mr. wilson: mr. speaker, americans living abroad continue to face unnecessary roadblocks, not only to u.s. banks but increasingly at foreign banks as well. the requests from expats continue to come in at startling rates. i want to thank congresswoman carolyn maloney for bring these banking roadblocks to the attention of the treasury department. we were hoping that the financial services committee will soon hold hearings to review current u.s. banking laws and regulations that prevent americans living overseas from accessing u.s. banking services. the international harold tribune reporter recently highlighted that amid moupting frustration over taxation and banking problems, small but growing number of americans overseas are renouncing their citizenship. i encourage the financial services committee to read the article and schedule a hearing in the very near future. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: for wh

mr. andrews: mr. chairman, i urge a yes vote and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from maryland. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 6 printed in house report 111-467. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from wisconsin seek recognition? ms. moore: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate that amendment. the clerk: amendment number 6 printed in house report 111-467 offered by ms. moore of wisconsin. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1300, the gentlewoman from wisconsin, ms. moore, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from wisconsin. ms. moore: well, thank you, mr. chair. my amendment addresses the role that small businesses can play in helping our defense department and the me

mr. petri: mr. speaker, over the past 18 months, the president repeatedly said about his health care plan, if you like your current health insurance you can keep it. the majority of americans knew that this was nonsense and now the department of health and human services confirms it. just released by the actuary of medicaid concludes that the health care law will lead many employers to stop offering health care coverage altogether. that means about 14 million people with job-based insurance today will lose it and instead will be required by law to obtain coverage individually. further, seniors in my state of wisconsin have become big fans of medicare advantage plans, but the chief actuary for medicare estimates that the president and the majority party's medicare cuts will reduce medicare advantage enrollment by seven million people. but there's more. the medicare actuary reports that under the new health care law 15% of all hospitals, nursing homes and other providers could be operating at a loss b

mr. bishop: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, let me start by thanking chairman oberstar for his unwavering commitment to cleanwater issues. let me thank chairwoman johnson for her leadership. finally, let me thank my good friend, congressman lobiondo, for sponsoring this legislation with me. congressman lobiondo and i have worked together, and i think we formed a very nice partnership. to those of us on the transportation and infrastructure committee, it sometimes feels as if we're part of the last remaining b.a.s.s.ian of bipartisanship in this institution. -- bastian bipartisanship in this institution. i appreciate the way our committee has moved forward very quickly on this very important legislation. my district encompasses 300 miles of coastline and includes two estuaries of national significance, two of the 28, the long island sound and poconic bay. i'm glad to represent this area. marine health is an objective to preserving the nation's environment and sustaining the economies of our coastal states. the cleanest

mr. poe: mr. speaker, federal judge barbara crab cited with some atheists last week and ruled a national day of prayer as unconstitutional. the first amendment of the constitution states congress will make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. the judge obviously forgot the free exercise part. our founding fathers jealously guarded the right to free exercise of religious conscience. thanksgiving was started in 1789 by president george washington so the nation could, quote, thank and pray to the almighty for blessing america. we start each day of congress with a prayer. heaven knows we need it. we have a long history of honoring the religious foundation of america's liberty. the national day of prayer does not seek to establish a government religion. quite to the contrary. we specifically recognize one day each year the right of americans to freely exercise their religion. free from anyone's interference, including atheists and federal judges. what

mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, as a proud member of the congressional caucus on armenian issues and the representative of a large and vibrant community of armenian americans, i rise to welcome his imminence, archbishop in his offering of the opening prayer and join my colleagues this week in the sad commemoration of the armenian genocide. on this 95th anniversary of the genocide, i join with the chorus of voices that grows louder with each passing year. we will not allow the planned elimination of an entire people to remain in the shadows of history. the armenian genocide must be acknowledged, studied and never ever allowed to happen again. the archbishop is the head of the armenian church in the united states, which is located in my district. as a spiritual shepherd of several hundred thousand armenian americans in the eastern united states, he plays a significant role in the life of the armenian commount. it is a great honor to welcome him today. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will enterta

