ford from gao was saying. -- consistent. say better communication between the policy side and the security side. these misunderstandings or miscommunications and i think that communication has to happen at multiple levels. some could be by having more joint training where ds people and other officers are taking or addressing the same issues together in the same room from their different perspectives. i think that always adds value to both sides. so one is just to find ways to pay more attention to that dialogue because i don't think it really exists in any kind of consistent, systematic or formal way. it's ad hoc, unrecorded and out of date. we need a new one. secondly, i think, would be some discussion about whether this basically one size fit all approach needs to be changed. the fact that we have these unique situations in iraq and afghanistan, i think, give a good opportunity to reassess that and say, we need a more differentiated approach. and the last thing has to do with finding a way to take advantage of afsa's conne

total workforce according to the gao. some ds employees are not prepared to manage this large contractor work force. recent security lapses of the u.s. embassy in kabul have illustrated the need for better contractor oversight. second, the state department must better manage the tension between fulfilling these diplomatic operations and providing strong security. today state department employees serve in iraq, afghanistan and other posts where they would have previously been required to evacuate. these diplomatic operations are critical to u.s. interest. but providing security for such dangerous missions places a great burden on the ds. because of these dangers some of our overseas posts resemble fortresses, and for security reasons will not be in locations considered most appropriate and accessible for diplomatic operations. a gao reported that some diplomats are concerned that secure measures make it more difficult for visitors to attend a u.s. embassy events making person-to-person engagement less likely. we must be mi

khuzami, in march, gao issued a scathing report on the effect of christopher cox's leadership of the s.e.c. in reducing corporate penalties and formal investigations at exactly the time that the cdos and cdss were proliferating to chairman shapiro's credit, she rescinded a cox policy and appointed you to reinvigorate the enforcement division. i am concerned that one pernicious aspect of the cox legacy may have survived, the unwillingness to pursue as gao wrote, quote, more complicated cases those with industry wide implications in favor of those seen as more routine, unquote. mr. khuzami, this is the test case. this is the case with industry wide implications where what is at issue is the performance of the attorneys and interpreting the nation's securities laws strictly or permissively. here's the case where the -- where at the s.e.c. shapiro breaks with the s.e.c.'s christopher cox. mr. khuzami, is the s.e.c. widening its investigation to include the issue of bank of america's failure to disclose to its shareholders the mounting losses at merrill lynch, known or knowable by mid-nov

ford from gao was saying.the need for more -- i say better communication between the policy side and the diplomatic security side because all of these either misunderstandings or miscommunications. and i think that communication has to happen at multiple levels and some of it could be by having more joint training where ds people and other officers are taking or addressing the same issues together in the same room from their different perspectives. i think that always adds value to both sides. so one is just to find ways to pay more attention to that dialog 'cause i don't think it really exists in any kind of consistent, systemic way. it's ad hoc, unroded and out of date. and we need a new one. and f

ford from gao was saying. -- consistent. i say better communication between the policy side and the security side. these misunderstandings or miscommunications and i think that communication has to happen at multiple levels. some could be by having more joint training where ds people and other officers are taking or addressing the same issues together in the same room from their different perspectives. i think that always adds value to both sides. so one is just to find ways to pay more attention to that dialogue because i don't think it really exists in any kind of consistent, systematic or formal way. it's ad hoc, unrecorded and out of date. we need a new one. secondly, i think, would be some discussion about whether this basically one size fit all approach needs to be changed. the fact that we have these unique situations in iraq and afghanistan, i think, give a good opportunity to reassess that and say, we need a more differentiated approach. and the last thing has to do with finding a way to take advantage of afsa's con

they are afraid, with good reason of the gao, they are afraid our committees. and it is, excuse me, cover your butt notions. it takes a very independent and tens upon doing his job, strong administrator. and i have to tell you, as a member of the homeland security committee and a member of this committee, i think what we have seen in federal bureaucrats does not give me comfort to believe that regardless of the bureaucrats, the person will understand, go ahead. that's why we come even looking at the president, somebody's got a signal that it's all right so that when the fingers begin to point responsibility, we know where it lays. for example, when mr. fugate says don't send anything else here, if more was needed, he would have had to step up and say i asked the secretary not to send more resources. anytime when i did not think they were necessary, even if it turns out he was wrong, would have to be risk being wrong sometimes. but i tell you, mr. decker, in light of existing experience, even after katrina, we passed the post-katrina act and even after the post-

