public and a highly transparent process and we continue to consult frequently with our fellow regulators, domestically and internationally. we have made significant progress today. the commission has issued 25 proposed rules releases, seven final rules releases and to interim rules. we have reviewed thousands of public comments, completed five studies and hope to do a number of public round tables jointly with the cftc. while my written testimony contains a detailed discussion i would like to highlight a few areas of particular interest. the key portion of the act seeks to reduce the source of the financial instability by improving the transparency in the derivatives market and

facilitating the centralized clearing swap. the fcc has proposed rules regarding the swaps which together provide a clear more stable and transparent to give this market. these include proposals that to mention just a few would lay out the reporting requirements for the market participants and obligations with the data repositories, seek to mitigate the potential conflict of the clearing agencies and established the duties and the core principles of execution facilities. we also work on the reserve and the financial stability oversight council to develop the framework for supervising market utilities that are designated as systemically important. in addition to the derivatives, the dodd-frank act provides the agency with authority over hedge funds and private equity funds with assets under management in the u.s. of over $150 million. here we have proposed rules that would facilitate the registration of the private funded advisers and together with the cftc we have proposed rules to require the advisers to

hedge funds and other private funds to report information for use by the fsoc. the fcc is also acting to give more information about asset backed securities, and with a focus of the legislation. in this every we adopted rules requiring a bs issuers to disclose the history of the asset repurchase requests received and repurchases made and we have also adopted rules requiring to review the assets underlining the aps to disclose the nature of the reviews and provide a reasonable assurances with a perspective to the disclosures are accurate. the dodd-frank also includes provisions related to the executive compensation and further these provisions last month the commission adopted rules requiring the companies to allow shareholders to cast an advisory say on page vote at least once every three years and requiring a separate advisory vote on the frequency of the say on page zero of at least every six years. additionally, the legislation

substantially expand as the agency authority to compensate whistle-blowers. in november we propose the rule that they not a procedure for the would-be whistle-blowers to provide useful information to the agency. the rule because it clear the whistle-blowers' play a critical role in protecting investors. at the same time, it is designed to complement, not circumvent existing compliance regimes the companies operate. they also released to studies examine ways and irving investment advisor and broker-dealer framework. first dhaka published the stuff for the potential purchase for congress to consider to increase examinations of an investment adviser and second, we issued a staff study looking at the different standards of conduct required of investment advisers and broker-dealers. most important, that study recommended that the commission implement a uniform fiduciary standards of conduct for the broker dealers and investment

advisers when they are providing personalized investment advice about the securities to the retail investors. in short, the commission has moved steadily and responsibly to implement the dodd-frank act as we continue to make progress we look forward to working closely with congress, our fellow regulators, the financial community and investors to craft rules that will strengthen the financial markets. thank you for inviting me and i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you, chairman shapiro. >> members of this committee and congratulations on assuming the chair congratulations to the fight in the rest of the committee as well. i guess i'm a little partial having the stature of this committee. think you for inviting me today to testify on behalf of the commodity futures trading commission, to think like commissioners and the staff for

such hard work at the cftc in fulfilling their such permission. i'm also pleased to specify alongside the fellow regulators you today. in 2008 the financial system failed the american public. but there did a tour system as well field of the american public. the effect of that crisis has reverberated throughout america and the global economy and the u.s. hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money were used to bail out the financial system was in the ranks of failure, and millions of jobs have been lost and yet to fully come back. the cftc is working closely with the sec, federal reserve from fdic and office of the comptroller of the currency treasury and other regulators to implement the dodd-frank act, and we are coordinating and consulting closely with international regulators to harmonize oversight of the swaps market and ensure that there is

a level field. we have received thousands of comments from the public and had hundreds of meetings which we all post on the web site. for the vast majority of the proposed rulemakings, we have solicited public comment for a period 60 days. one area where the cftc is seeking input from the public relates to the timing and implementation of the various requirements under the rules. public comments will help inform the commission as to what requirements can be met sooner and which can be phased and implemented later. we are also under the act to propose rules along with the other regulators here with regard to margin requirements and the congress recognized there are different levels of risks posted by financial entities and those involving non-financial entities. this was the so-called end user exception from clearing. consistent with this, the proposed rules on the margin requirements from the cftc we believe should focus only on the

