chairman bachus' fellow republicans, they're miffed as well. according to politico, they say ba bac bachus was putting them on the line to repair the damage from that "60 minutes" report. we're not going to cover spencer's ass by passing a half-baked bill. joining us is retired congressman brian baird who tried to pass a similar ethics bill years ago without much luck and melanie sloan, citizens for ethics and responsibility in washington. she testified before congress in support of the stock act. congressman, you helped to introduce the stock back in 2006. it died over and over again in committee. virtually no one even show upped for some of your hearings. do you think it just died again? >> well, it seems like eric cantor would like to see it die. i just don't buy his explanation. bills are often referred to multiple committees. you just waive that. let financial services handle it, that's in their bailiwick. if he's serious about passing this, why doesn't he set a date? by the end of march we'll bring this bill up for a vote and get it done.

he reports that gop congressmen like spencer bachus of alabama and fellow members of the house financial services committee were getting dire, top-secret briefings on the banking crisis back in 2008 from treasury secretary hank paulson. at the same time, congressman baucus started making stock bets that the market would go down. his office says he never trades on nonpublic information, but the timing is certainly suspicious. baucus reported -- his reported take on trades was around $50,000. and it is a bipartisan story. they're doing it on both sides. take democrat nancy pelosi, the former house speaker. in 2008, she took part in visa, the credit card company's invitation-only initial stock offering, buying 5,000 shares just as legislation that would have hurt credit card companies like visa began the trip through the house. legislation that incidentally failed that time, ultimately passed through the senate. steve kroft asked her about that. >> i wanted to ask you why you and your husband, back in march of 2008, accepted and participated in a very large ipo deal from visa in a time ther

gingrich or whether it's chairman bachus or leader pelosi. i can't speak to these individual ones. and our system should be allowed to do that, to carry those things out. i think again your point is well taken that i think this crosses all political boundaries. i'm sure if you have strong political beliefs, there's probably the assumption the other side is doing it. i think with america right now, they believe everybody is. how do you expect us and the american public to think we can work together to solve the real problems of the day like unemployment or dealing with energy and these types of things when they don't believe we're in it for the right things? if there's an energy bill, if the american public thinks they're invested in this type of energy or that, it's very dangerous. as far as the punishments for this, what we're saying it's not centered. it should be criminal. martha stewart went to prison for two years for what basically is my belief that the potential lies there for members of congress to do. i know that the securities and exchange commission seems to think, as do

i look forward to the testimony today on how it can fix a problem and i thank you chairman bachus and i yield the balance of my time. >> thank you mr. gutierrez and at this time i recognize the vice chairman of the full committee, mr. hensarling, for two minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. fha is likely a disaster in the making if we are not careful and it may become fannie and freddie the sql. at 400 to one leverage, 10 times the leveraged that was employed by lehman brothers when they filed their bankruptcy, something is amiss. capital reserve ratio is almost 90% less than the statutorily required minimum. third year, working on the third year in a row than mutual insurance fund has been undercapitalized. if fha was a private financial institution, likely somebody would be fired or fined in the institution would find itself in receivership. instead what we have seen as an agency that has undertaken an expansionary strategy whose insurance in force is now more than tripled since 2008. we have an agency that now guarantees mortgages up to roughly twice of what they did just a few year

the conferees i am going to point will be max bachus, chairman of the finance committee, ben cardin,financial committee, no one in the senate has been more protective of federal employees than senator cardin. and when we were doing the negotiations for long-term deal, one of the places people were looking to do some real difficult things were federal employees. i know that he will be fair. nevada has had unemployment very, very high for a long time, but a state that has been hit really hard but unemployment has also, is rhode island. and no one innocent has been more protective of the unemployed and jack reed. so he will be my third country. the fourth conferees will be bob casey. bob casey is chairman of the joint economic committee, and this is his bill. the payroll tax, the holiday extension is bob casey's legislation. i have talked to each of them. they will work expeditiously to come up with a long-term arrangement on the payroll tax, on unemployment, of course, and on the doc fix. i have great confidence in them. i also want to say this. most everything we do around here is bas