and the gao is, in fact, actively engaged in looking at supervision and many other aspects. we have currently 14 engagements of the gao including looking at our consolidated supervision and some of the things that senator shelby referred to. to be very, very clear, i in no way object to, in fact, i welcome trance parp see about the fed's activities and the fed's financial position both to the public and to the congress. i am, however, concerned with the auditing of monetary policy. what that means is that the gao would be empowered to come in essentially immediately after a policy decision to look at all the policy materials prepared by staff, to interview members and to basically second-guess the fed's decision in very short order with very few protections. my concern is that, as you mentioned, senator, the fed's credibility depends on the market's perception that we are independent in making monetary policy decisions and we will not be influenced by short-term political considerations. my fear is that, if we were to take what might be perceived as an unpopular step, congre

essentially all of our financial books are open to the congress and to the gao.ut is the independence and the integrity of the monetary policy process. our concern is that we would take some action on monetary policy that would be unpopular in some quarters, and that congress by ordering the gao audit of that action would be signaling strongly to the markets and the public that they disapprove and they are putting pressure on us not to take that action. we think they're reducing the independence of the fed would be bad for markets, bad for inflation expectations, and bad for the dollar. >> do expect the federal reserve to get all the money back that he has injected in terms of loans to corporations? >> yes, i do. i think we're in very good shape. in fact, the actions that we took were not for profit maximization by any means. but i do believe that we are going to get back all the money, and indeed we will be showing the taxpayer a fairly significant extra income. >> when you are minding your own business at princeton, did you have any second thoughts about coming

and the gao is, in fact, actively engaged in looking at supervision and many other aspects.we have currently 14 engagements of the gao including looking at our consolidated supervision and some of the things that senator shelby referred to. to be very, very clear, i in no way object to, in fact, i welcome trance parp see about the fed's activities and the fed's financial position both to the public and to the congress. i am, however, concerned with the auditing of monetary policy. what that means is that the gao would be empowered to come in essentially immediately after a policy decision to look at all the policy materials prepared by staff, to interview members and to basically second-guess the fed's decision in very short order with very few protections. my concern is that, as you mentioned, senator, the fed's credibility depends on the market's perception that we are independent in making monetary policy decisions and we will not be influenced by short-term political considerations. my fear is that, if we were to take what might be perceived as an unpopular step, congres

as the gao quantified these concerns for the environment and what they have had to technology factorsing fielded for the environmental concern was one, there was some confusion as to whether the provisions of the secure fence act applied to the sdi program and it turns out it didn't. they had to go through environmental procedures to place the towers near rhodes. the other things had to do with fencing and completed by the end of 2008 for the sdi program was not ready for full fielding. they had to re-plan at re- test. it is not to say they would have met the two dozen a dates that they put out there because there were re-test at re- plan issues out there. the delays persist and it is not only due to environmental issues. there were other testing issues and the readiness of technology to the field of issues that were still there. >> thank you very much. >> the chair recognizes mr. thompson for a comment. >> you said the contract was offered. for the committee's information, who developed the contract? >> ultimately, weir's responsible for the contract so we developed it and are respon

i think we see the good work of the gao, and this is not all that uncommon.e tragedy -- we do not know the numbers yet. but we must look beyond that to children who are put in dark rooms for hours every day, children to -- who are repeatedly put in restraints on a regular basis, were in seclusion on a regular basis. that is abusive to those children. we would also like to know the policy considerations of how that continues. if you put a child into seclusion 75 times, you might want to think it is not working. you might want to think about how else you should deal with this and at what point, would you -- and at what point would you tell the parents? we have a process for the children with disabilities were parents and others are brought in to work out a plan -- where parents and others are brought in to work out a plan for the child, so the other students can continue to have opportunities to learn and we can in fact had to kick the greatest number of our children. -- and we can in fact educate the greatest number of our children. we continue to see the sign