transactions between the financial entities rather than those transactions that involve nonfinancial and users consistent with how the congress did the clearing a requirement to be opposed the bill for the cftc is also supported the work of the financial stability oversight council for providing both data and expertise relating to a variety of systemic risks. we also have had the opportunity to coordinate with treasury and the council and the office of the financial research on the studies and proposals. the statutory mandate cftc does require additional resources. the u.s. futures market which we currently oversee invests about $40 trillion in size. the u.s. swaps market that will jointly oversee with the sec is about $300 trillion. or roughly seven times the size. we do not need seven times the people but we need more people and technology. on monday the president submitted a fiscal year budget

of 308 million for the commission. this is essential for fulfilling the mission. in 1992 we had 634 staff at the cftc. we are currently between 670 to 680. we actually shrink about 23% in the prior decade, and with this committee in congress's help we grow back to where we were in the 90's, but only last year did we get back to where we were in the 90's. furthermore, the cftc funding, if it were returned to the fiscal year 2008 levels, the agency would not be able to fulfil the statutory mission. every program would be affected. we would be unable to pursue fraud and ponzi schemes, market manipulations the did take senator shelby time to fill the office of the chief economist we wouldn't even be able to fill any jobs. we would have to go the other way and have to unfortunately let people go. i don't think that is what the american people need us to do at this time after the crisis of

2008. the cftc fundamentally is a good investment and to promote transparency, open and competitive markets so end users and investors can get the benefit of the market's and the transparency in the market and the competition in those markets. there's also a compliment to ensure against fraud manipulation and other abuses. thank you. and i would be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you, chairman and mr. walsh. >> thank you, chairman johnson, senator shelby and members of the committee. i appreciate the opportunity to discard the activities of the occ has undertaken to implement the dodd-frank act. let me begin as others have done by saying what a pleasure it is to appear before the chairman for the first time and by expressing our hope for a continuing productive relationship with my old kennedy including the five new members pure i am pleased to report much has been accomplished during the

past six months on implementation of the dodd-frank act. progress in a number of areas is discussed in my written statement. the single largest task is integration of the employees and functions of ocs and to the supervisory mission and we are on track to complete all transfers by the target date of july 21st. we firmly believe the talent and experience of the ocs staff would be essentials for the effective supervision of federal savings associations and forward and we are fostering an environment will maximize the career opportunities while ensuring they enjoy the full protections afforded the employees by the dodd-frank act. we are also engaged in extensive outreach of the thrift industry, addressing concerns and clarifying expectations. we anticipate an orderly transfer of authority but will ensure the combined agencies can continue to provide effective supervision of both national banks and federal savings associations. in the area of the rule writing we are making progress on the

many project supplied to us, but a few present particular shrub lunches. an issue in recent testimony last september is the prohibition on the use of credit ratings. we recognize the misuse of credit ratings especially the structured finance contributed importantly to the financial crisis. but this was not true of the corporate and municipal ratings and after significant study and comment we have found no practical alternative for such readings that could be used across the banking sector. we have heard concerns from the regional and community banks that attempting to replace ratings with internal assessments of creditworthiness would be prohibitively costly and complex for them. although we certainly do not advocate a return to the total reliance on credit ratings there used within the defined limits as essential for implementation of capital rules including the ball so free capital from work. and we urge congress to modify this prohibition. a more general concern is the need to coordinate implementation of dodd-frank requirements for capital and

liquidity with basil iii. while they share many common objectives, it is essential to implement reforms and a coordinated and mutually reinforcing manner that enhances the safety and soundness without damaging the u.s. competitiveness or restricting access to credit. my testimony describes the efforts to enhance the capitol and liquidity standards of u.s. financial companies with this coordination challenge in mind. finally, i would like to update the committee on steps the occ has taken in response to the foreclosure crisis since last testified on this issue. the federal banking agencies have concluded examinations of foreclosure processing of the 14 largest federally regulated mortgage servicers, the examinations which we undertook in the late 2010 with the federal reserve, the fdic and the doherty yes found critical deficiencies and shortcomings that resulted in violations of state and local foreclosure regulations or rules. despite these deficiencies, we found the wones subject to