boehner, hastert, greg, bachus, capito, pelosi, kerry and moran.going to put up. now let's put the graphic up, lawsuit makers sitting on committees carrying out the hearings. what's interesting about it. you have claire mccaskill. tell us about claire. >> in claire mccaskill's case, she sits on the committee reviewing this, she made a very well timed trade involving berkshire-hathaway stock, she got out before the market dropped and she bought berkshire right before the equity buy into goldman-sachs. she did very well. it's very well timed. >> also, a delaware democrat is on the committee. >> interestingly, he was the point man of the obama white house on health care reform while he was doing that and pushing the build through legislature, he was trading health care stock at the same time. nice arrangement. >> spencer bachus is a republican from alabama. >> he's the chairman of the house financial services committee. they have hearings tomorrow. he actually is a very active options trader. so he was shorting the market during the financial crisis a

. >> thank you, chairman bachus for holding this human and i welcome secretary donovan and their otherwitnesses. i look forward to our discussion today in the federal housing administration, the help of visiting the family insurance home in the role that it continues to play in the housing market. we're going to get into details today, talking about actuarial studies and capital reserves. these are important issues that we must understand. what we notice the fha capital reserve ratio has fallen and continues to below the level required by statute. that is the fact that we have to deal with. the real question we have to ask her why is it is the case from a committee to ensure that the sun stays in the blood going forward. i think we can dismiss some theories pretty quickly. for example the idea that the fha has acted irresponsibly under this administration or that it's actively trying to grow its way out of the problem. those ideas are simply absurd despite the talking point of some of my colleagues. most of the loans that are hurting the fha were made during the bush administration. th

bachus, mentioned earlier in his remarks, referring to the "new york times" article or column, mightave been in today's paper entitled "fannie and freddie: still the socialites." it related to an industry conference held in october in chicago. the conference was two days long, but the tab was he hefty at $700 million at the two-day conference including $74,000 in dinners alone. freddie mac spent $50,000 on two dinners, and fannie mae spent $25,000 on two dinners. given the extraordinary taxpayer's support already received, about $170 billion, how do you justify these expenses to my con constituents or to the taxpayers of the united states generally? >> maybe i'll start, and congressman, say that i think we have to begin by saying you're right, we can do a better job, but let me talk about top line spending for i get to the line item. it's where the chairman started. i came to the company in august of 2009, and one of the things that i started to talk about right away was we needed to consistently bring down the spending of the company year after year after year, and that's what we ha

in response i worked across the aisle within ranking member capito and bachus of the fha reform act which passed the bipartisan vote for 64. although the bill wouldn't sign into law, parts of it most notably provisions allowed sha to raise the annual and on front premiums were enacted separately. these provisions for the most important pieces for my bill because they were designed to give fha resources they need to raise the cap the cap. however, the provisions on sha. however, the provisions on sha have been able to likewise important. and i'm disappointed the senate to take up a bill. however, secretary donovan has taken advantage of the flexibility we were able to get it signed into law last year and fha had to tighten it lending standards. the average psycho score of fha bars has risen from x 20 to 700 in addition to more credit worthy borrowers that recently extended higher loan limits will help fha to strengthen this reserve. there's been a lot of speculation in the press about whether fha needs a bailout. and i'm certain that you secretary donovan may have gotten questions that aff

spencer back as is the chair of the committee -- bachus was also featured in hear some from congressmanchus. >> many members have been accused of some indefensible acts. i think it is created public perception as a result of that and the number-one misconception is that insider trader laws do not apply to members of congress. i do believe that we can clarify that and i can clear to restore public trust. when an accusation is made, it has an effect, even if it is a false allegation. guest: i agree. i would like to applaud the chairman and nancy pelosi. they have expressed their support. the chairman to bring this to an open forum and to bring in the expert is a great step forward. i want to be very clear. i do not know whether this happens or not. the ability of four to happen is there. -- the ability of its to happen is there. redundancy is far better than not doing anything. if it is some overkill and members of congress may be have to step back from now, that is part of a public service. host: have they co-sponsored your legislation? guest: i do not believe they have co-sponsored it y

