capuano. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first of all, welcome to all our panelists. i know that a lot of people will want to talk about the removal of references. i'm interested in the. i more interested in other aspects. it's well known by everybody, all the testimony, majority and memo today that the faulty ratings contributed significantly to the recent economic problems. we all know that. it's accepted. there's no debate. i'm particularly interested in where we are now and how we go for. i'm particularly interested in how the budgetary constraints might have impacted some of your agencies relative to implementing some of the dodd-frank and even in implement dodd-frank whether it is hurt other parts of your activities. i think that's a very important aspect of this. it doesn't do any good of the greatest regulations if you cannot enforce them for or receiving. i'm interested in the overall report as to what the credit rating agencies are doing their job. whether we should be concerned further. i know things can change but whether they're finally done what we all h

capuano: mr. speaker, we have no further speakers. this en bloc amendment is perfectly fine with us and i urge its adoption. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from illinois. does the gentlewoman yield back her time? mrs. biggert: i would yield time to mr. platt zow to speak on this for as much time as he may consume. the chair: the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. palazzo: thank you for yielding. i'd like to thank chairwoman biggert for her leadership on this issue. i rise today in strong support of the re-authorization of the national flood insurance reform act. as a representative of the katrina-devastated mississippi gulf coast, i understand both the importance of the national flood insurance program, you -- but also the need for its reform. i've introduced two amendments to the bill which will be part of the en bloc amendment. the first cost to the newly created technical mapping advisory co

capuano. >> thank you. mr. attorney general, you raised an interesting point. i just need some clarification. >> that was my predecessor? >> it wasn't required by any law, so you voluntarily joined. for any settlement, is there a way for you to step back and say look we don't want to participate? >> yes. >> so anything is agreed for the sake of discussion, 49 or five others coming you do not have to participate. >> thank you. that's important. one of the things you raised is important. on this intrigued initio no one should require in the state to take action if they don't want. so you answered that question for me satisfactorily. when you can involve other cases like this held a 56 or ten states, whatever it's going to become final the country an agreement at the end? do you vote on it or is it a general consensus? how is it generally done? >> i'm relatively new to this, since i was not sworn in until january this year, so i sort of inherited this as i waited until -- i couldn't speak to the history of these things, this particular case being led by attorney g

capuano: there are ways to do the things that others have been concerned about. some of which i share. some of which i share. i have expressed my concern on certain issues to members of the o.c.e. in the past. it's not to just pick a number and slash that number of 40%. that is nearly, as far as i'm concerned, draconian, punishment to say we are the boss. you're not. it's not going to change one thing that the o.c.e. does. it will simply make it a little bit more difficult for this house to maintain the integrity level that we have struggled so desperately to gain back over the years. we have had our troubles. we will have problems in the future. some of our colleagues will do something that none of us will like. the question is not that. the question is how does the public see us? i have a letter i'd like to submit for the record that i think everything got in their office today from the campaign legal center, the citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, common cause, democracy 21, the league much women voters, public citizen, and u.s. perg. i don't

capuano: i want to stand up here today and tell them congratulations, to welcome them to the community of nations and to tell them that i for one, and i believe this house will stand with them as they struggle to make sure their new democracy is successful. they have a lot of threats on every border. they have a lot of internal issues. they're incredibly poor country with a lot of challenges. but as the greatest democracy in the history of the world, we have an obligation to stand with them as they build their new democracy. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> mr. speaker, the people of south sudan have endured two decades of wanton violence, rape, torture and hunger, systematically imposed upon them by the khartoum. mr. smith: four million people displaced and countless families disamated. the comprehensive peace agreement of 2005 ended the war

capuano and mr.carney would like to participate in the hearing today and without objection -- at this time i i will yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from california. >> thank you mr. chairman, garrett. you know when we look back at 08, we have very little exposure to lehman throughout the industry, but when reserve funds broke that dollar, broke the buck, we had a massive run on prime money market funds and it really took some extraordinary steps by the government to put a hault to that run. and i think we have got some questions here, whether the events in 08 proved that the structure of money market funds makes the industry today susceptible to that kind of a run. that is up for interpretation. what isn't subject to interpretation though is that we are now left with an industry that is at least implicitly government-backed. and given recent headlines noting the potential exposure of the european bank debt crisis, there are the questions that are going to have to be kicked around in this c