german barney frank is very focused on this. -- chairman barney frank is focused and will have a billhich will pass this summer. chris dodd is involved in so many other things. today he will conduct hearings on the auto industry. he has been involved in credit cards. he is also keeping an eye on his reelection. senator dodd said yesterday his committee will probably not take up financial-services reform until september. we will see a lot of activity in the house. next week the president is expected to outline more ideas on how the regulatory system should be restructured for financial services. host: our guest will be with us periodically throughout the hour as we look to you to tell us how he would grade the administration on its policy for banks. from bloomington, ill. on our republican line. caller: i would rate them unsatisfactory. those banks that are taking federal money are being allowed to go to consumers. they should be limited in the amount of interest they can charge to 10% over what they pay for those federal funds. some of those banks are charging all whole lot more than

according to the june 5 wauplt journal -- quote -- "the latest self--appointed car czar, barney frank, who intersraoed this week to save a g.m. distribution center in massachusetts. the warehouse, which employs 90 people, was slated for closing by the end of the year under g.m.'s restructuring plan. but there was a new lease on life for the facility. unquote. the congressman's woke spann said that the congressman was -- quote -- "doing what any other congressman would do. precisely the reason for these cars are awards. as the journal put it -- quote -- "that's the problem with industrial policy and governmental control of american

according to the june 5 wauplt journal -- quote -- "the latest self--appointed car czar, barney frank, who intersraoed this week to save a g.m. distribution center in massachusetts. the warehouse, which employs 90 people, was slated for closing by the end of the year under g.m.'s restructuring plan. but there was a new lease on life for the facility. unquote. the congressman's woke spann said that the congressman was -- quote -- "doing what any other congressman would do. precisely the reason for these cars are awards. as the journal put it -- quote -- "that's the problem with industrial policy and governmental control of american business in washington every member of congress now thinks he's a czar who can call old fritz and tell him how to make cars." unquote. i will continue to confer car czar awards until congress and the president enact my auto stop for every taxpayer legislation, which would distribute the government stock in general motors and chrysler to the 120 million americans who pay taxes on april 15. that's the fastest way to get ownership of the auto companies out of t

bloom, reference was made in a previous question about barney frank. you can see why that leads to some much suspicion back home and even amongst members of this panel. i do not have that kind of power, and yet, dealerships were closed in the state of nebraska. were you aware of that? did the ceo or somebody call you and say, wow, what do i do with this?(%Ñbarney frank has ce this facility left open? >> no, sir, i have not. >> did you learn about it after the fact? >> i have learned about it pretty much the same way you have learned about it. not. >> do you know of any other deals that have been made? >> i only know what we've been admonished to do and what i believe we've done. i assure you we're going to do what he continued to ask us to do. >> so when you say you haven't participated does that mean you don't know of any other special deals that were struck. >> i don't know what i don't know, sir. what i can tell you is the auto task force has been explicitly and very clearly discussed with them, and i have -- and we have regular discussions internal

when we look at the figures in the democratic party, like barney frank and christopher dodd and nancy pelosi and even clinton himself, these people do horrendous things and yet nothing is said or done about it, but now we have a situation with this man and i think it is basically because he is a republican. host: i will let your comments stand. this is your says even jesus had disciples fall off the wagon, should they have stepped down? to air is humid and to forgive divine. -- to err is human. john edwards said minutes was on a fair. elizabeth edwards will appear on cnn later on "larry king live." here is what john edwards said last summer. >> two years ago i made a very serious mistake. a mistake that i am responsible for and no one else. in 2006 i told elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for for forgiveness, asked god for his forgiveness and we have kept this when it -- within our family since that time. all of our family knows about this. just to be absolutely clear, none of them are responsible for. >> is this a fair completely over? >> yes, it has been over for a long time. h