mr. speaker, mr. speaker, we have increase the number of helicopters in afghanistan. we've increased the flying time by more than 100% that i think he should recognize their adapters so they are now in afghanistan, he's also recognize, he should also recognize that the chinooks were also adapted so that they too could be in afghanistan. he should recognize that we have other helicopters in afghanistan that are working, and we are part of an international operation in afghanistan where we shared equipment with our coalition partners. and i have to say to him, the amount of money spent in afghanistan now is 5 billion pounds a year. that is 1000 extra vehicles, that is twice the number of flying time hours per our helicopters. and i think he should accept that our troops, for the operations they are asked to undertake, have been given the equipment they need. that is the right position. >> david cameron. >> no answer. and i have to ask you this -- [laughter] [shouting] >> order. government backbenchers m

mr. lewis: mr. speaker, i want to pass one very valuable member of the ways and means committee, i'm prepared to yield to him for a minute and a half. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for a minute and a half. >> i thank the chair for yielding. i've just come from the ongoing committee deliberation taking place now and i apologize for not being here earlier. i'm here to talk about the cell phone provision of this bill, pleased to work with my friend, sam johnson, on the other side of the aisle in addressing what really is an inac roism in in the tax code. maybe at time this technology was just coming into being this made sense. but presently to have exhaustive record keeping of every business provided cell phone out there, especially given basically the unlimited minutes usage plan to common in the marketplace, makes no sense whatsoever. you know, the longest journey begins with a single step. we've got a long journey ahead of us in terms of simplifying the tax code in ways and me

mr. sablan: mr. speaker, i request five legislative days during which members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on house resolution 1182 into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. sablan: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. sablan: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of house h.res. 118 which celebrates radford university for 100 years of leadership and service in higher education. radford was originally founded in 1910 as the state normal and industrial school for women, tracing its roots back to the expansion of virginia public higher education system. while its name has evolved over the years, radford's commitment to academic excellence has never waivered. radford's beautiful 177 acre campus is located in the new river valley between the blue ridge and allegheny mountains. the university's home to nearly 8,000 undergraduates and over 1,000 graduate st

mr. speaker, mr. speaker, we have increase the number of helicopters in afghanistan. we've increased the flying time by more than 100% that i think he should recognize their adapters so they are now in afghanistan, he's also recognize, he should also recognize that the chinooks were also adapted so that they too could be in afghanistan. he should recognize that we have other helicopters in afghanistan that are working, and we are part of an international operation in afghanistan where we shared equipment with our coalition partners. and i have to say to him, the amount of money spent in afghanistan now is 5 billion pounds a year. that is 1000 extra vehicles, that is twice the number of flying time hours per our helicopters. and i think he should accept that our troops, for the operations they are asked to undertake, have been given the equipment they need. that is the right position. >> david cameron. >> no answer. and i have to ask you this -- [laughter] [shouting] >> order. government backbenchers m

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, may i ask unanimous consent that the pending quorum call be terminated. thpridg ofcer: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that amendment number 3739 be printed. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider en bloc the following nominations on the executive calendar numbers 820, 821, 822, and 823, that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc, any statements relating to the nominations appear at the appropriate place in the record as if read, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unan

mr. lemieux: mr. president, i rise to speak today on this extenders bill that we will vote on here on a point of order that i will make in just a few minutes. and the purpose of this point of order is this: not too long ago in this congress we passed legislation called paygo. and what paygo is supposed to mean is that we will pay as we go in this congress, that when we create a new program, we extend a current program, that we will pay for it, that we will not continue to borrow against our children's future. now, i was here in the united states senate when we had that debate. it was a debate that came down to a purely party-line decision. i am new to this body, and i wanted to vote for this because i believe that paygo might actually be something that limits the out-of-control spending of washington. i talked to my colleagues, and some of my colleagues who have been around longer than i did said, look, senator, it's not really going to do anything. they're just going to move to waive it every time it

mr. poe: mr. speaker, the violence at our southern border with mexico has escalated resulting in murders, kidnappings, old west shootouts, mexican helicopter intrusions into the u.s., criminal cartels cloning border patrol vokes to smuggle the drugs. an arizona rancher was murdered at the border recently on his ranch. a california border agent was assassinated just a few months ago. in el paso, texas, our border patrol agents are being targeted by the azteca hitmen. these outlaws protect shipments of drugs for the juarez drug cartels. now these cartels have put a $250,000 bounty on our border patrol agents. in response, our border patrol agents have been told to wear bulletproof vests. why do we wait for more tragedy before more boots are put on the ground? our law enforcement agents need help. doesn't washington know that the border have become a violent war zone? national guard troops should be deployed to the border immediately to protect us from the narcoterrorists and that's just the way it i

mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the bill? mr. hastings: i am. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: mr. hastings of washington moves to committee the bill, h.r. 2499. mr. hastings: i ask that the motion be considered read. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? without objection -- without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, as the house considers the bill on puerto rico's future, this motion to recommit provides members of the house an opportunity to register their views on questions of english as an official language and on the importance of protecting americans' second amendment rights. mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, two amendments were filed with the rules committee to directly address the issues

mr. dodd: mr. president, i'd like to ask consent that i be able to speak as if in morning business, so as to not interrupt the -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: withou i thank my cole from arizona as well. mr. president, i came to the floor of the united states senate -- i come to the floor -- i came to the floor yesterday, rather -- to the floor of the united states senate in response to the campaign by though, both outside and apparently unside this chamber, who are trying to literally kill the wall street reform legislation, and to tie that reform to that bill, to bailouts. i pointed out in those discussions yesterday that these arguments are straight out of wall street's playbook, written by political strategist frank luntz -- as we all know, i submitted his political strategy that he offered months or weeks before even consideration of the bill, outlining politically how to defeat this legislation. so even before there was a bill, mr. luntz had a strategy on thousand to ki

mr. rubin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, mr. vice chairman, distinguished members of the commission, i too along with chuck prince appreciate the opportunity to testify today. the financial crisis as we all know has taken a terrible toll on millions of americans who have lost their homes, their jobs, their savings, and their confidence in the future of our economy. better understanding the causes of the crisis is essential to protecting our nation's economic future and to effective financial reform. i hope that my experience at goldman sachs, the national economic council, the treasury department, citigroup, and as chair of lisk, our nation's largest inner city development organization, can be helpful to this inquiry. let me make two observations that i believe are relevant to the commission's work. first, examining problems with the benefit of hindsight can be highly useful. during my time at treasury, we dealt with the mexican financial crisis and then later the asian financial crisis. and while in both cases, our approach is

mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i yield myself -- you're supposed to call the bill up. mr. gutierrez: thank you, mr. speaker. the gentleman has nothing to worry about. let the debate begin. we're going to win this debate today. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 1305 and rule 18 the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house for consideration h.r. 2499. the chair appoints the gentleman from california, mr. schiff, to preside over the committee of preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 2499 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to provide for a federally sanctioned self-determination process for the people of puerto rico. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the first time. general debate shall not exceed one hour and 30 minutes with one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and rank

mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, what is the order? the presiding officer: in morning business, senators are able to speak up to ten minutes each. mrs. boxer: okay. i would ask that i be allowed to speak for as much time as i might consume. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, thank you very much. this is good news that we just received that our republican colleagues have decided to allow us to proceed to the debate on the wall street reform bill. i was, frankly, confused as to why they were objecting. but in any event, without going through that, i'm just very pleased that they have backed down in terms of their objection, because we want to get to this bill and many of us have ways that we feel it can be made stronger. i bet there will be some amendments to make it weaker, and that's what the process is all about. the most important thing for the american peop

s delinquencies, mr. felton and mr. schneider make plans to supply low-level detail and coordinate with finance. in the final email of the chain, which is at the top of page one there, the subject line now reads urgent need to get some work done in the next couple of days. that's added about option a.r.m. delinquencies. we are contemplating selling a larger portion of our option a.r.m.'s than we have in the recent past. and this could be a way to address california concentration, rising delinquencies, falling house prices in california with a favorable arbitrage, given that the market seems not to be yet discounting a lot for these factors. she asked for en put on portions, her words, of the option a.r.m. portfolio that we should be considering selling. now when you turn to exhibit 41 if you would. february 20, mr. shaw sends to felt the analysis -- the key characteristic of loans, the wamu portfolio, contributed to rising delinquency rates. cheryl, i reviewed the h.f.i., the call for investor prime loan characteristics

mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i just returned from my district where i had an interesting meeting with people representing one of my companies, that is one of the companies in my district that employs hundreds of people. they told me as a direct result of the passage of the health care bill and the reconciliation package, they have laid off 75 people. hundreds of jobs are in jeopardy. why? because they happen to work for a company called the ed fund, a private sector firm that facilitated the availability of college, yes, loans. 31,000 people in this industry are national park jeopardy of losing their jobs because we decided to nationalize that industry. it's not only the wrong-headed approach to the health care problem, it is an anti-stimulus, anti-job bill. 75 jobs already lost in my district. hundreds in jeopardy, thousands across this nation. thank you very much, u.s. congress. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute. th

mr. reid: mr. predent the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour. during that time, senators will be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the majority will control the first 30 minutes. the republicans will control the final 30 minutes. following morning business, the senate will turn to executive session to debate the nomination of christopher schroeder to be an assistant attorney general. there will be up to three hours for debate prior to vote on confirmation of this nomination. upon disposition of the schroeder nomination, the senate will consider the nomination of thomas vanaskie, united states circuit judge for the third circuit. there will be three hours for debate prior to vote on confirmation of vanaskie. mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: i ask unanimousconsenm be terminate

mr. jaycobs, mr. swagger. how far ahead of a movie premier will you offer the contract on that movie's receipts? >> in the case -- in the case -- i'm still getting used to this excuse me me. the use of the canner exchange the provision is up to a year but we expect it will be up to six months. >> six months. >> in an initially proposed, we're looking at four weeks. >> okay. who will be using these markets for price discovery purposes or bona fide hedging in your opinion? >> well, again to reiterate my opening comments, many deals are negotiated on the basis of what a box office potential will be. the amount of advertising that is justified by a film will be reflected by the expectation of that box office. the number of theater screens and seats that are allocated to it. it will be based on that sort of decision. again, i think it in the forum context if the price of soybeans or cotton is high or low there's an allocation question that the farmer uses. in our case we see those forms being used here. theater scr

zakheim or mr. shays, mr.ng great the issue early on that you believe, speaking for yourself, that the army needs to move toward a more centralized model of service contract management oversight, is that right? >> yes. i think the process the air force uses is a commendable one. >> i'm very pleased to do that. i think that was a process along. i get the sense, strong sense, black and white, from your statement, general, that you don't have that you. you as i said earlier out the value decentralized contract management. are using those terms interchangeably? >> sir, that's my view from my perspective of having commanded from in contracting from a major when its chief of joint contracting, joint task force -- bravo all the way through jcc-i/a and every ranking between. i have seen decentralization being powerful at various levels. the more complex you get in terms of a services contract, then i think you need to move toward more centralization. doesn't need to be a peos services that's reflected within air force

mr. poe: mr.peaker, this week is victim's rights week. today i honor the life of houston police officer timothy abernathy. for officer abernathy, fighting crime was more than an occupation it was his personal calling. he bravely dedicated his life to keeping the peace on the streets of houston, texas. until he was murder on december 7, 2008, by a cowardly killer. the murder was cruel and it was calculating. after shooting officer abernathy once in the neck, the assassin calmly walked up and put the gun close to the back of the officer's head and fired again. recently a jury in houston convicted the suspects of capital murder. this week the texas jury sentenced the outlaw to death. officer tim mi abernathy served the people of houston for 11 years. he like so many before him put his life between the people and the lawless. we as a nation need to remember peace officers sometimes become victims of crime while taking care of the rest of us. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro

mr. horn? >> mr. commissioner, it matters very much to us what our contractual requirements are and what our delivery of those requirements are. it matters to us whether we are meeting our internal standards and whether we're meeting army standards. the element i tried to point out was this data was collect dead from one data collection element, the sand system which is not a totally competent system of all the work that's done. but more particularly, this work and much of this work was be prepared type work for you are on standby, on-call with the capability to be prepared, which is difficult in evaluating -- normally comecome a few abatements units, they're in the motor pool and they're working from eight in the morning and so whenever they close. >> mr. horn, but we just -- i'm going to yield my time as i need to pursue this. so we're going to cover it because you deserve to the commissioner. i would've found a more healthy and reassuring to say we're not perfect, we made some mistakes. this is an

