allison. i want to echo the chairman's comments on thanking you for your willingness to serve and your willingness to appear before the committee today. it was milton friedman that said nothing so permanent as a temporary government program. we need to make sure that t.a.r.p. does what it needs to do and then wind it down and get the taxpayers back as soon as possible. i know you feel that way. i want to commend you, mr. allison, for your willingness to serve and your efforts at fannie mae. i also want to be mindful of what i think we're going to need to do to get out of this economic recovery. we need to be mindful of the successes of this economic turn around will be driven by small business and middle class families. it is important, as i said earlier, to repay the tax payers as quickly as possible and not to just reinvest the funds because we have them. i think this money was specifically put out for a specific reason and we need to keep that in mind as we move forward. and we also need to

allison, for being here, mr. allison, for being here, willingness to serve. i unfortunately have an agriculture committee hearing i have to go to. but i want to stress as i was coming in, i heard senator tester say this, how important small business and community banks are to this recover effort. we have had a number of conversations here with treasury secretary on that subject. we have a case of our own in colorado relating to a bank failure of one of our agricultural banks that is -- that is under review by the treasury department. and my perspective is the same as senator tester's, which is that until we begin to see this involvement beginning to take place at the local level, our public is still going to wonder how we're spending our taxpayers' money. i want to underscore that for you. i'm sure you know that and i look forward to hearing your thoughts about that and to working with you as a member of this committee. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator, very much. and mr. allison, welcome, again, to the committee and we

allison. then craig newmark, founder of craigslist, talks to a conference on computers, freedom, and privacy. >> this weekend on "q&a," indiana's republican governor mitch daniels talks about the current situation in his state. that's sunday here on c-span. and here is a look at some of our book tv programming this weekend. this weekend on cable-satellite public affairs network's book tv, live, the midwest's largest literary event. saturday, starting at 11:00 eastern and throughout the day, panels and authors on the economy, globalization and the american worker, homosexual rights, former illinois governor rod blagojevich, civil rights and sojourner truth, the mob and counterfeiting, and a look at the graphic adaptation of studs terkel's working. later on "after words," stanley greenberg who is interviewed by mary matalin, former assistant and counselor in the bush-cheney white house. and live sunday on "in depth with bill ayers, and his latest is "racecourse against white supremacy ." he will

allison. wanted to -- you know, you have both the wall street experience and the experience in the housing world. i wonder if you can give us some insights on the role that repayment penl alties and how w ought to address those in the future? >> well, i think there's a need to re-examine the financing of home ownership in the country. it's obvious that some of these loan structures were totally inappropriate for the people to whom they were sold. and i think that needs to be looked at very carefully. i think it should be a simpler process for borrowing, the terms of the borrowing should be highly transparent. and i think that attention is going to be given to that as well as the government looks at re-regulation of the financial industry. you know, a home loan -- a home is the biggest investment most people ever make. and that should be taken into account. if we want to promote home ownership and promote wealth creation in the united states among the public, i think there have to be much more

allison. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. senator warner? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to go back to comments that both senator schumer and senator shelby made. senator shelby raised the point of, like your analogy, we got this bear, aig, and we don't know what to deal with it. and senator corker and i when secretary geithner was in recently -- >> senator warner, let me apologize. i did not see bob corker walk into the room. my colleague from tennessee. >> i was about to say good thins and you cut me off. >> no, my apologies, and my apologies to my colleague from my colleague from tennessee. senator corker? >> i'll let him ask his first question and come back. >> he thinks so highly of you. very smart of you, senator warner. >> i'm learning, mr. chairman. i'm learning. but we pressed -- we were very concerned and i think a lot of folks were very concerned about the whole aig situation. we were concerned about the fact that 100% payoffs with the counterparties with aig, an

allison, while the t.a.r.p.program has provided hundreds of billions of dollars to the banking sector, there have been a lot of complaints, and we all hear it here in the senate, that the banks receiving t.a.r.p. funds are not making loans, at least not enough. what is being done, what do you intend to do, about ensuring that the t.a.r.p. recipients are making loans particularly to small businesses? we're not talking about making bad loans. i know you can't micromanage the daily activities of them. but as far as policy, it seems that small business community's really being squeezed in the financial sector in this country. >> yes, sir. well, we're acutely aware that in many small communities around the country, small businesses are still having difficulty getting access to credit. i think there are a number of reasons for that, but it's important to point out that the secretary recently directed that we would reopen the capital purchase program for small banks, which provide an outsize portion of lending to small

allison. chairman dodd. senator warren raised the issue of warrants which is close to my concern, also. just once again to emphasize with the recent legislation, you have complete flexibility on the use of the warrants. and i urge you to use that flexibility wisely. there's an issue that, frankly, a question that's just come to mind. the t.a.r.p. fund has received two forms of payment, the principal that was advanced and also interest on the preferred. does that interest refer back to the t.a.r.p. program and another question related was the value of the warrants, the profits from the warrants. does that go back into the top program? >> moneys that are received go into the general funds of the u.s. treasury. the amount advanced initially is then deducted from the amount outstanding under the $700 billion limit. i will double-check that for you, but that's my derstanding. >> so essentially what the repayment would restore the ability to extend the principal amount that's repaid, but the addition additional, t