barney frank will do that. host: bob cusack, the manager of the hill newspaper. thank you for joining us. we will talk more about this later in the program as we wrap up the program on taxing health benefits. one viewer writes tax makes perfect sense if you want to hurt people into a government plan. caller: 1 of the remarkable inconsistencies in our tax code is that employee benefits for health plan are taxed but the self-employed does not have the benefit of tax deduction. host: massachusetts on our republican line. caller: my relatives are from europe. to say that the united states health care system is inadequate or lacking is totally wrong. my relatives say it cannot compare to what goes on in europe. also, why don't we just give free health insurance to those that are most vulnerable, 18 and younger and retired people. everyone else can pay. what that will do is allow the benefits to be taxed on the younger people, and use that to help subsidize the older people. and all the able-bodied people that are working can pay for health insurance. i don't know of -

barney frank and chris dodd are not substitutes for a sound market economy. tim geithner and lawrence summers on not a replacement for warren buffett and bill gates. we have been here before. jimmy carter got us to 13% inflation, 22% interest rates, sliding into the worst recessions since the great depression and every day gasoline rationing. how many of you remember when you could only buy gasoline every other day based on your license plate? this happened. america was reduced by bad policy, bad politicians, and bad government to rationing gasoline. my good friend pointed out he was only 13 at the time every morning, his father would give him a screwdriver to go out back and change the license plate so the car that needed gas had the right license plate. if you learn that a government rationing led 13-year olds to change license plates, you are a conservative. if you conclude that what we needed was license plate police at every gas station, you are a liberal. it is that straightforward. we have been here before. replacing the rule of law with special intere

barney frank is sympathetic to that view. there is debate whether it should be a committee who looks at systemic risk. there was debate about whether it should go to someone else or some new agency. and the and you decided you cannot go into a war with the committee. but in the senate there is serious resistance to giving the fed more power. host: virginia beach on the democrats' line. caller: the correction is just incredible. host: what do you mean? caller: -- the corruption. they have at federal reserve -- these people are not independent. they have a revolving door of people from these country club schools. you look at people from harvard, yale, princeton, columbia, brown, and the revolving door of people from wall street into our treasury department and from the central banking system which the fed is like tim geithner from the central banking system of the new york -- but it is just a big smokescreen. if they create mountains of bureaucracy there will be no accountability. host: some say the fed might be the best entity

. >> who did barney frank of? >> i can't comment on people who are not in the administration. >> let me go a different angle politically than. the greatest generation we all herald, we have statues and tributes to the greatest generation, many of which invested in bonds for our retirement. gm was going to be something they found and i imagine there circumstances, gm bondholder, a 90-year-old veteran who expected retirement, has been basically made test by the decisions of this task force. if you look at the uaw's component, they have done really well from the standpoint of their ownership. i really respect him and he answers questions very clearly, as do you. i have been a little discouraged to hear that we don't need them anymore. we have to have workers. there has been an overt concern that if you didn't do everything necessary, they would strike. number of occasions you'd pointed to what happened in new york state. educate as a little bit on that thinking, and basically these guidelines where bondholders invest

we have to do all of the things that as barney frank often points out, that the nra relent lsly does. they don't just make a certain effort. they continually press on all fronts. that what we have to do. i understand the venting of some people on the blogs with frustration. but it only has been about 150 days, and we have to help the president by applying the appropriate constructive pressure and that's what i think is going to be happening. >> when you say constructive pressure, what is it that you're talking about, especially in terms of in a couple of of weeks the congress is going to be going out for their august recess. they're going to be back in their districts. what kind of constructive pressure can be applied to congress to move forward and to thep president do whatever it is that he wants to do? >> well, one thing that we have to do in districts all over the country, because every member of congress has offices back home. so people don't have to come to wash to make this point, they can write letters, they can send e-mails to their members of congress. they can visit their d

barney frank. i also would like it to thank the housing subcommittee chair who has worked closely with me on this project, representative maxine waters. mr. speaker, the question may be posed in the mind of someone as to why we should pass the homes for heroes act. i'd like to answer this question. we need to pass this bill because, while many of us are sleeping in the suits of life, too many of our veterans are sleeping in the streets of life. we node to pass it because while many of -- we need to pass it because while many of us have homes and jobs, too many of our veterans are homeless with no jobs at all. we must pass this piece of legislation because america can't continue to be the home of the free and the land of the brave if too many of our brave veterans continue to be homeless. mr. speaker, the statistics are shocking. they literally shock the conscience. veterans are % of the population and more than 25 -- 9% of the population and more than 25% of the homeless. on any given night, 131,00