>> everything that you read in that gao report was old news, ok?the whatever combination of reasons, both the gao and the congressional inquiry that followed chose not to use information that we provided them about the fixes that were in place to the very issues that they cited. we thought that was a little bit one-sided and that intelligent people would make different determinations, given the facts of the matter so we continue to work it. we are the last to paint something in rose colors if it is not going to, you know, help accomplish the mission or be dangerous for employment with our marines. so in terms of availability rates, they started out in the 68 to 72 range in iraq. we discovered some things about a little part called the slip ring that was wearing out in that unique kind of iraqi talcum dust that had not been an issue for us in the u.s. western desert. we found some things with regard to shipboard life that we had not anticipated but that is part of this whole learning process. today it is in the seven's, approaching the 80's at times

one more question to gao -- goa. clients get job training, relief supplies, access to critical services. particularly after a disaster case managers can be extremely helpful to try to make sense of things, trying to identify the programs that are still operating and out there and making them real for clients. what in your study could you share with us about the need for case managers? did we have enough on the ground? how did the case management were generally? i think you testified on this. can you elaborate? >> overall, because of the chart you showed with the multiplicity of funding streams, case management is really important. çit is very difficult for families, especially low income families are families under stress, to figure out how they themselves can put together the package of services they need to stabilize and regain their self- sufficiency. we had two major findings. one was as we found in the mental health. there was a significant lack of case management providers and also limited referral services. t

the gao happens to have a little bit more reputation that the rest of the agency of the government. hopefully we would be able to get some good information. i don't worry as much as the gao not making a sincere effort as i am about the federal reserve making it a effort to prevent and get in the way of the gao from allowing us to find out what's happening. i'm sure there's a lot of agreements that are made that will be hard to trace. it isn't that the federal reserve is going to have it written on the books. what we did is is a, b, c. they talk to other bankers. they say today i'm going to extend some loans to you. as soon as you go in and buy such and such stock or gold and do all of these things. so it'd be pretty hard to follow all that went on. you're right. there could be short comings. ultimately, the system isn't going to last. so it's the exposure and getting the american people to understand why it's so important to know more about them. thank you. you mentioned something last night. if i can borrow and refer to that. you mentioned the health care that they would tell you w

essentially all of our financial books are open to the congress and to the gao. the thing we're concerned about is the independence and the integrity of the monetary policy process. our concern is that we would take some action on monetary policy that would be unpopular in some quarters, and that congress by ordering the gao audit of that action would be signaling strongly to the markets and the public that they disapprove and they are putting pressure on us not to take that action. we think they're reducing the independence of the fed would be bad for markets, bad for inflation expectations, and bad for the dollar. >> do expect the federal reserve to get all the money back that he has injected in terms of loans to corporations? >> yes, i do. i think we're in very good shape. in fact, the actions that we took were not for profit maximization by any means. but i do believe that we are going to get back all the money, and indeed we will be showing the taxpayer a fairly significant extra income. >> when you are minding your own business at princeton, did you have an

we also had an extensive review by gao at the end of 2007 who gave very good grades to tsa for how wedo our program that addresses ssi. >> ideal but the balance of my time. >> i would like to recognize build arakis for 5 minutes per >> i will ask my questions during the executive session. >> let me just -- >> before we go into the executive session, i am struggling a little bit with the underlying premise -- by refusing to give a document to this committee because of the concern about public disclosure, that is implying that the committee would release the document to the public. that is troubling me. the implication is that this subcommunity -- subcommittee is not taking the security of these documents seriously. that is not the case. i'm glad the inspector general is doing this investigation. that is not particularly relevant to a request for this document. we are a separate and equal branch of government responsible for overseeing tsa's activities. i'm stunned by the refusal to give us this document. i feel like i have been left with no choice. i appreciate the fact that our staff

every other aspect of our policy making, are supervision, everything else is subject to gao review.ll of our financial books are open to the congress and the g a zero. we are concerned about the independence and the integrity of the policies. our concern is that we would take action on monetary policy that would be unpopular in some quarters and that congress, by ordering an audit of that action, would be signaling strongly to the markets and the public that they disapprove and were putting pressure on the fed not to take that action fo we n. we think this would be bad for markets and inflation expectations and that for the dollar. >> do you expect the federal reserve will get all the money back it has injected in the system in terms of loans to corporations? >> yes, i do. i could we are in very good shape. in fact, the actions we took will help us get back the money. we will show the taxpayer a significant extra income. >> when you are minding your own business at princeton, did you ever have any second thoughts about coming to washington? [laughter] >> [laughter] >> it has been an