allison for your willingness to serve. i think you began as a lieutenant or an ensign in the united states navy. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> senator, do you have any further questions? >> i'd like to ask one more question, if appropriate. one of the concerns that i have is related to the program and the possibility of manipulation between buyers and sellers. i believe that t.a.r.p. recipient banks are not going to be participating in the legacy loans program but that no such restrictions have been put into place for the legacies security program which will be managed by the treasury and the fed under talf. any insights on you have basically parties with an interest on both sides of the transaction? >> well, there are going to be very clear conflict of interest rules in the public/private partnership. those rules are also being discussed with the special inspector general as well as the people within treasury. and i think it's very important for the credibility of the program and to protect the taxpayers

so allison bechtel is one of my current favorite writers and authors. another book is persepolis about the iranian revolution, and she is an iranian french woman and it's a very different style but of coming of age at a time of repression and autocracyie in a the traitic nightmare in her country and it has all the adolescent tropes of falling in love and discovering your body and it's again the backdrop of this historic moment. very moving book and those books together show you kind of the great flexibility of the medium and the great things you can do with comics which i don't preen -- pretend to be an expert on comics but it's a terrific medium and one which reaches into all corners of the world that others don't. >> to see more of summer reading lists and other program information, visit our web site at book tv.org. >> this summer, book tv is asking, what are you reading? >> cnn's wolf blitzer. what are you reading. >> beginning with the empore record's new clothes, written by a well-known washington lawyer, involved in watergate and in the 9/11 comm

so allison bechtel is one of my favorite current writers, authors, artists. and the other book that you may have heard of is called persepolis which is a graphic memoir of the iranian revolution. she's an iranian-french woman, and it's an extraordinary book and a very different style than bechtel, but of coming of age at a time of repression and autocracy and kind of a theological, a theocratic kind of nightmare in her country and fleeing to france, and it's got all the adolescent troaps of falling in love and discovering your body and all the rest of it. but told against the backdrop of this gigantic historic moment. very moving book and shows you both books together show you kind of the great flexibility of this medium and the great things you can do with comics. which i don't pretend to be an expert about ft i've taught comics for a long time, and now i've written a comic, but, man, it's a terrific medium, and it's one that reaches into all corners of the world that other literature doesn't. >> to see more summer reading lists and other program information

allison, do you have that or do i have it? [inaudible conversations] >> okay, just to make sure everybody understands we want cms to inform and disseminate, we see now senate reports and recommendations are prohibited from being used by any government entity for payment coverage or treatment decisions. and then we thought that that would be more precise. so i still believe that the board prohibit certainly is the intent of what we are trying to do here on behalf of an awful lot of doctors and people who do not want hatchways taken away from the patient and the doctor and i would be happy to yield to dr. colburn if he has any comments. >> i was trying to write because they don't have it in front of us what is the amendment? >> it would be on line five it says senate reports and recommendations and then the following language would be added are prohibited from being used by any government agency for payment coverage or treatment decisions. i don't mean agency, i mean entity. pardon me. agent instead of agency. why don't we just

allison, do you have that or do i have that? >> if we want cms to inform and disseminate what they're about that we say now senator, reports and recommendations are prohibited from being used by any government entity for payment coverage or treatment decisions and we thought that that would be more precise. so i still believe that the word prohibit certainly is the intent of what we're trying to

host: allison from beverly, new jersey. good morning. caller: i want to commend you for at least bringing this to the forefront. having had a son within the prison system, so very much aware of what is going on, what are we going to do when it comes from the top and trickles down to the guards? it is promoted. it is planned. it is nothing for a guard to set another prisoner up to be raped in order to do indeed for another prisoner or get a deed done for themselves. it even goes as far into the halfway house, which i personally reported. it has gone to the juvenile center is where i had a child witness another child -- centers where i had a job with another child had a pillow over his face and individuals came at a rate this individual -- rape this individuals. when the child was discovered bleeding from you know where, then it was brought to the attention. everyone pretended to do nothing about it but yet my child who was there and witnessed it -- there witnessed it. if the female guards cannot go along with the program, they become subj

president when allison the airport in the twin cities in minnesota and a guy came up to me on a tram in the airport and he said the know how you are voting on that woman and i said i want to listen to her and see how she answers the questions and he said i am worried, and i said why, she is actually pretty moderate judge, and he said because she is always putting her emotions in front of the law. i said to him to you know she is on a panel with three judges swinging one on the circuit for or she sits now and have her and to other judges together than 95 percent of the time she comes to an agreement with the republican appointed judge on the panel so you must be thinking the same thing about those guys because you can say that about her. so that incident made me think that we need to set the record straight year, about the facts. which would-be ambassadors of truth and get out the truth about judge sotomayor, her record and what kind of judge we are looking for in the united states supreme court. we need to make sure that she gets the same civil their treatment than other nominees hav