mr. dodd: mr. president, i would ask consent that the call of the quorum be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dodd: mr. president, i rise this morning to try and set the record straight, if i can, on some of the rhetoric that i have heard in the last 24 hours or so regarding when it comes to the financial reform efforts that i have been engaged in along with my colleagues on the senate banking committee for the past 38 months. i became chairman of the banking committee in january of 2007, about 38, 39 months ago. since that time, of course, we have held countless hearings and meetings to deal with the financial crisis, beginning in january and february of 2007. in fact, the very first hearings were held by the foreclosure crisis in the nation. we tried to get the attention of the previous administration. secretary paulson and others to pay attention to the question that was emerging that our economy was collapsing and that too many people were losing their homes,

mr. poe: mr. speaker, i -- mr. polis: mr. speaker, i yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from puerto rico, the sponsor of the bill, mr. pierluisi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from puerto rico is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mr. pierluisi: thank you, congressman polis, and thank you for your explanation as to why h.r. 2499, the puerto rico democracy act, is a fair bill and necessary bill and a bill that is long overdue. i'm also thankful for the kind words given by the gentleman from florida, congressman diaz-balart, and for his support for h.r. 2499. i'm so grateful to you and to the hundreds of my other colleagues on both sides of the aisle who support h.r. 2499. i cannot cast a vote this afternoon, but please know that your vote will give voice to the aspirations of four million men, women and children from puerto rico who i'm honored to represent. i'm also grateful for the support of diverse organizations, such as lulac, the nation's oldest hispanic organization, the young democrats of america and the puerto r

mr. bond: mr. president? the presiding officer: the snoer from missouri. -- the senator from missouri movement. mr. bond: madam president, i i believe that the senator from vermont has a brief statement. mr. leahy: i just want to make a -- the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i thank the senior senator from missouri. madam president, i ask umous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider en banc the following new mexico inominations, 780, 785, 769, 97, 818, 819, all nominations on the secretary's desk in the coast guard foreign service and noaa, the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc, any statements appear at the appropriate place in the record as if rerksd the president be immediately notified of the senate's, a the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: i thank the chair, the presiding officer, i thank the senator from missou

mr. kyl: mr. president, i object. mr. mccaskill: mr. president, notwithstanding rule 22, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive calendar number 628, the nomination of jill long thompson, that the nomination be confirmed, the nominations be considered made and laid on the table, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and any statements related to the nominee appear in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. kyl: mr. president, oib. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. mccaskill: mr. president, notwithstanding rule 22, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive calendar number 640, the nomination of eric hirsschhorn, that the nomination be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, no further motions be in order, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's, as that any statements relating to the nominee appear at the appropriate place in the record as if read. the presiding officer: is there ob

mr. akin: with facts? my goodness, people might not vote for this thing. mr. lamborn: it's more expensive and going to raise taxes and throw people out of the insurance they have now than what the administration is claiming. if we had known this, maybe it wouldn't have passed by the four or five votes that it passed by. maybe it would have failed and we would have been in a different trajectory if they were honest and we should have had access to. . mr. akin: this is a mushroom treatment. you keep them in the dark, smother them in some sort of fertilizing material and we tell them these things, if you like your doctor you'll be able to keep your doctor, period. if you like your health care plan you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. nobody will be able to take them away. the reports you are talking about makes it clear that this is flat out not true. it is a frustrating thing and it is in a sense all of these things are falling out now and it wasn't so obvious before. my go

mr. bowen? >> mr. vice chairman, i cannot render an opinion as to what the organization structure was why it was. i -- it was very heavily segmented. and i was responsible for my peace, and other people were responsible for theirs. >> let's revisit your e-mail once again very briefly. was that the first e-mail you ever sent? >> to mr. rubin? >> yes. >> yes. >> did you send into others'? >> at corporate -- >> i'm just asking you, were you an e-mail in terms of communicating with folks higher up the chain about what you saw as problems? >> there are in excess of hundreds of pages of documents that i submitted. >> i'm looking at something that could be characterized as sending an e-mail to hire a in this segmented operation to try to explain something that concerns you. >> i know that the warnings went to the highest levels within my business unit, which was called the consumer lending group. >> i mean, your analysis of all is going on was a can to the fellow in the field who calls an airstrike on his loc

mr. berman: mr.speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. moran: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the chairman for his leadership on this issue. as the chairman knows, i have some reservations about the effectiveness of a sanctions regime, but there's no question in my mind but the worst thing that can happen is military confrontation, because that would, in fact, unite the iranian people against america and on the wrong side of history. you no, 7 -- now, it is too easy to think of iran as a monolithic people. the reality is that iran is the successor to the great persian civilization and is a very diverse civilization. i share the chairman's concern about the current government of iran, which i doubt think is consistent with persia's history. and in fact their actions have been inexplicable and inexcusable. and the chairman is right, obviously, to respond. but the reality is that a very