gao study and report on medicare beneficiary access to high-quality dialysis services. (a) study. (1) in general. the comptroller general of the united states shall conduct a study on the impact on medicare beneficiary access to high-quality dialysis services of including specified oral drugs that are furnished to such beneficiaries for the treatment of end stage renal disease in the bundled prospective payment system under section 1881(b)(14) of the social security act (42 u.s.c. 1395rr(b)(14)) (pursuant to the proposed rule published by the secretary of health and human services in the federal register on september 29, 2009 (74 fed. reg. 49922 et seq.)). such study shall include an analysis of- (a) the ability of providers of services and renal dialysis facilities to furnish specified oral drugs or arrange for the provision of such drugs; (b) the ability of providers of services and renal dialysis facilities to comply, if necessary, with applicable state laws (such as state pharmacy licensure requirements) in order to furnish specified oral drugs; (c) whether appropri

government tried to investigate was during that jimmy carter's administration when he was investigating the gao, the gsa, what ever it was. i have heard, and please correct me if i am wrong, because it is a frightening number, that our medicare system has fraud in the b, billions of dollars. that would pay for a lot of them are rise. am i correct? -- pay for a law mri -- a lot of mri's. am i correct? and a big hammer investigation, paying $500 for hammers in the military and the sets. what energy and time is spent in our government at the federal level investigating and stopping fraud in each and every department? are we spending as much time there as we spent debating issues, saving >> through investigating fraud? >> i think that we can do better on medicare fraud. and medicaid fraud. there is fraud, providers to pay for -- bill for people and patients that they never saw. we can put more resources behind that. that was actually done in the clinton administration when donna shalala was secretary. and then it slipped behind. it makes doctors very uncomfortable, but it is quite important. >> "60

khuzami, in march, gao issued a scathing report on the effect of christopher cox's leadership of the s.e.c. in reducing corporate penalties and formal investigations at exactly the time that the cdos and cdss were proliferating to chairman shapiro's credit, she rescinded a cox policy and appointed you to reinvigorate the enforcement division. i am concerned that one pernicious aspect of the cox legacy may have survived, the unwillingness to pursue as gao wrote, quote, more complicated cases those with industry wide implications in favor of those seen as more routine, unquote. mr. khuzami, this is the test case. this is the case with industry wide implications where what is at issue is the performance of the attorneys and interpreting the nation's securities laws strictly or permissively. here's the case where the -- where at the s.e.c. shapiro breaks with the s.e.c.'s christopher cox. mr. khuzami, is the s.e.c. widening its investigation to include the issue of bank of america's failure to disclose to its shareholders the mounting losses at merrill lynch, known or knowable by mid-nov

are you familiar with the latest gao report that came out from a mr.ex needs to improve and wireless phone service? >> i'm not read the whole thing. >> are you aware of the recommendations of gao, recommended that the sec improve its outreach to consumers about this complaint process related performance goals and that monitoring compliance, number two, develop guidance of federal oversight rules and develop policies for communicating with states. are you familiar? >> more with the tax that they uncovered first that was in that report that showed that 84% -- >> you are getting ahead of me. [laughter] >> let's go right there. i'm asking they have these recommendations based on his so i want to ask you to comment about what they're based on. when you look at all of the choices for consumers have going into the christmas shopping season and all levels of satisfaction which two comment on the basis of the tax they relied upon for these? >> well, i think it's not the way i would have written the report based upon the statistics they found in the study. knowi

in addition to that, we are also in the middle of the gao anddod is working -- and dod is working onto anything with regards to that. as such, i am happy to answer any questions you have consistent with what i have outlined above and look forward to our discussion this morning. >> mr. chairman, i would like to say it would have been advisable for you to have a written statement that would allow you to talk about other elements. i realize this is not your decision but i want to go on record saying it is unfortunate that you were not able to come with a statement. the statement is in writing there for you do not get in trouble because it is approved and we could have covered a number of areas 3 make our job more difficult by not having a statement -- a number of areas. you make our job more difficult. you have not done the commission a favor. we appreciate the times he had that with the commission and had been cooperative. i does want to let you know our disappointment of the and not having a statement. this makes our job more difficult. with that, we will start with -- excuse me. befo