foreclosure were in fact seriously delinquent and the servicers had documentation and legal standing to the foreclosure. in addition, case reviews show the services were in contact with troubled borrowers and had considered lost mitigation alternatives including loan modifications. that said, the work identified a small number of foreclosure sales that should not have proceeded because of the intervening the condition. we are now finalizing the media requirements and sanctions appropriate to remedy comprehensively the problems identified. our actions will address to identify deficiencies and will hold services to standards that require effective and productive risk-management and appropriate remedies for customers who have been financially harmed. we are also discussing the supervisory actions with other federal agencies and state attorneys general with the view towards resolving comprehensively and finally, the full range of legal claims arising from the mortgage crisis. equally important, we are growing on lessons from these

examinations to develop the mortgage servicing standards for the entire industry. the occ developed a framework of standards that we share with other agencies and we are now participating in an interagency process with established nationwide requirements thar comprehensive and apply to all servicers, provided the same safeguards for all consumers and are directly enforceable by the agency. while we are still in a relatively early stage, we share the common objective to achieve significant reform in the mortgage servicing and practices. thank you for the gipper committee to testify. i be happy to answer door questions. >> thank you. thank you for the testimony. all i will remind my colleagues that we will keep the record open for statements, questions and any other material and would like to submit. and as we begin questioning other witnesses, i will put five minutes on the block for each member's questions.

chairman shapiro and chairman dan -- gensler, with congress this week we feel yet to appropriate the funds authorized by dodd-frank, please describe how you are addressing the funding constraints in your perspective agencies as you continue to implement the dodd-frank act. >> i'm happy to go first with that, mr. chairman. for the purposes of conducting the studies and getting the rules required under dodd-frank we are using buckles agency teams of employees who are on board and have been longtime employees in many instances and we feel the pressure of the budget continuing resolution with respect to that. in order to operationalize any of the rules we are writing we will require additional resources that are laid out in

the president's budget request because we don't have the capacity now to take on the examination of hedge funds for example which is under the legislation and the new entities that are part of the over-the-counter flop market. with respect to the current core functions we are feeling the pressure of operating a continuing resolution and we're making difficult choices restricting the hiring across the agency and selectively hiring very special positions. we've cut travel and to me most importantly we have delayed very significant technology programs that would help bring the sec's technology of into at least the century if not this year, and that is having an impact on our ability i believe to achieve the core mission as effectively as we could come and quite frankly

at the level with which the american people have the right to expect. >> mr. gensler, please elaborate. >> our agency got back to the staffing levels of the 1990's having been shrunken unfortunately i did in the prior decade. that staff is not enough to take on the implementation. we can write the rules and have the meetings of a quarter of the stuff right now is working one way or another on the rules writing. under the continuing resolution, we have had to make hard choices. the technology budget only 31 million last year. this year under the continued resolution we will probably have to cut about 45%. we are cutting travel and all the other things to be efficient. but technology is the key to move forward. we are also working hand in glove with the self-regulatory organization to see what can they pick up. can they pick up registration and examination functions and so

forth, but we think it take on this path of the market is about seven times the size of our current agency. it is a new task to take on something that large, this small agency needs to be a larger. the president asked for $308 million next year. i know this nation of ours has a great budget deficit we all have to come together and understand better and grapple with. so i feel a little bit daunting to ask for more money for this agency at this time, but i really do think that this is a good investment for the american public to avoid the crises like in 2008. >> chairman bernanke and comptroller walsh, community banks and credit unions are the backbone of our economy, which is why we work hard to protect liability in drafting the dodd-frank act. as the regulators institutions

hold under $10 billion of assets, could you please speak to the impact of the dodd-frank implementation on these small institutions including the impact of the interchange rule the qualified to ensure that there are no unintended consequences moving forward? >> chairman johnson, we fully agree with you that the community banks, small regional banks play a very important role in the banking system and it's very important to minimize the excess regulatory burden on these institutions. we have tried to institutionalize that effort within the federal reserve and we have for example created a special committee that looks only at smaller banks and tries

to ensure rules written into the banking system broadly are not excessively burdensome on the smallest institutions. we have also created a community bank council that meets three times a year with a board of governors to give their views and so we are trying to reach out and understand particular problems. given the fact most of the prices to the problems are focused on the largest institutions. we are for example currently developed as the dodd-frank requires a new set of regulatory capital liquidity risk management and other rules that would apply primarily to those banks of 50 billion or larger. we are trying to do our best to minimize the impact on small