barney frank was able to get this dealership back open. is that what we have come to in this country, that rather than a private business with a private contract with another private corporation, they are no longer able to work out their agre

barney frank is taking the lead. he was there when the president signed the order yesterday. i spoke with him this morning. we will be meeting with in the next 24 hours to continue the conversation about how we go forward legislatively to employment, if it needs -- to implement, if it needs further assistance. people in our country who are in jeopardy of losing their jobs and losing their homes are having their savings jeopardized. therefore, the education of their children is in question. it is very important to have this consumer protection agency. i am very pleased with what the president did. >> do you think it gives the fed to much power? >> the new authority for the fed to supervise all firms that could pose a systemic threat to our financial system, i think, is very important. i wish i had been in place before. i am not certain that the fed could not have assumed more authority and used more authority than it did in a timely way. but, having higher capital standards, once tended to look at all of it, that is all very important. the office of thrift elimination as been

chairman barney frank has said that the house plans to pass its version of the regulatory overhaul by the end of july. senator dodd is taking a lead on health care. that will be in the fall. those will be the two prime leaders. republicans have more of a voice in the senate than in the house. you will see the administration presented its plan wednesday. host: bryan, texas, first up on our independent line. caller: one thing we do not hear about is how lucky, praise god, that george bush did not go along with putting social security into all these hedge funds and derivatives. think of the disaster. i am concerned about the bailouts of these wall street operators who are in the business of giving american taxpayer's business. these better not be derivatives. if anyone should lose its should be them. we should help homeowners. they should not reward these guys for their corruption. they make too much money and have no incentives. the only incentive they have is to steal. thank you. guest: to the point -- it is a good one -- though rage throughout the country at all the bailouts. everythi

it came on the radar when barney frank called me and said this is in the bill, and even people like me who want to vote for this bill will not vote for it. i think it was in there so that progress is would feel like they got something. in fact, that was what happens. president obama wrote a letter and said do not include the photographs. host: monet, missouri. and caller: first, i have a request of c-span, when the debate on the imf -- attached amendment was in the senate, and requesting that you pull up comments about that. jeff craigs explained this very well to his counterparts in the senate. host: what did he say? caller: the united states has never lost one penny on loans to the imf. the imf needs money to loan to developing countries. basically this is electronic money. it is not printing u.s. paper money and sending it to the imf. the european banks are not involved in this whatsoever. so i think c-span should start giving iq test to commentators to see if they have one. guest: i will tell you that i think you have a couple of the details wrong. number one, it is a loan to the i

barney frank has already suggested that it will be difficult to merge these agencies, banking regulators the framework we have seen sort of leaking out a bit from the administration, at least a floating around capitol hill talks about things they want to do such as merging the sec and fdic, and things there will not be able to do. probably merging some of these agencies is not possible, but i think you'll see a more unified structure of regulation even if not in one agency. host: " the: "times" concerning this paymaster -- the strongest oversight with mr. feinberg --it will come from the administration's compensation czar. he will actively that all executive compensation changes at the companies that have received more than one taxpayer lifeline. he will also have the power to veto compensation without bailout money. on thursday the house financial- services committee will hold a hearing to examine how compensation practices contributed to financial collapse. this is broadening the scope to companies outside of the ones having received financial rescue money. guest: yes, and from chairma

that is the whole reason we got into this mess in the first place -- working with chairman of barney frank and senator baucus. he is not letting the banks run roughshod interest rates fees. every caller says that their interest rates have gone up on their credit cards to almost 50%. host: washington, on our republican line. caller: i would give him a b. i'm a republican and probably disagree with much of a stuffy nose, but i do not think it is any of the political or government's fall we are in the situation. i think it is mostly just basically the public's fall because -- i am 20 years old and bought a house for $250,000.10 year ago. my payment is probably 40% of what i make and i'm still able to pay for. i have people around me twice my age losing their houses because they do not know how to spend their money. they're using credit cards. they're going over their limits and buying brand new cars they cannot afford. they're blaming it on the banks. for some reason the bank should have the responsibility of telling them they cannot afford it? you should be smart enough at 40 years old to kn

