i want to asuppress my appreciation to senator conrad, senator baucus. i think it's very form that we have a fair level option and that it's a fair farm level official. and that's what we provide here is that the producer can select the kind level option or the farm level option and that was vietly important, certainly in our part of the country, but i think to have that option there for all producers is truly responsive to their needs and ensures that in a year where they have a loss, then they have help. and in a year where they don't, then they don't need help so they don't have help. so i think it was -- it's well structured, it's very important to providing the kind of farm bill that we want with the kind of safety net protection and help for our producers that we want. so i thank them. and i also thank both you and the ranking member, again, for your help and support with it. >> any other comments? yes? senator nelson. >> yes. madam chair and ranking member, i support this effort, the baucus amendment, appreciate their working on this to find a sol

for example, obviously, you'd have senator baucus working on the pay-for the. senator rockefeller transportation safety. you have myself on the core bill, highways, bridges. you'd have the banking committee dealing with transit, and then the, the other issues we've broken down. there are other issues. restore act. and excel, and colash and pilt, payment in lieu of taxes, and various items in the store act will be handled by myself and senator baucus, and that gives you a sense of the way we've broken it down.chairman mike ane been in touch by phone. we actually had meetings face-to-face on thursday and i will be briefing members, all of them, this week. so the process has been very inclusive, and i expect that to lead to a good result. every conferee involved from the freshman to the most senior at this point through the staffs and then again thursday personal meetings. i'm also doing one-on-one discussions in my office, having coffee, doing meetings with individual member whose have specific issues they want to talk about. so i'm optimistic, the conferees will

that working group along with max baucus to get that done. >> it has tremendous appeal and to restore act has tremendous appeal. i do believe that and i think we will help the engine to get this to the line. >> [inaudible] we haven't gotten to the areas of disagreement and we will and we will let you know the democrats live with those that have keystone in that we didn't get 60 votes, so we have to figure out a way to get to that hurdle figure out but we haven't

chairman baucus of the senate finance committee, chairman kempe, this is bipartisan support for moving for russia. they are very much on record for moving it. and if it is going to happen, the sooner the better. so what next steps? well, if this is going to happen, the sooner the better, this is a june-july equation that we should be talking about here. and for that we really need the white house to be stepping up and to engage with the leadership and the congress to work to make sure that the votes are there. and here we get into the issue that -- and this is sort of the awkward moment for me. i'm an economist. i'm a trade policy person. i am not a for policy person. i am not a human rights person. but i am told by everyone who is counting noses on capitol hill that the way this legislation is going to move is that at some point in parallel there will be some other kind of legislation moving in the human rights area. this is not my lane. this is what i'm told. this is what i read. if that is the case, then the white house needs to be up on the hill working that part of the equation an

representative rayhall followed by senator baucus. >> thank you, chairman boxer. congratulations on your being selected chair. let me start by being as optimistic as i can in saying how happy i am that we are at this point. it's good news that we are, that we've come this far in the process, and i have every deal of confidence that we will not botch this opportunity nap we will seize this taunt to get e opportunity to get the job done for the american people. i also want to congratulate the new members of this conference. some eight on the majority house side. i recall when i first came fleer 1977 as a freshman member to obtain a position on the conference committee was quite a feat. i was able to. one of the few freshman in my freshmen year to get on committee. here we have eight. so i congratulate each of you. i think you've broken some new ground already. noi let's get on for breaking real ground for the american people. i've had the honor of serving on every conference committee for the last 20 years that's dealt with transportation nap goes back to iced tea,

on the keystone issue, senator baucus is someone had been negotiating. is he someone you are talking to as part of the transportation bill? is there senate democrat support for this that could put pressure on the administration and their leadership? >> absolutely. senator baucus has been very helpful and offered to help through the whole process. the formation is in north dakota and montana. we would start up putting more than 100,000 barrels a day of oil into this pipeline. so this is important for north dakota and montana. senator baucus is from montana appeared as well as for our -- as well as important for our country. i expect him to be heavily involved in this effort. remember, we have 56 votes in the senate. we were missing several of our members. we have 58 members on board. so the support is growing. >>the conference but for the first time earlier this week. they said this is a very large conference. but senator in half insured a -- senator inhoff issued a pretty strong warning to republicans say, look, we have this bill and we worked very hard