i want to thank chairman bachus for his support in moving this bill forward through committee. i want to thank my friend, mike rossthombing fourth district of arkansas, for his personal involvement in seeking co-sponsors for this legislation and his unfailing support for the construction of this museum. i want to thank ed pastor. he took this legislation to the hispanic caucus and got widespread support there. thanks also to the late ray baker, mayor of fort smith, who was in the early beginnings of the development of this museum project and current mayor sandy sanders. i want to thank the c.e.o. of the marshals museum jim dunn and jim johnson and soon they'll be conducting nationwide campaigns to see that the funding is possible to construct this museum. mr. speaker, i'm proud to have sponsored this legislation. i also want to thank my friend john boozman, my predecessor, who began this process in a previous congress and will work hard in the senate to champion this legislation through the other body but i'm proud to have been the sponsor, but more than anything i'm proud of w

no mystery based on the book a couple months ago about how you trade and representative spencer bachusasury secretary. what's happening to the economy? immediately running out and making trades. his excuse was, a fool could have seen that the economy was headed into doll dru headed doldrums. i would ask, do we want our congresspeople and senators rushing back to their offices to mach trays make trades based on private meetings. >> whether it's journalists in private briefings with people or congressmen -- >> we don't rush out and trade on something. >> in fact, i'm sure there's a policy that -- >> no way. >> you cannot trade in companies that you talk about. certainly can't short them. >> you may have an overall opinion where the market is going -- >> christine, if you have information at a briefing and did trade on it, wasn't coming from a company, that's not against the law. >> you'd go write a story about it. the difference. >> i would make two points. one, if this happened in a corporation, washington would be very -- screaming bloody murder how deep the corruption is. >> yes. >> h

bachus, mrs. capito and mr. ackerman. from the committee on foreign affairs for consideration of sections 1013, 1014, 1055, 1056, 1086, 1092, 1202, 1204, 1205, 1211, 1214, 1216, 118, 1219, 1226, 1228 through 1230, 1237, 1301, 1303, 1532, 1533 and 3112 of the house bill and sections 159, 1012, 1031, -- 1033, 1201, 1203, 1204, 1206 through 1209, 1221 through 1225, 1228, 1230 and 1245 of title 13 and section 1609 of the senate amendment and modifications committed to the conference, ms. ros-lehtinen, messrs. chabot -- chabot and berman. for consideration of section 10 9-h of the house bill and section 1092 of the senate amendment and modifications committed to the conference, mr. daniel lungren of california, mrs. miller of michigan and mr. thompson of mississippi. from the committee on the judiciary for consideration of sections 531 of subtitle d of title 5, 573, 843 and 2804 of the house bill and sections 553 and 848 of the senate amendments and modifications committed to conference, messrs. smith of texas, coble and conye

walker, former comptroller of the united states, served administrations of both parties, could you bachus for the concept of the fiscal updated agenda item? >> and i think all of you for being here. washington is out of touch and out of control. partisanship and ecological divide, and that washington got paid for performance, there with no money. [laughter] -- they would owe money. the latest is the super committee which is a super failure. if you are running deficits of trillions of dollars a year and you have a debt equal to 100% of your economy and growing, when you are rated no. 28 out of 34 nations in the world for fiscal responsibility and sustainability, behind spain, behind italy? you would think that the congress of the united states and the executive branch would be focusing full time on how we're going to put our finances in order and avoid a u.s. debt crisis. but no. the proposal is simple. unless and until we get our country's finances in order, then there would be an annual freeze -- presentation about the true state of things and the united states and some of the things to

first i'd like to thank chairman bachus an subcommittee chairwoman capito, ranking member frank, and subcommittee ranking member mahoney for their support of h r. 2056. i'd also like to thank senator which chamliss and his staff for working to pass this bill on the senate side. we are pleased to have an agreement with the other chamber, which is highly unusual, and look forward to the outcome of this study. as i have said many times before, there's no greater threat to our communities than bank failures, especially in my state of georgia. since the house last debated this bill in july, more banks in georgia have been closed by the regulators. now, 73 banks are no longer serving their communities and 22 banks alone have failed in 2011. sadly, there are some communities in my district that are no longer served by community bank. i have often referenced the so-called 10 over 10, these are the 10 states that have had more than 10 bank failures since 2008. these 10 unlucky states are georgia -- are georgia, florida, illinois, california, minnesota, washington, michigan, nevada, missouri,