president's announcement on financial regulation came from house financial services committee chairman barney frank and banking committee chairman chris dodd. this is 15 minutes. >> i am optimistic the we will have a product that the president wants by the end of the year. i think the fundamental purpose the president is seeking to accomplish is providing a bill that he can get signed by the end of the year. >> i agree with what he just said. the president has laid out a set of sweeping reforms for the financial regulatory process. they are needed. i like how the -- how he explained it and how he wants to close some of the gaps that led to the problems we have seen today. we do not always have the easiest path to walk to make sure we have a system that has confidence and soundness and safety. while at the same time, encouraging the kind of ideas that have led to the hallmark of our financial sector. i think chairman frank and i agree and a lot of conversations with our colleagues that they are excited about working on this. i see very little ideological -- we have had extensive conversations. we ar

people bought houses and then certain of those in congress and not the least of which is barney frank which is head of the house of representatives right now encouraged fannie mae and freddie mac to make loans to poor people so they could have a piece of the pie and have a part of the american dream and own their own home. people began to apply for a loan. these houses that may be sold for $200,000 are now worth 400,000 and those were 400 are now worth 800. that is a pretty good investment to go up in value. loans were marketed by mortgage companies they had the incentive to place loans. they got paid a commission on the basis of the loans that they put out. so the more loans that they had in the markets the more money they made. they decided they could enhance that prospect to radically if they could securitize those loans. of the mortgage companies began making loans to people who really should not own house is to begin with then they passed the loans up to wall street where they were bundled together called collateralized debt obligations and once that was done they said these are

barney frank, for whatever reason, getting involved in their plans based on no kind of economic situationwhen you look at the uaw revisions, letters going out to members saying that they did not have to cut the member our benefits, that they actually got involved in deciding where the cars would be made. they promised the uaw certain types of jobs. a decision that might be fine if you want to create certain jobs for certain groups, but it means that you will be producing a more costly car and losing money. again and again, whether it is the headquarters of general motors moving out of detroit, these decisions have not been made on any kind of a sense across space, but on political calculations. in the future the government will be on the hook for more money. host: i think -- guest: i think that the government and the administration wants to get out of running these car companies as fast as they can. they needed to work out a deal to get rid of a lot of the legacy costs' that automakers were carrying on their books. they needed help them get through this to get to a profitable model, but i

. >> it was in all of the paper's yesterday, at barney frank made a call to someone and got his dealer to stay open. it is unconscionable what is going on also is good joint economic committee i was just told a gm dealer. i am sorry. so that is mr. henderson. >> it is not a dealer at all. select just tell me the telephone number that i call. that is what i am after. >> we have to look at the sales warehouses big long two general motk@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ n organizations? >> a restructuring plan has been part of our bankruptcy and part of our application for funds and qatar plans were available through u.s. treasury. they have been made aware of the process and discussion but we have not had any employed or direction of what we're doing. >> with this committee be able to have access to the e-mails between your company and the white house regarding the restructuring in the case of general motors? >> absolutely. >> could i convince the chairman to do so it would be easier if that could be made available to us. >> in our case, i have no weight tm how many that is but we have been keeping some o

people will point out that men like barney frank still have that supervision over the same areas. is that the problem? >> i do not think that is a problem. congress has to oversee these reforms. a lot of the changes that we need will require legislation by congress. we are trying to build a consensus on reform. we are moving very clearly to do this. we have an economy facing enormous challenges. because of the magnitude of the pressures by this crisis, because it they are trying to move quickly wald the crisis is still ahead in people's minds, we do not want the crisis to set in. we're trying to move very quickly. >> i am trying to get you to make some news. what are you going to get rid of in this plan? are you going to get rid of the office of supervision? >> this is a challenge for you. the president is speaking on wednesday and testifying on thursday. i do not want to get ahead of the president. i am trying to focus on the course objectives. we want a system that is more stable and resilient, protect consumers and investors better, better tools for managing future crises. we c