the congress, to this committee, we appreciate it, and i also want to thank my colleague, senator baucus who has been a rock, helping to stick up for our part of country. i really deeply appreciate senator baucus, how you've provided leadership over and over on issues critic toll our part of the country, and to senator hoven as well. a new member of the committee. a colleague of mine from my home state. i deeply appreciate the new energy that he's brought to this committee as well and sticking up for our state. >> thank you very much. i should just clarify that we actually will have to offer the energy amendment, but we're set with it, but we will have to offer that today. so let me turn now to senator chambliss who has has been -- obviously shown tremendous leadership over the years in so many ways in agriculture and i know we still have more work to do together but i'm looking forward to doing that and very much appreciate your championing the interests of georgia and of the south and we're looking forward to continuing to work with you on it. >> well, thanks very much, madam chair, an

it's been the same as senator baucus on the finance committee in regards to trade for a number of years, and it would simply require the usda to study the reorganizationization. there are a lot of people that need to just go ahead and do this. but obviously we want to work with secretary vilsack. and the position would oversee the multitude of international trading functions that are currently spread across several agencies within the department. that's the problem, we have a long standing challenge at the department. we have several agencies and departments with some international aspects and responsibility, but we're too into the job. we think trade is a top, vital priority at the department. and we want them to take a hard, closer look and consider such a position. there's always a laundry list of trade issues in agriculture, they pop-up almost every moment. hopefully we didn't add to the list yesterday with the announcement out of california. goodness knows our cowboys have been through a lot in this past 8 1/2 years and we don't need more of this type of thing. this isn't political

senator baucus is from montana appeared as well as for our country. i expect him to be heavily involved in this effort. remember, we have 56 votes in the senate. we were missing several of our members. we have 58 members on board. so the support is growing. the conference but for the first time earlier this week. they said this is a very large conference. but senator in half insured a pretty strong warning to republicans say, look, we have this bill and we worked very hard on it. it has a two-year extension. and the house republicans, either whom are freshmen and are against government spending, they are coming together with the rest of their conference. how do those two things reconcile themselves? how do senate republicans help house republicans in this process? >> we all want to move the highway bill. but this is an important part of getting it passed through both the senate and house. if you look at the bill itself, it is primarily the bill that was put together in the senate so the provisions that the house added, one of which is keystone, are im

senator max baucus is joining us. this is a bipartisan effort committee also by richard burg of north carolina and joining us tonight is drew griffin. what your goal with this investigation? >> i don't want retired schoolteachers or any other good americans to be duped by these fraudulent organizations into giving money, thinking it's going to go to disabled vets when in fact it's not at all. it's going to pad the pockets of some scam artists. i want to stop this stuff. >> what concerns you most about this disabled national veterans foundation? >> it sounds like it's a front. i don't think it's legit. they take about $56 million from ordinary, good americans who want to help veterans. but don't give any of the money to veterans. in this case, don't give any money to disabled veterans. it's an outrage, frankly. >> have you heard about the dvnf before? >> i have not, frankly. you highlighted it in one of your reports. we got to looking at it. asked a lot of questions at the organization, they're not answering. an outfit

has allowed him to do this because he's not so entrenched with say big wall street money spencer baucus sixty three percent of his contributions in two thousand and ten when he became the chairman of the house financial services committee reportedly were from finance. well you know what i'm in the finance industry right i mean i support this i think that really if you if you're in this industry and you think rationally it's in your best interest to restore integrity to its market course hold that thought we're going to come back we're going to go to quick break and then i want to talk bigger picture about the bankruptcy laws we'll have more of james president and co-founder of the commodity customer coalition to lead to fact or fiction does money really motivate people it's the behind bonuses and rewards given to top bankers and exact but we'll give you our three cents on the growing field it looks like of science aiming to debunk this tall tale first your closing market number that. you. just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old and you told the truth. i'm a confession i

