>> bair: yes.ld assume it would be billions, yes. >> pelley: billions of dollars. >> bair: yes, absolutely. >> pelley: chairman bair's proposed cleanup fund would pay homeowners to accept a bank's ownership claim without a lawsuit. she says that this could be cheaper for the banks than trying to recreate the missing documents legitimately and not through the document mills. >> bair: i think, eventually, the bank could prove who owned it. but it would take... it would take a lot of time and expense. >> pelley: you know, none of the major banks were willing to sit down with us and talk to us about this, not even the american bankers association. >> bair: i'm sorry to hear that. >> pelley: why do you think that is? >> bair: they're feeling very defensive now. and so, i can only assume that is the reason that they declined. >> pelley: the banks are defensive because all 50 state attorneys general want to punish them. the states are seeking about $20 billion in damages for what they say is the irrespons

. >> bair you go. >> you forgot something at home. a nice turn out too. [inaudible conversations] >> i think actually these are serious times. ladies and gentlemen, to just have the quick couple of words so everybody could come from the ball close to the fund. >> how are you? >> is an honor to host this event tonight for a good colleague one williams. -- juan williams. i talk to two groups in get the question most is charles and bruce. [laughter] and what is juan williams really like a? he is a fantastic guy is what i tell them. a lot of people now say you have a good deal. everything worked out. it was perfect. i was around him that we can he was not a happy camper. it was tough and a lot of pain but i saw the character throw that the entire thing and i will tell you i could not be prouder. [applause] every night sometimes it gets heated with interesting exchanges but you're respected discussion happens at our table. the. >> look at this. [laughter] >> we have a lightning round with a certain topic it is not that quick were lightening. [laughter] so i th

is more than the system can bair. i mentioned i thought in some ways libya was a unique case. gaddafi made a unique mistake 80 or so years ago by trying to assassinate the king of south -- eight or so years ago by trying to assassinate the king of saudi arabia. they were eager to get rid of gaddafi. that has not been the saudi approach to other arab states in general. there were very unhappy to see president mubarak of egypt go. even in syria, the saudis, i think only reluctantly came around to more or less giving up on al assad. it was an important step and a step that pave the way for more vigorous u.s. and european positions on what needs to happen in syria. we saw that most of the arab states did pull together in favor of change in libya. not all of them though. algeria stuck with gaddafi until close to the end. syria is very much preoccupied with its own problems and really cannot play this kind of all role. level not had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to -- le banon had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to take that role. that does not reflect what the posit

is more than the system can bair. i mentioned i thought in some ways libya was a unique case. gaddafi made a unique mistake 80 or so years ago by trying to assassinate the king of south -- eight or so years ago by trying to assassinate the king of saudi arabia. they were eager to get rid of gaddafi. that has not been the saudi approach to other arab states in general. there were very unhappy to see president mubarak of egypt go. even in syria, the saudis, i think only reluctantly came around to more or less giving up on al assad. it was an important step and a step that pave the way for more vigorous u.s. and european positions on what needs to happen in syria. we saw that most of the arab states did pull together in favor of change in libya. not all of them though. algeria stuck with gaddafi until close to the end. syria is very much preoccupied with its own problems and really cannot play this kind of all role. level not had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to -- lebanon had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to take that role. that does not reflect what the positi

during the poll, during the fox news debate last night, moderator brent bair asked all candidates if they'd turn down a deal that cuts 10 in spending for every $1 raced in taxes. look what happened. >> will you raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes you'd walk away on the 10-1 deal. that's frightening. chuck, that shows -- i said today and i mean it, like one of those reverend yung sun moon's wedding, everybody gets married at the same time. did anybody quibble? wait a minute. 10-1? would any member of congress or a senator turn down a deal like that? even jim demint would look twice at that deal, seems like. >> yeah, i had this feeling twofold on this issue. number one is, upsetting that a couple of these candidates will end up backtracking on this at some point. maybe it's not for three months. maybe it's not for four months, but that was an odd moment. you almost -- it was one of those where i'm thinking did they not hear that it was 10-1? did they not hear that that was the ratio? clearly, the democrats, heard david axelrod, president obama's chief campai

he was talking about -- you remember the earlier fox republican debate and brett bair asked the republicans to raise their hands if you agree with this position, and it was if you opposed a deficit reduction deal even if it had $10 in spending cut for every $1 in tax increases, all republican candidates opposed that, the president reaching from the middle of the electorate jumped on that. >> when i saw our republican presidential primary candidates suggesting that they would not be willing to close a single loophole or close a single special interest tax break even if they were going to get $10 of savings for every $1 of revenue that raised, that is no longer thinking in a commonsense way. at that point what you're seeing is ideological rigidity that is preventing us from solving problems. >> that's an appeal to independent voters and it proves he's paying a lot more attention to the race than the white house would want us to think. >> basically when he's going against the group, he's saying i have a bunch of extremists against me, they're no different than the people in congress you don't