it came on the radar when barney frank called me and said this is in the bill. even people like me who want to vote for this will not do so. i think they were thrown in there said there would be something to deal out so progressives feel like they would get something. i sort of thought that would be what was happening and it was what was happening. president obama said don't include photos. host: our independent mind. go ahead. caller: do you hear me? host: joran. caller: -- you are on. caller: the attached amendment was in the sense that. i encrusted -- the attached amendment was in the senate. i hope people of the comments about that. he explained a very well to his counterparts in the senate. host: what did he say? caller: the loan to imf is effectively a letter of credit. the united states has never washed one penny on loans to the imf. the imf needs money to loans to developing countries. basically, this is electronic money. it is not printing u.s. paper money and sending it to the imf. the european banks are not involved in at whatsoever, so i think c-span

. >> it was in all of the paper's yesterday, at barney frank made a call to someone and got his dealer to stay open. it is unconscionable what is going on also is good joint economic committee i was just told a gm dealer. i am sorry. so that is mr. henderson. >> it is not a dealer at all. select just tell me the telephone number that i call. that is what i am after. >> we have to look at the sales warehouses big long two general motors and is part of the restructuring plan for facilities to be close. >> will interrupt you but the fact is a member of congress made a call and it was not closed that was slated foreclosure. it is fundamentally unfair producing the people at this table they represent family is in everyone's the district. this process has to be open and transparent and fair we have a president elected on can either of you answer that? >> it would have been general motors, the staff of the sales organization as well as the council. >> and for chrysler? >> there is no similar agreement. we have no wind down agreement. >> with him in the white house have either of you communica

national cable satellite corp. 2009] ñxñxñx >> reaction to the president's announcement came from barney frankd banking committee chairman chris dodd. this is 15 minutes. >> we have been in pretty constant discussions with the administration from the beginning. i am fairly optimistic that we're going to have a product that looks a lot like what the president wants by the end of the year. there is a congressional process. not everything will come out the same way, but the fundamental purpose the president is seeking to accomplish will be embodied in a bill that we can get signed by the end of the year. >> i agree with what bahrain just said. the president laid out a set of sweeping reforms for the -- i like how he framed it. closing the gaps that led to a lot of problems we're wrestling with today and also making sure that we design the system that is going to invite creativity and imagination into our financial services sector. it is not always the easiest path to walk, to make sure you have is some that inspires safety and soundness while simultaneously encouraging the kind of ideas that led

today's car czar award goes to congressman barney frank of massachusetts for interfering in the operation of general

a missile defense bill and everything, costing $1.9 billion and i would like to point out that barney frank stolen over $50 billion, more than our country is spending on missile research. anyway i just really wanted to call and say that the american people are being taxed to death and we need to audit the federal reserve the because $14 trillion or 15 trillion -- $15 trillion of our wealth is being sent overseas and we cannot afford anything. our last note i just believe that if americans had access just to dentistry, then we would not really have all of this health care because we really have minor things going on with us and we just want a little bit of care and i did not think we will get it by spending ourselves to death. guest: well, first of all i agree in a sense that we should not be taxing the american taxpayer even more. i do not think we can carry the burden any further. what we need to do certainly is, i believe we could be more cost- effective in many ways. i believe that true competition could bring about lowering costs, and i believe that we need to make sure that we emphasiz