gao study and report on causes of action. "(a) study.- "(1) in general.-the comptroller general of the united states shall conduct a study of whether the development, recognition, or implementation of any guideline or other standards under a provision described in paragraph (2) would result in the establishment of a new cause of action or claim. "(2) provisions described.-the provisions described in this paragraph include the following: "(a) section 2701 (adult health quality measures). "(b) section 2702 (payment adjustments for health care acquired conditions). "(c) section 3001 (hospital value-based purchase program). "(d) section 3002 (improvements to the physician quality reporting initiative). "(e) section 3003 (improvements to the physician feedback program). "(f) section 3007 (value based payment modifier under physician fee schedule). "(g) section 3008 (payment adjustment for conditions acquired in hospitals). "(h) section 3013 (quality measure development). "(i) section 3014 (quality measurement). "(j) section 3021 (establishment of center for me

in addition to that, we are also in the middle of the gao anddod is working -- and dod is working ona response to that. i cannot respond to anything with regards to that. as such, i am happy to answer any questions you have consistent with what i have outlined above and look forward to our discussion this morning. >> mr. chairman, i would like to say it would have been advisable for you to have a written statement that would allow you to talk about other elements. i realize this is not your decision but i want to go on record saying it is unfortunate that you were not able to come with a statement. the statement is in writing there for you do not get in trouble because it is approved and we could have covered a number of areas 3 make our job more difficult by not having a statement -- a number of areas. you make our job more difficult. you have not done the commission a favor. we appreciate the times he had that with the commission and had been cooperative. i does want to let you know our disappointment of the and not having a statement. this makes our job more difficult. with that,

[applause] >> this second panel is comprised of gao subject matter be the experts. mr.ack to active duty. recovering members may face challenges including difficulties managing their outpatient recovery process, maintaining the evaluation system and a transitioning between the different departments. we want to jointly develop policies for covering service members. will address challenges the agencies face as they develop and implement policies on these issues. we jointly developed and implemented comprehensive policies in four areas. medical, disability, returning service members to active duty, then transitioning them from the dot to this shi'a. there are 76 individual requirements in the act. we are addressing these to the senior oversight committee. this was established in may, 2007, as a vehicle for addressing issues. it is staffed with both dot and veterans affairs employees. overall, they develop policies in 2008. they have completed this for 60 of the 76 requirements. the remaining 16 are in progress. the officials to complete policy developments by the mid year.

there is also a gao audit. if you want to do a dissertation, the gao audit, the government accountability office audit -- they look at whether people are abiding by the actor not. it is a good aact o -- act or not. it is a good source of information. in terms of requiring -- sorry. new transparency in terms of requiring lobbyists that bundle over $15,000 semiannually in campaign contributions for any federally elected official have to report it. they have to disclose to the secretary of the senate and the house clerk, any contributions to libraries, inaugural committees, or entities controlled, named for, or honoring members of congress. the consequences of these reforms that are listed here -- we will talk about that in great detail and historic context, the history of lobbying reform. they have created a certain amount of unintended consequences in my opinion. the revolving door restrictions, in my mind, have created a situation where we have de- registrations. we also have the lobbying and stimulus restricti

a sincere effort to prohibit and to prevent and get in the way of the gao from allowing us to find out exactly what's happening. because i'm sure there is a lot of agreements that are made that would be hard to trace. it isn't that the federal reserve is going to have it written on the books were rated a., b., c. what they do affect whether central bankers and they say well today i'm going to send some loans to you as long as you go when and by such and such stock or by banks or sell gold and do all these things. so would be pretty hard to follow all that went on. but you're right. this could be shortcomings. but ultimately, the system isn't going to last so with the exposure and getting the american people to understand why it's so important to know more about them. thank you. [applause] >> you mentioned something last night in your speech that if i can't borrow from not and revert a little. you mentioned, you mentioned in health care that they would tell you what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink. you mentioned unnatural foods and legislation that would take that out of