banking committee to introduce marty u gruenberg who is nominated to the chairman of the fdic by sheila bair. he is currently the vice-chairman and he served on the -- he started in the house side and served for many years on the staff of the senate banking committee and now he will be the chair of the fdic. when he first went down there, you have to have a balance on these multi member commission's. only a certain number can come from the same party. that is true of the fcc and the fdic. marty got down there. he had only been there for three months and the chairman, don powell was a close friend of president bush's and stepped down as chairman to go to texas on the disaster recovery efforts going on in texas. and marty became the chairman. acting chairman. within four months of getting to the fdic. so i am reading the american banker next morning. i don't do that anymore but when i was -- i read that marty is acting chairman. i said i just read in the paper you have only been down there for four months. you are the acting chairman of the fdic. he gives an embarrassed laugh and says yes. is

navigate the political landscape with twitter feed and facebook updates from the campaigns, canada bairse, an allegis polling day. plus links to campaign media partners in the early primary and caucus states. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our guest for this first segment is robert rector, from the heritage foundation. he serves as a senior reach her fellow. -- research fellow. you write a lot about social programs. tell us how you define that. guest: i write about anti- poverty programs, in particular, those focused on assisting poor people, not the elderly. programs that provide cash, clothing, housing, targeted to low-income people. the surprising thing is that conservatives call those welfare. it's how many of those programs that we have feared that federal government run 70 of those programs for cash, food, housing, and medical care for low-income. we're spending $900 billion this year. if you take all of state and federal spending, the largest category of spending is also security and medicare. the second are these anti- poverty programs. followed by public education and

it seems to me when bair and the men went bankrupt, it seemed like there was a lot of mere incompetencepossibly malfeasance in the behavior of those institutions and many others that contributed to the failure of those institutions. if enough obvious causal connection for the housing policies to the states and investment banks. i wonder which are theories of state says. >> bear stearns has a major player in the fact that the leverage these firms are allowed to take on, which is something that henry paulson importuned the sec to allow us to increase the average these firms take on their books. that really let them down the path to perdition because only a small loss was magnified by leverages they had. there was a tremendous amount of profitability and risk-taking related to mortgages on wall street. look at countrywide, bank of america. it is in trouble now because of its lending practices. >> you also have to remember the mortgage-backed security, the residential mortgage with the lowest risk asset from a capital good. and that is a big pizza by the banks went headfirst into this, why

the next phase of the dhs consolidation of saint elizabeth any purchase option for iris lisa martin bairt virginia. let's move forward will result in the governments continue leasing the space i'm costing taxpayers millions more in the long run. additional cuts in fy 2012 would only make the situation worse. gsa has been aggressive with another opportunity for saving by improving efficiency of the federal inventory to facilitate consolidation of the season to government-owned space. our gsa headquarters is a good example. by renovating and building an open up the floor plan we can increase the number of occupants from approximately 2500 to 6000 people. this will allow us to eliminate multiple leases saving taxpayers money for dollars in military gsa is not the only agent via the pieces on behalf of the federal government. with a 25 commissions at the va and d.c. have the statutory authority to hold interest. gsa is not usually involved in these transactions. some agencies also the space under a delegation of authority from day. agencies using this delegation must abide by the same lot an

each weekend that my wife and bair back in texas, we tried to devote a little time to our three preschool granddaughters. the joy of being with them, their growth, they're learning, their creativity, and also their innocence and vulnerability are in such contrast in a home where they're surrounded by love and what we see displayed on national tv with the abuse and deaths of too many young children. so we are conducting a bipartisan expression of what we can do about the gap between the many children in our country who are surrounded by loving and supporting families and those who are not. i think we recognize that the death of even one child due to abuse and neglect is just too many. we are aware that there are so many children across the country to lose their lives or are permanently scarred by abuse from a caretaker. we know that there are many reasons why this happens. but the goal of today's hearing must be to improve our understanding of these causes and what we can do to prevent this kind of maltreatment of children can certainly, poverty, teenage parenting, substance abuse, and men

when billy and bair together in the back, we tell stories about how it was not -- when billy and i areether in the back, we tell stories about how it was not all about us. it was tied to the strength of the men and the families they represent. billy is where i was two years ago. the last thing i will say is that in a few minutes, your point to hear from one of my best friends. -- you are going to share from one of my best friends. barely remembers this, but in november of 2008 when i was being -- barely remembers this, but in november of 2008 when i was being considered for the post, he came to me with the idea of talking about his job, the job i wanted to have. three and a half hours later he walked out saying, i will continue to pray for you and you will be the right man for the job. he is an incredible man. i have the pleasure to call him my friend. that is all i'm going to say. and i will concede to the gray- haired gentleman. [applause] >> if we sat down, i may have a hard time getting up. as i look around, this is an historical moment. i cannot think of another time in history wh

it seems to me when bair and the men went bankrupt, it seemed like there was a lot of mere incompetencesibly malfeasance in the behavior of those institutions and many others that contributed to the failure of those institutions. if enough obvious causal connection for the housing policies to the states and investment banks. i wonder which are theories of state says. >> bear stearns has a major player in the fact that the leverage these firms are allowed to take on, which is something that henry paulson importuned the sec to allow us to increase the average these firms take on their books. that really let them down the path to perdition because only a small loss was magnified by leverages they had. there was a tremendous amount of profitability and risk-taking related to mortgages on wall street. look at countrywide, bank of america. it is in trouble now because of its lending practices. >> you also have to remember the mortgage-backed security, the residential mortgage with the lowest risk asset from a capital good. and that is a big pizza by the banks went headfirst into this, why the