i want to let the negotiation go on, i want to see if baucus can get a deal. and, you know, as people probably remember, it goes on through july, through august, into september before they finally pull the plug on it. and in those extra, you know, that extra month and a half, two months they sustain enormous damage politically over the fact that this thing is dragging on. and then, you know, i think the real, the real window on to this story is 2011 after the midterms of 2010 they lose a bunch of seats, some 60 seats in the house, six or so seats in the senate. and by this point, you know, even if you were really earnestly committed to bipartisanship, you could be forgiven for thinking it was kind of a dead end. you know, the republicans would stiff you on the stimulus, they'd stiff you on health care, they'd oppose any additional efforts to get more stimulus. they did not appear to be a really willing partner in any kind of bipartisan effort. but it's not really the takeaway that, um, that obama and his political aides take from the midterms. what they take i

he would have senator baucus on highways and bridges. you would have the banking community dealing with transit. and then, the other issues we have broken down. there are other issues such as the restore act, and excel and company and very various items that are handled by myself and senator baucus. that gives you a sense of the way we have broken it down. the vice-chairman and i have been in touch by phone. we were just talking on thursday. i will be breaking members, all of them, this week. the process has been very inclusive. i expected to yield good results. every council has been involved from the freshman to the most senior staff. i have also been doing one-on-one discussions in my office and having coffee, doing meetings with individual members who have specific issues that they want to talk about. so i am optimistic that we can reach an agreement on this bill, and the reason is, again, we are starting from a very bipartisan senate bill, which passed 7422. it has many proposals, including an expanded trivia, which is a leveraging

baucus, for three minutes for an opening statement. >> thank you, ms. chairman. today's hearing we'll have an opportunity to examine one of dodd-frank's most vague and potentially problematic mandates, we're here to better understand what it means to be systemically important, a euphemism for too big to fail. what are the advantages of, and what are the disadvantages? how will these institutions be regulated? and how will counterparties and other market participants interact with them? we've been told by the fdic that part of the interaction will be to indemnify certain creditors and counterparties and that seems very similar to aig. which dodd-frank and members on both sides pledged that we would not get into another bailout situation. many companies are asking themselves the same questions and whether the regulators think they are systemically important. the financial stability oversight council's final rule is not at all clear. it is therefore, my hope that the regulators testifying here today, can help provide the committee and all affected parties with some

i want to thank senator conrad and also senator baucus for their work on that option. i want to thank you and ranking member roberts for your work on that option and making sure that we have both a county level option, election that somebody can make, and a farm level election that a producer can make and that they are fair and that they both work because they both cover vital bases. but that farm level option has to be in there. you've been willing to work with us, as has senator roberts. that's going to -- that's an absolute fundamental must in terms of providing the right kind of safety net coverage for our farmers and ranchers and doing it in truly a cost effective way. i'll mention also the livestock indem knitty program, the low-cost sugar program and as you mentioned energy, remember, it is about food, fuel and fiber. and i'm going to end on that note. our farmers and ranch remembers doing an amazing job for this country producing jobs, producing a favorable balance of trade and once again providing the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world. i lo

gambling with their money is the republican chairman of the house financial services committee spencer baucus admitted in a rare and perhaps accidental moment of candor quote the regulators are there to serve the banks and quote now just like the wealthy members of the british parliament were there in seven hundred seventy three to serve the british east india company. so the tea party today is what the billionaires who funded it and encouraged it hoped it would become a front group for banks as well companies and billionaire allegra's americans are figuring it out which is why generally people aren't showing up for lobbyist funded tea party rallies like they did back in two thousand and nine today instead young people are in the streets alongside real working people and like the real revolutionaries who dumpty in boston harbor more than two hundred thirty years ago the targets of today's demonstrations are corporate power and the oligarchy who are corrupting our congress the occupy movement didn't need fancy busses or fox so-called news to rally people today unions didn't need secret billion