. >> i wanted to ask if anybody wants to comment about barney frank's executive compensation plan that will leave accountability and right now conversation rules don't go far enough to punish bad behavior? >> we address that in the -- on executive compensation we have our market stability and capital adequacy commission. and one of the things they'll look at is certain practices that they believe are risky for as a whole or for the financial services as a, you know, specific parts of that. if this commissioned -- commission had been in effect, they might have identified mortgage originators were paid bit volume of the loans that they made, not by the ability of the ability to repay. and, in fact, people had started identifying that as a problem and i wish we had that commission to say that was a problem. what chairman frank, of course, advocated today was allowing and, you know, through an intervention taking away the ceo or the board of directors or even the shareholders in some cases ability to set compensation and we believe, and this is -- we believe that that is the soundest syste

i watched barney frank' and bill clinton pass it. i got out of the business because i could no longer stand. i knew that these people were being set up for failure. there was no way that there -- there was no way that these people could make the payments. host: let's go to the next call, republican line. caller: just listening to congressman gutierrez there, his opening comments to me was the most disgusting, condescending tone i have ever seen a politician put down to the people watching. as if he is talking to a bunch of first graders are second graders. for somebody who has been in congress for 17 years, and to blame the republicans for everything that is wrong, is absolutely ludicrous. he was there when all this started, when he was talking about this housing debacle that started. under democrat supervision, there are the ones responsible for the total collapse of this system, and they are in cahoots with this president now. i think he is on track with the complete destruction of this country. it is just a shame what they are doi

hensarling or if anybody wants to comment about barney frank's executive compensation plan, the say on paper, the accountability and the compensation rules don't go far enough to punish bad behavior. anyones reaction. ..

the only politician that ever volunteered the word securitization before the summer of 2007 was barney frank over in the u.k. there was absolutely no interest among the mainstream parliament or in washington either. and i became increasingly concerned because it was clear the scale of activity wasn't merely occurring and expanding rapidly but doing so with little oversight and where there was almost nobody that was able to understand how the credit world worked, let alone add up how it fit together. there wasn't in some way entirely beholden to the system or who didn't have a vested interest in preserving it either because they were being paid by the system or because they were a regulator and worried if they it might come crumbling down. so, then of course the summer of 2007 happened and the worst concerns about the excess is building in the financial system became true. and in the subsequent months between the shia maelstrom try and to cover what was happening as the world fell apart and many of you were also screen around like headless chickens working out what had happened and what was g

i rise today to support my colleague, chairman barney frank. i am equally or even more disappointed than he is that his amendment on the f-22 funding was not made in order for the defense authorization debate. there is absolutely no need for additional funding for this flawed program. the cold war is over. the existing 187 f-22 planes have already cost the united states a total of $65.1 billion. and while this bill only includes $369 million for advanced procurement, the total amount for 12 additional f-22's will run $2 billion. think what we can do with $2 billion in the united states of america. we have schools that are in need. we have a health care system that's broken. we have to move on with our global warming program. $2 billion would help any one of those issues. the f-22 has never been used in iraq or afghanistan. it is absolutely not necessary or useful in counterinsurgency operations. the existing 187 that we have right now is actually adequate for any single contingency that could happen in the united states of america, both civilia

only politician who ever volunteered the word securitization to me before the summer of 2007 was barney frank. over in the u.k. there was absolutely no interest, and for the most part there wasn't much interest in washington east. and i became increasingly concerned because it was clear to me that this scale of activity was not merely occurring or expanding very, very rapidly, but doing so with very little oversight and doing so in a condition where there was almost nobody who was able to understand how the minutiae of the credit world worked, let alone how it all fitted together who was not in some way entirely beholden to the system or who did not have a vested interest in preserving it either because they were being paid by the system, or because they were a regulator and they worried that in rocking the boat too violently it might all come crumbling down. so then, of course, the summer of 2007 happened and our worst concerns about the excesses that had been building in the financial system became only too true. and in subsequent months in between the sheer maelstrom of trying to cover wha

barney frank chairs the committee. this is just under four hours. >> the hearing will come to order. i am told that the ranking republican is on his way, so we will begin. we're going to have 30 minutes of opening statements by agreement between the two sides, and i will begin. >> first i want to make a very important distinction that doesn't always get made. we are not here today talking about the pay restrictions that apply to recipients of tarp money. there is his separate set of considerations there. we're talking about entities which receive capital infusions from the government. this hearing today is looking forward as to whether or not there should be built and acted that deal with compensation without regard to whether or not people are taking tartly going forward. i believe that it is now clear and i am reinforcing that by a number of authorities, paul volcker for example, chairman bernanke, british and the british financial service authority, that the problem with compensation is that it has encouraged excess