thank you. >> mr. hennessey? >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. lockhart, can we talk all little bit about the failure of fannie and freddie, and specifically why you felt they had to be put into conservatorship, in particular could you talk about what might've happened to mortgage markets had you not done that, and why you drew the line with secretary paulson between equity and debt? >> okay. that's a good question there. we put them in to conservatorship because we felt, and as we really laid out in those various reports, which i think you all have seen copies of, that there capital was it really extremely quickly. we saw credit losses that were significantly more than their capital. we saw the deferred tax asset was not going to be worth anything. we saw that the low income housing tax credit would therefore not be worth anything because they would be losing money far into the future. and that their private-label securities were really suffering badly spirit why not just let them feel? >> why not let them fail? we felt that if we let them fail,

. >> thank you very much, mr. prince. mr. rubin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, mr. vice chairman, distinguished members of the commission, i too along with chuck prince appreciate the opportunity to testify today. the financial crisis as we all know has taken a terrible toll know has taken a terrible toll on millions of americans who jobs, their savings, and their confidence in the future of our economy. better understanding the causes of the crisis is essential to protecting our nation's economic future and to effective financial reform. i hope that my experience at goldman sachs, the national economic council, the treasury department, citigroup, and as chair of lisk, our nation's largest inner city development organization, can be helpful to this inquiry. let me make two observations that i believe are relevant to the commission's work. first, examining problems with the benefit of hindsight can be highly useful. during my time at treasury, we dealt with the mexican financial crisis and then later the asian financial crisis. and while in both cases, our approach i

mr. levin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: has the quorum call begun? the presiding officer: yes. mr. levin: i would ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. levin: mr. president, yesterday the senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, which i chair, held the fourth in our series of hearings to explore some of the causes and consequences of the financial crisis. these hearings are the culmination of nearly a year and a half of investigation. mr. president, if i could yield myself ten minutes? the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. levin: the freezing of financial markets in the collapse of financial institutions that sparked our investigation are not just a matter of numbers on a balance sheet. these are numbers reflecting millions of americans who lost their jobs, lost their homes, lost their businesses a in a re

>> yes, i assume that, yes. >> have you seen not mr. mr. laboa? >> i have seen the preliminary. >> you know, actually was going to try to help you a little bit. i thought that there was not any dispute on kbr's part as to what the labor utilization rate wherefore this. mac. you agree that it was less than 11%? >> a response for mr. bishop is an accurate position of the company. >> okay now the only disagreement and as i understand it on kbr's part is now with the average western this period, but instead with the justification was for it. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> and nothing understand that come your justification for it is that because of the agencies of war that there needs to be a little bit of flexibility under 85%. is that right? basically? >> mr. commissioner, much of that type of maintenance work is on call be prepared work. and so, there were instances, particularly at the balad location, where we were required to have on-call teams consisting of specific makeups to prepare combat vehicles if and when they were damaged so that

mr. etheridge: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the state of israel and join with the israeli people in honoring the country's founders and making this great achievement and its successes. on may 14, 1948, israel's founders declared that the country would be not only a jewish state but also a democratic one where all citizens, regardless of religion, ethnicity, race or gender would live in peace with equal civil rights. since that day americans have stood side by side with israel to form a strong bond of friendship. even as we celebrate we also look forward to the next 62 years and beyond. mr. speaker, i'd like to again congratulate the israeli government, its people and others on this the 62nd year of independence. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. markey of massachusetts. ms. schwartz of pennsylvania. mr. schiff of california. ms. loretta sanchez of california. mr. marshall of georgia. mr. garamendi of california. mr. qu

mr. wilson: mr. speaker, i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, a grassroots group in akon, south carolina, is holding a meeting about the principles of our founding fathers. coordinated by debbie nix, it's called we the people akin. and i'm proud to have attended one of the weekly constitution classes recently at the activity center. during my recent visit to the group meeting i highlighted my concerns about the government takeover of health care and discussed how simply repealing it is not stuff. we believe we must swap it with a more affordable solution that is centered around the patient and not the government. that is why i introduced h.r. 4944, the siding with patient swap act to continue covering pre-existing condition and to help the unaffordable mandates on small business owners. i want to thank the we the people of akin and promoting america's founding principles in conclu