representative spencer baucus in alabama republican objected to increasing funding for the i.m.f. by reciting a list of perks given to the funds employees we are asking the u.s. taxpayer in this funding requests to reimburse the employees of the i.m.f. for income taxes for private school costs for tuition and not only that but for salaries higher than those paid by the u.s. government so she's asking us u.s. taxpayers to pay for her children's school and her health care and all her other perks to social welfare for christie look our. financial rapist now. the predecessor illegibly was a rapist in new york we don't he got off in more ways than one but the institution itself the i.m.f. undoubtedly is a financial rapist institution and she represents the exact same thing you have but again the theme is of course we need a b.m.p. perry flag not just the queen's flag we need a flag for j.p. morgan we need a flag for bank para bob all these people were going to celebrate the jubilee the diamond jubilee of j.p. morgan and she's this an elected official who's able to go there and tell the

right now there is a list of offsets that senate finance chairman max baucus has identified. a number of republicans -- how to pay for it. a big issue in the conference as well. >> back to the pipeline. what is the obama administration view on the pipeline? >> they've said on the outset when they pass to go to conference with the senate, that they had no interest in signing this, and that they actually issued a veto warning on the house's measure. so that makes things quite complicated as far as trying to get a keystone deal brokered on the they'll would be acceptable for the white house. the issue last week was the pipeline developer transcanada said it was going to go ahead and reapply for the same permit that had been denied earlier by the obama administration. now, of course, president obama told the company they were more than welcome to reapply if they wanted. that may give them a little leverage since they're playing by the president's rules. >> what about the structural differences between the house bill and the senate bill? the different lengths, different dollar fig

permanent baseline for livestock disaster assistance, and i wanted to say a special thank you to senator baucus for his add voe cases and hard work on that issue. in short, we have put together a bipartisan farm bill that's focused on farmers and that gives them simplicity, flexibility and real accountability. we're continuing the incredible work that gets done every single day, because of the conservation title, we're reducing complexity and refocusing programs to better support farmers and land owners who protect our land and water and wildlife. we're increasing flexibility and transparency toy make sure every dollar does the most good. we're continuing our nation's commitment to those most in need. everywhere i go in michigan i hear from people who never before in their lives imagined they would need help putting food on the table for their families. we need every dollar going to those people who need it. and not to waste, fraud or abuse. we're expanding export opportunities investing in critical agriculture research and supporting innovative bioenergy and bio-based manufacturing companies w

these inflated gas prices at the top republican financial watchdog in congress congressman spencer baucus believes that his job is not to regulate the banks but instead to quote him regulators are there to serve the banks those are his words so if americans are looking for help from wall street predators the republican party is not the place to go. the robber and jesse lee peterson someone who's not a big fan of women or any of the progress women have made in america in the last century in fact reverend peterson things giving women the right to vote was one of the greatest mistakes this nation has ever made i think that. one of the greatest mistakes that america me with women the opportunity to vote we should never turn it over to women and these women have voted in the wrong people they have voted him people who will who agrees with them who can take down his pathway of destruction and this is how evil is coming in is coming through the woman that's pretty hateful in massaging istic but notice how no one in his congregation spoke up no one protested what they were hearing. you know there

and here we have baucus pouring wine to his cohorts, so this container can be filled with ice and then filled with several bottles of german wine. one of the things that i always like to point out is that captain pabst was much more of a wine drinker than a beer drinker. and when his estate was probated in 1904, the inventory showed that they were over 3,800 bottles of german wine stored in the cellars downstairs. this is one of my favorite paintings in our collection, and the pabst family had purchased this work in europe in 1894. and it had originally hung on this space in the dining room, and it had passed through three generations of the pabst family until the then current owner decided to donate it back to the mansion. so, this has been a very happy coincidence that we've been able to repeat many types throughout the mansion of items that left the house in 1907 when the house was being closed up and then had returned to us in the modern period, returning back to the original walls. i think it has such a great feeling of authenticity or lends itself to the mansion. the overdoor pai