banks. with respect i will speak to the interchange will perhaps chairman bear would like to speak to the qrm. the interchange has an exemption for the banks, smaller banks which of course we would put in the rule. i think this is something we are trying to better understand for the comments for the outreach we are not sure how that exemption will be because merchants will exempt more expensive cards from smaller institutions or because networks will not be willing to differentiate the interchange fee for the issuers of different sizes. it's possible that exemption will not be effective in the marketplace. it is after all allowable and not a requirement and so that exemption will not be effective

and that other fees to the smaller institutions will be reduced for the extent we proceed with larger banks. >> thank you. i welcome that question. i guess i would like to note first of all one of the things dodd-frank did this change the insurance premiums from one based on the domestic assets. we recently finalized rules on that and they will be effective in the third quarter and i will reduce community banks in aggregate, deposit insurance premiums like 30%. it shift more of the burden to the entities that rely less on the deposit insurance and gets the was that really in the secured liabilities. which tend to be the larger institutions so i think that is going to have a significant benefit for the community banks. on the qrm or why don't want to front run the rulemaking process, but the rule is supposed to be done and i can assure the committee the direction on the qrm will be focused on issuers of

securitizations, not small mortgage originators. they will not be burdensome for the community banks to realize community banks were not a problem, they were trying to correct. you will be pleased when you see the rule that goes out for public comment back to my opening statement about the liquidation of 40 and implementation of title to authority will help further level the competitive playing field i this will go up has that authority is implemented and that will also help the community banking sector. i would also share as the chairman bernanke concerns about the effectiveness of the interchange and the positions to truly protect the community banks particularly if the networks are not required to have the structures and to continue to charge the higher

fees so we are in consultations with the fed on this and reviewing what the legal authorities might be from the standpoint but this is an issue for community banks. >> mr. walsh, my time of, but please sum up quickly. >> to the qrm we are working with other agencies. i would note our community banking population is going to go up by half when we integrate the neal to 2100 institutions. we have a division devoted to the community banking and examiners are around the country to war attended to their concerns to be weakening quite a bit of outreach to the banks to try to understand their concerns as well as noted most of the changes in dodd-frank are aimed at the significant changes at the larger institutions with the smaller institutions to worry about the increasing weight of regulations that the changes and

ply and as i noted the one concern with the credit ratings biddeford for simplified could be of a benefit to the community banks. >> thank you, mr. walsh. senator shelby? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will direct this question first to chairman bernanke in the than some others. in a recent financial times article, secretary geithner talked about the difficulty of designating non-bank financial lens detentions as systemic he said, and i will quote, it depends too much on the state of the world of the time you want people to get judgment about what is systemic and what's not until you know the nature of the shock, in def quote. i find the secretary's comments interesting given his strong support of dodd-frank. if it is impossible to know what firms are systemic until the

crisis occurs, the financial stability oversight council will have a very difficult time objectively selecting systemic banks and nonbanks behind the regulation. mr. chairman, as a member of the council, what is your view on whether the firms can be designated as a systemic without creating some type of arbitrary process? >> senator, it is a difficult problem. as you say, you have different types of firms respond to different types of shocks. it's also true that an individual industry with small firms might be subject to the broad shot as we saw with the money market mutual funds for example. that being said, i think one of the problems with -- one of the sources of the crisis in 2008 was a very substantial gap in the oversight of the many large

firms like aig for the didn't have the strong consolidated oversight and i think the task doing the best we can to try to identify the firms which most likely pose the risk. >> what does do the best we can mean? >> we don't want to be arbitrary, as you point out, and so we have already put out the fsoc with the cooperation on the folks at this table had already put out a request essentially for input, but what we would like to do is provide the but if we clear guidelines about the criteria that we will use to try to identify firms that are potentially systemic. admittedly those will not be exact numerical guidelines for example, but i do think it's important that the fact that each institution, each agency of the table has a specific set of institutions for which it is responsible, that we don't allow

that fact to create gaps where there are important firms that have no serious consolidated oversight. so i do think it is useful to do this, but i acknowledge your concern that will never be a perfect process. >> chairwoman bear. >> i do. i think it is to say what's not systemic and the congress said it is for bank holding company's -- >> [inaudible] and you are defending the fund. >> we are defending the fun, and so i think our concern about this is to make sure that if we have to use the resolution of doherty that we are prepared than we have a resolution plans and have had information that we need for an orderly wind down. so i think for me, senator, there are a number of factors that are identified for me is interconnectedness more than anything. if you fail, what else happens?