mr. sessions: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, i would briefly want to share a few thoughts about judge thomas vanaskie, who's been nominated for the third circuit court of appeal a veryortant position. he currently serves on the district court of the middle district of pennsylvania, and i do intend to support his nomination, give deference to the president. i'd just like to share a thought or two about his testimony before the judiciary committee. he did say he believed that american courts should not use foreign law in interpreting the constitution but he did believe that the supreme court properly used foreign law in cases like lawrence v. texas, and i think that's a bit contradictory. and in roper v. simmons, the supreme court also concluded that the constitution, because of -- quote -- "evolving standards of decency" would now prohi

mr. lynch is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. chairman. i certainly appreciate the difficulty we're in. i know a lot of the members will recall that the federal balance sheet before the crisis was 800 billion, and now it's somewhere in 2.1 trillion. i generally agree and understand what the idea of the term deposit facility and also the reverse repurchase agreements to soak up all this liquidity that's sloshing around in the economy and which makes the economy less responsive to your interest rate decisions, as you say, pushing on a string. do you think that those two mechanisms will be sufficient to re-attach or make the economy more responsive to interest rate controls that are traditionally used? >> yes, i think so. we have really dealt in two pairs of suspenders. we have the interest we pay on reserves to banks, which by itself ought to move the whole complex of interest rates up as we raise that rate. there could be some slippage between that separate general market rates, and those tools will be able to drain reserves and tighten up

mr. chairman. >> thank you. chairman peterson? >> thank you, mr. chairman. so in your view, or the commission's view, movies are a commodity? >> the contracts we're looking at indeed whether these are to produce for future delivery. >> so if you decide if you prove this, then you're deciding they are a commodity? >> if we were to approve it. >> and apparently, you're thinking about having anybody that knows anything about this can't trade in it? >> we -- >> from what i understand. >> the distinction, the current firewall is between the people who actually know what the number speed is i understand it, but there's also a discussion, exclude anybody who is anything to do with the movies from the. >> we're considering for the current exclusion is brought. >> which are document and is authorizing gambling. i mean, maybe it should be regulated like states or something. i don't know. i mean, if you include anybody that's involved in this, then the only people you have left are people that are g

mr. fuld and mr.uikshank, what do we have to do to impress upon ceos and boards of directors that they will be allowed to fail and they will not be rescued? >> let me go first because you mentioned the first. we got to that fateful weekend looking at asset valuations. we had strong capital. we have lost $30 billion of liquidity in two days. we had no collateral. we get plenty of collateralized evidence by the fact that i met monday, we put up $50 billion of collateral to get a loan from the federal reserve bank all of which was paid back 100% so we had collateral. we had capital. we did not need a capital bailout. we needed a liquidity bridge so that we could consummate the sale to a potential buyer. that is what we needed. or we needed the window to be extended to us as it was extended to the other investment banks that sunday night. to be even more clear, when we heard that the bank was being opened, the federal reserve window was being opened that sunday night, we all said we are fine, we are going

mr. saski, last week, mr. lentz, the president of toyota motor sales usa testified that he had no authority so recall toyota vehicles sold in the united states when those vehicles have safety problems. now i believe either mr. inaba or uchiyamada were going to probe that. is that an rack rate -- an accurate statement as of now? >> if you take a look at the process and the energy on the members. >> let me answer. it is true that north american member was not officially included in our recall decision-making process. : we realize as you pointed out our old system may have caused some concern for suspicion on the part of the united states or the north american marketplace and therefore in order to improve as we have decided to include someone who is very well familiar with the north american market situation to become a panel member, an important panel member that it be involved in the recall decision making process and this inclusion it is an official one. >> when will the system starts? >> [speaking japanese] >

