mr. benson and mr. stevens, i want to ask you to elaborate on priorityization a bit and the effects it could have on the market. treasury secretary lu said, priorityization is default by another name. i agree with that statement. but we have hundreds of billions of dollars of treasury securities maturing between october 17th and the end of the month. 1st. illion october 2 we rely on our investors as they mature. how confident can we be that investors will be willing to le over these debts as we're actively deciding that we won't repay some of our creditors? >> senator if you think about a household that relies upon the bank for financing on an ongoing basis. if the bank finds out that the household is choosing to pay some bills and not other, it doesn't inspire great confidence for the bank to continue to lend and to the extent that it does, it's going to charge a higher interest rate. and i think that's the analogy. i honestly believe that the confidence of this vast market of learneds that we depend u

mr. benson?, i mean in this particular case, your guest, agrees with you. >> no, no, what happens to me is i have to have armed bodyguards if i go out in public. >> it's also because you're famous. >> no, it's not because i'm famous but because of what i said. going back to your point on balance, the united states, mean nation from the jump? that overwhelms all the good we did. >> we can always do betterment you're talking about -- >> everybody can do better. >> no, just -- >> you look at all the people we've freed all over the world and all the opportunity we give people. why do you think millions have snuck in here. come on, i think the balance is in the nobility range. i'll give you last word. >> you're talking about walking around with bodyguards. i have received death threats and hate mail and i think the most important thing for me was the people that stood up and had my back in that situation and i think that we don't get it often enough. >> the internet is making us a meaner society. >> a

mr. benson?>> i say two things. one is voluntarily defaulting on the debt is something that does not make any logical sense. it will create huge operational problems in the financial markets that would permeate across the markets. treasuries are used in escrow. it will affect municipal bond issues. it will have profound consequences in liquidity and could create crises if it were to go on, even with potential workarounds, to deal with defaulted t-bonds. the other thing i would say is with respect to the long-term fiscal condition, the default voluntarily would make resolving the long-term fiscal imbalance is just that much more difficult. it would make the long-term fiscal imbalances that much more difficult. it seems to me it doesn't make any sense to do so if you don't have to. >> from the real estate perspective, i think that we would have, we would fall back into a deeper recession. there is no doubt in my mind that that would happen. if we reached a debt ceiling impasse, the default on u.s.

mr. benson? >> i say two things. one is voluntarily defaulting on the debt is something that does not make any logical sense. it will create huge operational problems in the financial markets that would permeate across the markets. treasuries are used in escrow. it will affect municipal bond issues. it will have profound consequences in liquidity and could create crises if it were to go on, even with potential workarounds, to deal with defaulted t-bonds. the other thing i would say is with respect to the long-term fiscal condition, the default woulddefault voluntarily make resolving the long-term fiscal imbalance is just that -- in balance is just that much imbalances that much more difficult. it seems to me it doesn't make any sense to do so if you don't have to. >> from the real estate perspective, i think that we would have, we would fall back into a deeper recession. there is no doubt in my mind that that would happen. if we reached a debt ceiling impasse, the default on u.s. debt could be ve

mr. benson?

mr. benson, t.a.o. has said the cost from the event inancial crisis may exceed $13 trillion. and someone suggested default could be even worse? what would a default mean for investors including both current retirees and future ones? >> mr. chairman, i think that in the case of current investors, if there was a default and coupon payments were missed, then at least immediately they would be out money for some period of time. it's not clear whether they would be paid acrude enter from the due date or the date of actual payment and if they weren't they would have lost earnings associated with that. if they are holding treasury securities at this point in time as treasury securities move down in price then they would take a loss on that as well. i think it's fair to say current investors would have negative consequences as a result of this. >> what do you think in >> it will hurt in some fashion or other everyone who saves, everyone who vests, everyone who borrows and everyone who has a stake in the economy and not people in one category or another uniquely. but retirees would be

benson. as a family they've worked to bring the moment of silence to fruition. i'm honored to present this proposal today on their behalf in this 13th congress. again, i'm thankful to mrd and chairman miller for enabling this provision to come to a vote today. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 2189. it is a very timely bill with hundreds of thousands of returning veterans from iraq and afghanistan and with over 700,000 veterans waiting for disability determinations, again it's an important bill. with that, i wreeled back the balance of my time. the speaker: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: thank you very much, mr. speaker. at this time, i would like to yield two minutes to the majority whip, a strong supporter of veterans issues in this legislative body, mr. mccarthy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mccarthy: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of h.r. 2189, legislation that will provide relief to hundreds of thousands of our nation's veterans. i first want to thank chairman miller because this bill includes a provision that are a result of the g.a.o. audit we requested on the departm