who else gets hurt? it may be it is a two-step process based on some simple metrics based on size and exposure taken to the second level and asked the vicinities to do what is called a credit exposure and do an analysis, do a scenario if you feel what happens. in terms of system it important factor and there are some that will be obvious and that is what we need, the of the provincial standards and reducing any concentrations they might have that would have broad collateral impact. there will be some gray areas in the resolution planning i would cite some conclusive miss. >> chairman bernanke, do you believe that you're in a better position now than you were two years ago to deal with the

failure of a large bank for example the financial institutions or would that come as a shock to you? >> would you be in the position to wind these down? what about a manufacturing facility? >> as chairman bear discussed the resolution regime and the other provincial requirements are aimed at financial firms which have the risk of bringing down the system. there's quite a bit more work to do to fully implement all of the dodd-frank has put on the table in terms of resolution, provincial requirements and so on. we were better off today than two years ago but it will still be some time before we have completely implemented not only all of the rules in the context of dodd-frank, but i think very importantly as chairman bear has

taken a we need to coordinate with international regulators because so many large institutions are cross borders so we need to work together with other institutions. we have not gotten to the point where this set of tools is implemented but we are working very hard and it certainly is a focus of the fed and the fdic to get the resolution process up and running as effectively as possible. semidey think it is a lot more on top of things as to the capability of the bank to stand a lot of shocks as opposed to two years ago? in other words more diligent than two years ago the fed as a regulator? >> certainly we all learned the lesson from the crisis. >> what have you learned? >> the importance of being very

aggressive and not being willing to allow banks to much leeway particularly when they are inadequate in areas like risk-management where it turns out to be such an important problem in the crisis we have done a lot to try to strengthen and improve our supervision from a day-to-day basis, but we have also, and i don't want to take more time than you would like what we have also done a good bit of restructuring for the internal process so that we have, fred symbol, a lot more interaction between the supervisors and economists and financial market specialists who have different skills they bring to the table to give a broad perspective on what the tanker or the other institution is doing. >> how many banks today just off the top of your head still a lot of money with t.a.r.p.? i know a lot of them but -- >> a couple of larger banks still might be a couple hundred

small banks, but the great majority of the money has been paid back before and in the end -- >> the ones that hadn't paid back, is a dangerous signal for you because the economy picked up a little bit or -- >> i don't think so, senator. the relatively small banks, the relatively small number of smaller banks have not paid their dividend, would put as you know, we have had a lot failures of smaller institutions, and few of them had t.a.r.p. money to the great majority are either paid back more are on the track to pay back. >> are we going to continue to lose a lot of small banks, medium-sized banks in this country? rac the decline and to see the trend line. >> mabey chairman bear could take it. >> i think we peaked last year

of 157 phill years but will be an elevated number of failures it will be lower. >> on the watch list now roughly? >> eddy we've got about 700 -- >> 700 banks on the watch list. >> most of those do not feel only about 23% ultimately fail, and that is typical. the economy is improving, and i feel that our loss actually went down last year about 22 billion. so the losses were down significantly last year. the banks that are feeling a much smaller which is why the losses or lower some things aren't getting better. the community banks as well. >> my last question if i could, directed to the chairwoman shapiro. the importance of the economic analysis, you repeatedly stated

that economic analysis is important to the sec, but it's my understanding that the sec has about 4,000 employees but has about 25 ph.d. financial economists. consider the importance of economic analysis that you've placed on what you're doing how would you determine the 25 ph.d. economists as the appropriate number or have you done that? are you trying to? >> we are absolutely trying to. if i could also speak to your earlier comments, i think that you know we are actively and aggressively recruiting for the chief economist at the sec, but i want to note that we would like that person also to lead the division of risk strategy and financial innovation, and the person that is acting head of that now is the phd economist and the university chicago where we also have an m.b.a., so we are not without significant

economic expertise within the agency. we have about 30 staff economists and they are fully engaged as you can imagine on the dodd-frank peery disconnect you don't feel like it's adequate yet? >> i don't. i think it's important for us to have more capacity and economic analysis. it's part of my view of how we have to shift the entire focus of the agency. we will always have lawyers, law enforcement, that is important, but we also need and have been very successful in recruiting current market experience, new skill set, new types of talent to the agency and economic analysis and financial analysis to also be the key components. they're also supportive of the pool riding and the studies we have to do so my goal would be to try to significantly if we have the resources grow that area of operations. >> thank you mr. chair.