i met particular -- i am heading that working group along with max baucus to get that done. >> it has tremendous appeal and to restore act has tremendous appeal. i do believe that and i think we will help the engine to get this to the line. >> [inaudible] we haven't gotten to the areas of disagreement and we will and we will let you know the democrats live with those that have keystone in that we didn't get 60 votes, so we have to figure out a way to get to that hurdle figure out but we haven't gotten down to that. what we are doing now is walking through the bill and getting the various of agreement and that is what we are doing. >> [inaudible] i'm in a conference representing the senate and white said it from the start this. we have to find a sweet spot so we can get 60 votes because of somebody doesn't like it as you know the filibuster's we have to get the votes on the bill so there isn't quite the keystone in the bill? >> i'm not saying anything about keystone or pilt and they're working on of these issues. we've been in negotiation for a week and it's really been getting to it s

representative rahall followed by senator baucus. >> thank you, chairman boxer. congratulations on your being selected chair. let me start by being as optimistic as i can and saying how happy i am that we are at this point. i believe it's good news that we are -- that we've come this far in the process, and i have ery deal of confidence that we will not botch this opportunity, that we will seize this opportunity to get the job done for the american people. i also want to congratulate all the new members of this conference, some eight on the majority side, on the house side. i recall when i first came here in 1977 for a freshman member to obtain a position on a conference committee was quite a feat. i was able to, one of the few freshmen in my freshman year that got on a conference committee. but here we have eight, so i congratulate each of you. i think you've broken some new ground already. now let's get on with breaking real ground for the american people. i've had the honor of serving on every conference committee for the last 20 years that's dealt with transp

senator baucus alluded and many others the phone calls, the e-mails, the grabbings on the floor, you know, and stuff, and, again, we do appreciate you and the ranking member for putting up with us and trying to address our needs. the other thing i think we have to recognize is your staff and the ranking member's staff, and also as i look around the room and see all of our staffers sitting here with bags underneath their eyes, we really do appreciate their hard work. the nation truly has a very diverse fabric of agriculture with a variety of different risk and writing a farm bill that serves as a safety net for all crops and regions certainly is no easy task. yet the responsibility is with us, and we must embrace it to ensure that the united states continues to have the safest, most reliable and most affo affordable supply of food and fiber in the world. our nation is at a crossroads, and we're in desperate need of fiscal discipline, fiscal restraint. i'm pleased that the farm bill includes important reforms, reduces spending by more than is required of this committee, and eliminates

congress you know the top regulator in congress the chairman of the financial services committee spencer baucus comes into his position and says a lot of people think that my job is to regulate the banks well i think our job in washington is to serve the banks i mean that's like that's like a parent saying my job isn't a parent my job is to serve my children giving them scissors and telling the go run around the house i mean that's really what banks are doing is causing incredible damage to the economy and nobody's doing anything about this is running around the house pretty well i think the big problem is the bailout policies of the bush and obama administration both president bush and obama bailed out these banks now they're even bigger and too big to fail i mean they're bigger than they ever have been so we need to make sure when companies make these sorts of decisions banks that they are allowed to fail they they need to pay the price of the free market price for making bad decisions and we should not put our tax dollars in to bail out the bad decision that it was all just in the one one ro

and you have spencer baucus. he is the head of the finance commit fee for the republicans. their job is to serve the banks. at least he is honest about it. he also said you know what this loss -- i believe they are one of the most profitable financial institutions in the country, and unless the facts with different franchise from what we have heard there is no risk to depositors or taxpayers, they remain a very profitable viable institution. don't worry everybody, the republicans and the democrats agree, jpmorgan rocks! especially when they are gambling with your money. do you know that? the depositors, that's the money they take and gamble with. they lost $2 billion, and then it turns out it might be $7 billion maybe even more. but don't worry the tax players will safe us. but the republicans and democrats agree, this system is awesome. don't worry about a thing. when you hear bipartisanship you hear the rest of the media praising it. when i hear it i think oh, no, watch out for your wallet. they are coming for it. and when we come back we are always told our system is num