in front of banking last week herb allison will oversee the t.a.r.p., hopefully, he talked about -- he called it head room. i interpret it as being reserve of $100 billion. can you tell me why we need 250 million in the budget? >> senator, can i just begin by saying i announced this morning that banks have -- we've indicated the banks that the fed has indicated banks repurchase $68 billion of those initial investments and those will be coming back into the general fund. the eesa legislation that is designed that does create additional flexibility to allow us to use those funds if we believe there's a strong and compelling case and since we're -- all those thing are getting better in the financial system, i think to be realistec, there's a lot of risk ahead for us and we need to be careful to remind people that the flexible sit important. in the reserve fund the president put in the budget this additional reserve fund and in the abundance of caution against the possible they we could face a deepening crisis. we do not expect at this time to come back to congress to ask for authority to

will be jim phillips who is our senior research fellow here at heritage in the douglas and sarah allison center. he's written extensively on security issues and international terrorism. he was a research fellow at the congressional research service, and he is a member of the committee of the present danger as well. and also on the board of editors of middle east quarterly. and so i'll then turn it over to ken. >> thank you, james. thank you for inviting me, it's good to be back at heritage. as was noted, i'm speaking in a personal capacity, i'm not reflecting any committee or member of congress. my brief remarks today, i wish to offer condolences to the family of michael jackson. first, let me say that i want to, i'm going to talk a little about the current unrest in iran to set the stage for the discussion of the nuclear issue and the report which i was generously heritage asked me to comment on although not as a formal member of the working group. what has struck me, though, in a lot of the press reporting of the recent events in iran particularly in tehran is the idea that major rifts

it was around this time that my lovely and talented wife, allison took the foreign service exam and passed and in 2005, she was hired by the u.s. state department and for her first assignment we were sent to bomaco. yeah, we didn't know where it was either. it's the capital of mali, a small landlocked nation in west africa. so i left marketplace and suddenly found myself in west africa with a lot of time on my hands. this gave me ample time to write my first book which is called "last team standing." this is a book about the 1943 merger of the pittsburgh steelers and the philadelphia eagles during world war ii, the nfl was so short of players that they actually had to merge the steelers and the eagles. they were known as stegles. they were 4a. running back had ulcers, they actually did much better than you might expect. how well did they do? the book is available in paperback. [laughter] >> after that book came out in 2006, i was still in west africa and still had plenty of free time on my hands. so i began fishing around for another book idea, and i suspect like most writers and reporters

know, i'm going to rethink that book, i am going to look at that -- i remember reading that when allison tenth grade or remember reading when i first got married and i'm going to revisit that and they do. on this and have distorted reading this but now what has happened because of the economic situation there saying ayn rand was really write another something about her novels in what is going on here and that, boy, are you riding on the waves is what they saying. >> what are you currently reading? >> i am currently rating in short stories of the boat off. a great brilliant writer. >> y? >> beautiful prose, crystal clear beautiful prose. i am not really wild about his content and everything short stories but i get hooked on paragraphs and and i am there for the anna. >> finally what is the website? >> the web site for the ayn rand institute is ayn rand.org. >> thanks for spending a few minutes, here is your book back. >> this summer booktv is asking, what are you reading? >> senator mitch mcconnell, what is on your summer reading list? >> welcome i have just finished a couple books i woul

ask for the committee to consider the nomination of herbert allison to be the assistant secretary for financial security within the department of treasury. all those in favor, reporting out the no, ma'am nays signify by saying aye. those oppose no. the ayes have it. i ask further the committee consider the nominatifb of mercedes marquez.. mercedes marquez to be the assistant

the tarp czar herb allison and earl devaney, those two places there, add that up, we are at about, let's see $1.5 trillion in that neighborhood, very close to that. and it might be good to ask them, where's the money and where did it go? now we have a centralized place to at least ask the question on the level of accountability. these people are not accountable to the senate for confirmation or to the public for elections. and they are accountable only to the president as far as we know, but the least we can do is put some pressure on them and ask for a full accounting, where's the tarp money? and are we going to let the people who want to pay it back, pay it back. is the money going to the treasury or roll it over to some venture capital government kind of endeavor. and mr. earl devaney, i would be interested, if we could get an answer from the stimulus accountability czar on where is all that money, how much of it has been spent and where, how much of it went into infrastructure, how much converted into jobs, how much of that infrastructure is going to be usable and useful and stimul

club american media are also coble in part by china this cult of the activist president, instead allison gave preference is that if that was released a couple weeks ago by the center for media and public affairs. over the first 50 days of the obama presidency that newscast devoted 28 hours to his presidency compared to eight hours for george debbie bush over the same time. a 50% of the obama evaluations were positive compared to 33 percent for bush and 44 percent for clinton during their first 50 days. so then the cold of the activist presidency is not only be reinforced by and large and enhanced in the medium ones which is not to say that the media has been deprived of this cult or this perception. it was already there as evidence during the campaign and since the election and the excitement generated by the obama candidacy among the american people and of the election after all was about change and obama has gone about with all the powers available to project and deliver on the change since he became president. the media coverage reflex i think of the public interest and excitement sur