>> senator, please abide by the rule. >> thank you mr. chairman, i will. >> i will. congratulations on your first hearing as chairman. i also want to thank senator merkley for the amendment he raised and say that if it is any sign of things to come we are delighted to have senator isaacson on this site. [laughter] it is working out perfectly. we are enjoying it. chairman bernanke, i want to get some clarity from you on the interchange issue because there's a lot of representation made when this vote cannot and this bill was passed that the institution's 10 million or below would be exempt, and what i took you to say is that there appears to be feedback that there may be some practical problems with implementing that. >> senator, i should first say the rule without comment we are still gathering information.

by the statute, the smaller institutions will be exempt from these restrictions, but there is the possibility as i mentioned that either because the merchants wouldn't accept the more expensive cards or because networks wouldn't be willing to have a two-tiered pricing system it is possible that in practice they would not be xm to from the lower fees. >> quote with the result of that be in practice? >> well, the statute limits the interchange fee to the incremental cost associated with the individual transaction, which doesn't cover the full cost if you include some fixed costs associated with setting the debate card program for the sample. so, it's certainly possible that some of the costs would get

passed on to consumers and some way for a simple a charge for a debit card or something like that, and i would just mean if the small banks don't have an effect exemption it would mean that whatever economic forces are impinging on the larger banks would affect them as well. >> i want to follow upon some of the questions the ranking member was asking about the fsoc. asking it in a different way because it is book about the institutions themselves the door systemically risky and it's also about the instruments i think, and i wondered if any of you would like to talk a little bit about what the priority setting looks like. how would you decide what the agenda is quinby for the council and over what period of time? is it something the treasury secretary coordinates? how do you detect where you ought to be looking versus where you're not? >> to the extent you have the

items already what those might be. >> senator, first hour agenda has i think to parts in a sense. as you know, fsoc has to write a financial stability report once a year, and so for that purpose it makes sense that there would be an annual review of all the major financial sectors to try to identify any emerging problems or developments in those sectors and so that is a part of our process. in addition, we want to remain flexible so that any ongoing problems say to take an example the development in europe for example and the implications for the u.s. banks or money markets, in the developing event or situation can be brought quickly to the council, the council set up and in fact there was a

public discussion of this, the council had set up a committee of staff and deputies who are covering different areas and who are presenting to the council short summaries where the have identified potential developments of interest and then the council members are getting feedback about what they would like to hear from other discussions. >> are they under strict instructions from the chairman? i'm going to ask you because you mentioned your up. is our own domestic fiscal condition something that the council is going to be taking up? are you aware of any otherqueste congressional responsibility or fsoc responsibility. we haven't at this point discussed i don't believe, correctly, i don't believe we have discussed that so far. >> i would encourage you just because i think our financial stability is so closely to the fiscal stability. >> thank you mr. sharing. i have three seconds and yelled back the balance of my time.

[laughter] >> senator corker, we have a vote coming up at ten until 12 and i encourage you to the five minute rule. >> i got it, thank you. [laughter] welcome, all of you and thank you for your service and we miss you. after dodd-frank, we haven't heard from you, and the phone has quit ringing and we are glad to have you here today, and i you appreciate the work each of you are doing. that is a sincere statement. there's a lot of talk about the budget issue and there is no question that is going to probably get even tighter so there's more of a limitation and funding and we did receive some calls during the period of what you're going to be a to do and i'm hearing some of you are not being able to invest in technology and there are some

positions that were open in other areas and that kind of thing. would it make any sense? i know that you all have been really pushing of rules and regulations and i know people have been concerned at that would make any sense for us to slow you down a little bit to invest in higher technology and how your people and actually be slightly more thoughtful on the rulemaking? and i would ask that to chairman shapiro. >> thank you. as i said earlier, the real impact of the continuing resolution on the sec are on the core mission. the devotee to hire the examiners to travon for the enforcement cases and most particularly and build the technology we need to do the job that's right in front of us at this moment putting dodd-frank aside and to think back to may 5th on the crash and how long it took after that to be able to generate the reports