staffers for committee chairman max baucus of montana says he learned of the story by reporting of david fitzpatrick. the charity in question is called the disabled veteran's national foundation, dvnf. they have raised nearly 66 mi$5 million in six years. not a -- >> you're the ones from cnn? >> reporter: meet priscilla, president of the disabled veterans national foundation. we found that a small vfw office in baton rouge, louisiana. >> this is the veterans of foreign wars and i really didn't think you would do something like that and we have agreed to talk to you. >> you've raised $5 million over the last three years and none of the money has gone to any veterans. >> c nrkcnn has been trying for years trying to -- promises of written responses and now a slammed door. >> veterans, ma'am? >> but no answer. >> if you had raised $56 million over three years and done it legitimately and actually had something to show for it and given that money to veterans, you would think you would want to explain yourself, you would think you would want to show your books and show all the veterans that yo

senator baucus. >> thank you, madame chair. first things you for your leadership.it's been stellar as you've worked with senator inhofe. i spent last week at home with the people i work for and my montana bosses sent me back with one clear priority to get jobs the tourism hub in the interstate international court are is also home to the montanas highest unemployed rate. we have low unemployment, very high double-digit in western montana. on thursday i sat down with business leaders, local officials, contractors to discuss the bypass. what's that? it is skirted west around to move traffic rights efficiently from surrounding communities that means easier access for trucks moving goods to support american jobs, less time for tourists sitting in their cars and spending money at local businesses. and dozens of construction jobs. construction season has started. 14,000 montanan jobs, 1.6 million across the country depend on this highway bill. the bipartisan senate bill received the unanimous 18 urban rural western and eastern, southern progressive and conservative center

something senator max baucus of montana finds very suspicious. >> frankly, i smell a rat there.lves so they get the contributions from good, well-meaning, wholehearted americans thinking they're helping disabled vets when, in fact, it is going to this other outfit, fund-raising operation and none of the money is going to the vets. >> watchdog group charity watch gives the disabled veteran's national foundation an f grade since 2010. they estimate only 2% of the money raised by the charity is actually going to help disabled veterans. >>> america loves a good superhero, right, if "the ave e aveng avengers" is any indication. what if our presidential candidates had special powers? that's a bit goofy to say that. could mitt romney or president obama morph into captain america? kid you not. >> you're watching "early start." if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it rais

lawmakers like house financial services committee chairman spencer baucus says now is not the time to prevent risky bets. >> no law can do that nor should a law attempt to prohibit a company from taking risk. in fact, that's an impossibility. >> mitt romney also says jpmorgan should be able to gamble with deposits backed by the federal government. >> this was not a loss to the taxpayers of america. >> right. >> this was a loss to shareholders and owners of jpmorgan and that's the way america works. i would not rush to pass new legislation or new regulation. this is, in the normal course of business, a large loss, but surely not one, which is crippling or threatening to the institution. >> of course, the dodd-frank law was supposed to prevent risky betting but bank lobbyists put a stop to it. it was tied up in legislative tape and lobbyists turned into a 530 page monstrosity, according to the "new york times." one of the leading advocates is senate candidate elizabeth warren. she isn't just focusing on the volcker rule, wants congress to go back to the original law intended to stop can

that is on one of the -- i am on that -- i am heading that working group with max baucus to get that done. i think -- something like that has tremendous potential and restorer act has tremendous appeal. i really do believe that. it will help the engine to get over the line. tell us where you are from. high. >> your confidence that keystone won't be involved? >> i never said that. >> can you update us? >> we haven't gotten down to the areas of this agreement and we will and we will let you know. >> democrats live with the transportation act? >> we had a vote on keystone and didn't get 60 votes so we had to figure out a way to get through that hurdle and i think we will figure it out. but we haven't gotten down to that. what we are doing now is walking through the bill and getting the areas of agreement. that is what we are doing. >> you had 60 votes. i thought -- >> they didn't need 60 votes. they didn't get it. >> conference report -- >> talking about the will of the senate. i am representing the senate. what i said from the start is if you load this up with controversy that can't ge