mccarthy, adam boards of the oversight committee, austin burns in the majority leader's staff, barney frank, mel watt, and dennis moore for their ongoing efforts to reform the regulation of our markets and financial sectors and for their input into this legislation. my good friend todd platts who also assisted in this, and frank lobiondo who was a co-spon or sor of this bill almost two years ago. i especially want to single out for their efforts two reform-minded freshmen who have come to congress in john boccieri of ohio and glenn nye of virginia and especially to amy o'donnell of my staff and jackie sheltree. we refer to this bill in the short form just, frankly, as providing an independent inspector general for the financial services committee that are in such desperate need of this oversight. i thank the -- i think the chairman outlined it well. the genesis of this bill took place from conducting a public forum back in my district and listening to former republican mayor of south windsor, connecticut, john mitchell, and our attorney general of the state of connecticut, richard blumen th

. >> that is the barney frank law, he is the first that learned of the rest assessment relative to the management of risk basically. he maintained from the beginning that those persons responsible for creating the risk would have to accept the responsibility for the failure is. and so i think we're on that path for sure, but i just want to make sure that i understand when mergers are going up, buyouts have taken place, the purchases are being forced to do by anybody. i want to understand that better and i'll continue to pursue that. >> i don't want to -- chairman. >> quickly. >> i think as the chairman was a on the pay legislation there is often different proposals eight separate but on the golden parachutes and exactly that merger transfer -- transaction. in. >> the gentleman from texas. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. sperling, in your testimony you said that you all were going to put the president's working group and provide an annual review for compensation practices of the government can monitor whether they are trading excess risk. how will that work? how will you determine compen

he is here, as well as susan collins, for championing this bill and representative barney frank for his leadership on this and so many other issues. this is his second trip to the white house today. [laughter] it is a day that marks an historic step toward the changes we seek, but i think we'll have to of knowledge this is only one step. among the steps we have not yet taken it is to repeal of defense of marriage act. i believe is discriminatory and interferes with states' rights, and we will work with congress to overturn it. we have work to do to ensure that government treats all citizens equally, to fight injustice and intolerance in all its forms, to bring about that. i am committed to these efforts and i pledge to work tirelessly on behalf of these

committee here in the house and to his credit one of the heroes of this clue game is congressman barney frank of massachusetts who chairs the financial services committee. he called up the resolution and that committee voted for it 64-0. i'm feeling pretty good about it now. i think we are actually going to get someplace. but sadly the way that this place works is that when legislation is reported out of a committee, it doesn't come here to the floor for discussion or debate unless it is scheduled by the distinguished majority leader of this body, mr. hoyer of maryland. even though that event occurred a couple months ago, mr. hoyer has apparently determined that we are too busy here in the house of representatives to deal with this issue and we are going to talk a little bit about how busy we have been in a couple minutes. but we have had a setback. chairman frank again deserves credit because even though the majority leader won't bring this bill to the floor so we could figure it out with documents, chairman frank said to the treasury, look, just sit down with the people that are interested

on monday i presented the first car czar award to the honorable barney frank of massachusetts for interfering in the operation of general motors. congressman frank, chairman of the house financial services committee, intervened last week to save a general motors distribution center in his massachusetts congressional district. the warehouse which employs some 90 people was slated for closing under g.m.'s restructuring plan, but mr. frank put in a call to the g.m. chief executive officer, fritz henderson, and lo and behold the facility has a new lease on life according to "the wall street journal." mr. frank, of course, is chairman of the house committee that recently orchestrated paying $62 billion in taxpayer money to give the u.s. treasury 60% ownership of general motors and 8% ownership of chrysler. now for the second car czar award, there are many deserving contenders. for example, this afternoon my distinguished colleague, the honorable chris dodd, mr. frank's senate counterpart, is chairing a banking committee hearing featuring two of the administration's chief meddlers in washington-own