keith gao wan was expected to fill the shoes of blake griffin at oklahoma at those are big shoes.uckily for the sooners he is 6'9" and around 300-pound. there has been hype about his offensive skills, leading the mcdonald's all american game at 20 points have, he is expected to keep up his numbers and help oklahoma. number six overall recruit and number two power forward, john henson is sporting carolina blue and a lot of potential on the tar heel team. at 6'10", henson is long and lean. he has proven how good he is on court as one of four 6'10" forwards he is playing small forward and getting some early playing time. after o waffling, number five recruit, as espn u's number one point guard in the country, a lot is expected from john this season. he already dunked on gary stackhouse over the summer, thus already making a name for himself. he is expected to be a tough playmaker who helped the wild cattrano driving past his opponents. >>> henry is known for his offensive game. henry not only has range but punch. in addition to his offensive tex tarity henry was expected to use his s

gao study regarding the rate of denial of coverage and enrollment by health insurance issuers and group health plans. "(a) in general. the comptroller general of the united states (referred to in this section as the 'comptroller general') shall conduct a study of the incidence of denials of coverage for medical services and denials of applications to enroll in health insurance plans, as described in subsection (b), by group health plans and health insurance issuers. "(b) data. "(1) in general.-in conducting the study described in subsection (a), the comptroller general shall consider samples of data concerning the following: "(a) (i) denials of coverage for medical services to a plan enrollees, by the types of services for which such coverage was denied; and "(ii) the reasons such coverage was denied; and "(b) (i) incidents in which group health plans and health insurance issuers deny the application of an individual to enroll in a health insurance plan offered by such group health plan or issuer; and "(ii) the reasons such applications are denied. "(2) scope of data. "(a) favorably res

>> i have not read the entire thing but aware of it. >> are you aware of the recommendations of gao,they recommend to improve the outreach to consumers of related performance goals and measuring and monitoring complaints. and two, develop state roles and three, communicate with the states. you are familiar with these recommendations? >> i am more if -- familiar of the facts, that 84% -- >> that's where i am going, you are getting ahead of me. they have these recommendations based on and i ask you to comment based on what they are based on. and whether we look at the choices of of the consumers in the christmas season and would you look at the basis that they rely upon for these recommendations. >> i think -- it's not the way i would have written the report based on the statistics they found in the study. knowing this city as i have for the last six years and seeing the consumer complaints decline every year. and the consumer satisfaction going up every year. we feel that is movement in the right direction. the 84% is not enough for us but it's a positive mark for the industry. and i

in addition to that, we are also in the middle of the gao anddod is working -- and dod is working onhing with regards to that. as such, i am happy to answer any questions you have consistent with what i have outlined above and look forward to our discussion this morning. >> mr. chairman, i would like to say it would have been advisable for you to have a written statement that would allow you to talk about other elements. i realize this is not your decision but i want to go on record saying it is unfortunate that you were not able to come with a statement. the statement is in writing there for you do not get in trouble because it is approved and we could have covered a number of areas 3 make our job more difficult by not having a statement -- a number of areas. you make our job more difficult. you have not done the commission a favor. we appreciate the times he had that with the commission and had been cooperative. i does want to let you know our disappointment of the and not having a statement. this makes our job more difficult. with that, we will start with -- excuse me. before you

gao provided unqualified opinion of those statements included no material weaknesses in internal controlsand this is a notable achievement for the men and women who have helped put in place this very important program in a short period of time. let me just end by emphasizing as you did the importance we continue to work to reinforce the process of repair in our financial system. it is absolutely essential to make sure we establish a strong recovery that have put americans back to work and it is very important because of the consequences kre -- kre yad by the actions necessary to put out this financial fire that congress move to adapt a strong and comprehensive package of financial reforms and i've -- and i'm encouraged by the progress we've seen to. a lot of channels ahead to getting a strong package in place. i know you played a helpful role to bring strong insight to those choices and i'm sure you'll continue to work with us to make sure we have a strong package in place as quickly as possible. thank you. >> thank you mr. secretary. let's start with your statement. you say as part of th

the reported that my opinion -- we in congress will continue to bite gao's regulations on how to improve the regulation of this industry. one of the important points the report raises is the lack of fda resources to enforce laws already on the books. i will continue to work with my colleagues in congress and the fda to provide more resources to the fda for dietary supplement oversight. and before i conclude, i want to stress an extremely important point -- since enactment of dshea, almost every commissioner is on record stating that the agency has enough enforcement authority to regulate dietary supplements. and the current commissioner, in a recent speech, mentioned that "reports have noted that there has been a steep decline in the fda's enforcement activities." some serious violations have gone unaddressed for far too long produce include violations including product quality, adulteration, and false branding. misleading advertising. furthermore, in providing an example of the fda stepping up its enforcement activities, dr. ann burke cited enforcement actions against people selling ove