mr. berman: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of the ranking member's motion to instruct. the world faces no security threat greater than the prospect of a nuclear armed iran. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: we must make certain that the prospect never becomes a reality. a nuclear iran would menace, intimidate and ultimately dominate its neighbors. it would be virtually impervious from any type of pressure from the west, regardless of any support of terrorism or the question of freedom and human rights at home and would touch off a nuclear arms race in the middle east that would almost inevitably lead to can t.s.a. row free. and -- catastrophe. and worst of all, they may use its nuclear arms against those they see as enemies. iran quite possibly will be capable of developing and delivering a nuclear weapon in the next three to five years. in our -- and our task of preventing iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability

mr. poe: mr.ker, because the federal government refuses to secure the border, states like arizona have become desperate to solve the crisis. arizona has a new illegal immigration law that's causing some heartburn to the open borders crowd. the new law makes being in arizona without proof of legal status a crime. the consequences range from a misdemeanor to a felony, depending on whether one is a repeat offender, trafficking drugs or smuggling human beings. the open borders law doesn't want the laws they don't like enforce so they protest it outside the arizona state capitol building when the governor signed the bill into law. they pelted police with rocks and bottles, even even assaulted a cameraman. it calls the peaceful tea party people fringe terrorists, but the violent pro-immigrant rock throwers get a pass. no matter how the open media crowds spins it, entering this country illegally is still against the law. the federal government should do its job and secure the border and that's what they'

mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: and i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. brown: i notice the senior senator from ohio, my colleague, is in the chamber. i want to thank him publicly for his vote yesterday, joining with senator voinovich, joining with three other republicans, senator collins, senator snowe and senator brown, the new senator from massachusetts, for his vote to extend unemployment benefits. there is simply no reason this shouldn't be bipartisan, this extension of unemployment benefits. it's not solving all our nation's problems. it certainly stimulates the economy. it's the best -- really the best use of public dollars to help the economy because when you extend unemployment benefits, you

mr. bowen? >> mr.e chairman, i cannot render an opinion as to what the organization structure was why it was. i -- it was very heavily segmented. and i was responsible for my peace, and other people were responsible for theirs. >> let's revisit your e-mail once again very briefly. was that the first e-mail you ever sent? >> to mr. rubin? >> yes. >> yes. >> did you send into others'? >> at corporate -- >> i'm just asking you, were you an e-mail in terms of communicating with folks higher up the chain about what you saw as problems? >> there are in excess of hundreds of pages of documents that i submitted. >> i'm looking at something that could be characterized as sending an e-mail to hire a in this segmented operation to try to explain something that concerns you. >> i know that the warnings went to the highest levels within my business unit, which was called the consumer lending group. >> i mean, your analysis of all is going on was a can to the fellow in the field who calls an airstrike on his locatio

mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent that any time spent in the quorum call on the motion to proceed to s. 3217 during today's session be divided equally between both sides. the presiding officer: that was previously ordered. mr. brown: mr. president, i have ten unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leader. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m. >> more now on that financial regulations bill pending in the senate. assistant treasury s

mr. chairman, mr. vice chairman, and distinguished commissioners, thank you for providing me the opportunity to appear of about you today to assist the commission in examining the causes of the financial crisis. as you know, i submitted to the commission a written statement in advance of the hearing and i will not repeat the more detailed explanation, but i thought i would highlight a few of my thoughts now. i am happy to provide whatever assistance i can and will do my best to answer all of your questions to the best of my ability. i was at fannie mae for 27 years. until my retirement in august 2008. and while i left fannie mae prior to the takeover, and the imposition of conservatorship, i continued to work as an adviser to senior management for sick months at the request of the new c.e.o. . at fannie mae, i was privileged to work with many fine individuals including mortgage lenders, community groups, housing organizations an other stakeholders to help americans achieve the dream of homeownership an

mr. addington, when we had mr. main here, i kind of said, this is shocking, this testimony to me, that these mines continue to stay open. and i say why can't you shut down a mine, or shut down part of the mine? he said, well, because of the federal mine safety and health review commission has made some rulings that made it hard to shut down. is that true in your experienced? >> well, it probably -- it's partly true in some respects. at the pattern of violations i don't believe that's true. if you look at section one '04, pattern of violation, the statute as it was intended, if you look at the legislative history, it really was intended to be a hammer. and unfortunately through implementing regulations in 1990, it was weakened and msha's internal criteria that they're using a week and it even more. i mean, we've heard a couple times during a hearing about potential pattern of violations. you won't find it in the statute. the statute nothing about potential violation that it says if a minor engaged in a pattern of vi