that gave the public an understanding of what happened on that day largely because we lack the technology capability to take in the kind of data and analyze it in a reasonable period of time. so for me, the budget impact as much or more right now to the core missions and to the dodd-frank limitation. once the rules are in effect and we would be very careful with how the sequence and implement their actual rules as the chairman said we will see comments on the industry about what's the right order, what do they need six months to be able to do because they have to build the system, what do we need to do because we need to build the system, and that will require additional funding to build those systems and bring in of the people needed to do hedge fund examinations for example or examine swap dealers or participants or whatever others. but i think the standing of rules as written is a stress for

sure and it's a challenge and it's affecting all of our capacities to do other things, but i think the crunch comes after the rules are in place and we have to operationalize them and we lack the resources to do that. >> thank you very much. chairman bernanke, i know that there are a lot of things each of you saw and got and some things you didn't ask for coming and i know one of the things you received was the interchange issue and i know you're being diplomatic but it seems to me that it is an impossibility that if a rate is set for the larger institutions it is not going to impact the smaller institutions as it relates to interchange rules. i mean, it doesn't seem to me to be a possibility. and i know again you didn't ask for this, it was an amendment that passed on the floor, but i was over the other day with senator kirker and we were watching a fed auction take place at the bureau of the data and if you just look at the cost of that transaction, but

electronic options itself, it's obviously very minimal, but a whole handful of folks paying attention making the ethical guidelines were in place, and i sure -- i know these institutions, these banking institutions have the same things. so the fairness of the price setting at some rate that is only transmission cost seems to me to be incredibly an error we're also going to be forcing people into credit cards over time. people that don't have credit are going to be forced into credit cards, which is a debt instrument, not something that is coming out of their account. it seems like me the whole issue is very perverse and something that is very shortsighted on a were part, sort of populist move, and i wonder if you would editorialize about that. >> i don't know if i can editorialize, but as i said before it is true that the statute requires us to look at

the incremental costs and not necessarily the full cost. and it's going to have the various implications. one would be as i mentioned before probably some costs on the banking side will be passed on to consumers or will affect product offerings and so on. on the oversight, merchants will be paying less, and it depended on a stiff competition in that part of the market the media passing the savings on to the consumers, so there will be some transfers on both sides, and the issue really is what congress intended, what object see had. again, this process will certainly lead to lower interchange fees that will benefit some and impose costs on others. >> mr. chairman i know my time is up. there's no question the smaller institutions are going to be impacted in a big way, and i think that we all know that and i hope that we will endeavor somehow to fix that here in

congress. thank you and congratulations. >> senator menendez. >> thinks mr. treen and congratulations to the chairmanship i look forward to working with you. since i have five minutes let me try to get sustained questions and answers. one is i marvel at the people who was three years after our financial crisis still don't have the full regulation of the wall street derivatives and other key issues. i'm always asked by new jersey and why is it that no one has gone to jail? and so i marveled now that i hear that your response to the question of the funding of your ability to pursue the converse tasked with the american people want to see is going to be sufficient to promote regulations but not sufficient

to enforce them. is that a fair statement of what you have responded to? >> i think that we have a lot of responsibility once the rules are written for examination and enforcement, registration, taking in massive amounts of data particularly in the area where we will be able to rely on the self-regulatory organization and will be very difficult for us to do any of that without additional resources. so it is brought -- >> the cop on the beach without any bullets >> it is a concern that i have because if we are going to promote regulations pursuant to the law, but not to be able to enforce them than it is a hollow promise to the american people of what we said we were going to do so that they would never face the risks again of collectively assuming risks for the decisions of others. and so i appreciate your honesty answer to that because i think that will dictate part of the debate as to how we go forward

in the budget process to at least largely derived from the industry have the resources so that you can do the enforcement that the american people to see, otherwise i wouldn't be surprised to send everybody home. >> i agree with that, senator. i was just trying to say it is broad market analysis and surveillance. estimate is absolutely. i agree. >> second, i recently wrote to you, madam chair, about the cybersecurity and the tax that had taken place against nasdaq and what not. i hope can give us some sense because obviously the market integrity is important and one of the ways is that we are sure that we are not having the market's being affected by those who are attacking it, andi