the reported that my opinion -- we in congress will continue to bite gao's regulations on how to improve the regulation of this industry. one of the important points the report raises is the lack of fda resources to enforce laws already on the books. i will continue to work with my colleagues in congress and the fda to provide more resources to the fda for dietary supplement oversight. and before i conclude, i want to stress an extremely important point -- since enactment of dshea, almost every commissioner is on record stating that the agency has enough enforcement authority to regulate dietary supplements. and the current commissioner, in a recent speech, mentioned that "reports have noted that there has been a steep decline in the fda's enforcement activities." some serious violations have gone unaddressed for far too long produce include violations including product quality, adulteration, and false branding. misleading advertising. furthermore, in providing an example of the fda stepping up its enforcement activities, dr. ann burke cited enforcement actions against people selling ove

last year the gao came out with a report laying out all the mission capable in iraq that, no offense, but you another marine corps officials never disclosed it everything was hunky-dory. what is the mission capable rate at this point, what are they predicting, and is there going to be another accountable auto-parts issued? >> let me go back and address your first point of icann, tony. and that is to say that everything you read in a gal report was old news. for whatever combination or reason, both the gao and the congressional inquiry that followed, chose not to use information that we provided them about the fixes that were in place to the very issues that decided. we felt that was a little bit one-sided, and that intelligent people would make different determinations given the facts of the matter. so we continue to work. we are the last to paint something in rose-colored. if it's not going to, you know, help a college admission, or be dangerous, for employment with our marines. so in terms of availability rates, they started out in about a 68 to 72 range in iraq. we discovered some

the inspector general and the gao votes sade is higher than that. that is on medicare alone. if we just captures 70 billion of that, how do you do that? do you know how medicare pays them? they pay and then shays the use of madden in voice and they don't know if it is accurate or not and a payette. they payette and then they go try to get the money back afterwards. please certification of the payment like everybody else does and that has anything to do with the volume that medicare has. the other way you do it is under cover patients, where you put people actively defrauding medicare in jail. less than $2 billion in this whole bill goes after fraud. that is 10% of the fraud per year. we could cover everybody in the country or extend the life of medicare 20 years by eliminating the fraud that is in medicare today. what are we going to do? we are not. we are going to create more government programs and more agencies that are going to be designed to be defrauded so therefore the fraud will go up and not down. and we are also going to limit the availability of prevention to senio

all of our financial books are open to the congress and the gao. we are concerned about the monetary policy process. congress would, by ordering the audit of that action, would be signaling strongly to the markets and the public that it is approved in a putting pressure on the fed not to take that action. we believe reducing the independence of the fed to be able to take action would be bad for markets, bad for our credibility, bad for inflation expectations, and bad for the dollar. >> do you expect the reserve will get all the money back that it has injected into the system in terms of loans to corporations? >> yes, i do. i think we are in very good shape. certainly, the actions we took were not affecting maximization, by any means. i believe we're going to get back all of the money. we're going to be showing to the taxpayer a fairly [no audio] >> did you ever have any thoughts about coming to washington what you are at princeton? [laughter] >> it has been a very interesting experience overall. [laughter] economics should be -- should aspire to be

the gao found the average nonage frisbies including overdraft fees increase by 10% since the 2000's the house the imposition of these these at the determinate feared a fresen data has shown increasing revenue coming from these banks? >> we have been serving the largest banks overdraft fees for the last several years. everytime we go back and look the fees have gone up. more banks are charging tiered fees so the second, third in fourth overdraft is even more expensive and now they are starting to add sustained overdraft fees so you can get charge $35 immediately if you don't pay the bank back in a few days and it is another 35. some banks charge and a dollar today sustained overdraft fee. i heard from again fell in indiana this summer, just out of high school working in minimum wage job. he made a 10-dollar math error on his bank account. he had for debit transactions that overdrew his account by $6.58. his bang charge $35 for each of them. he rush jenin deposited $100. that was sucked out to pay the overdraft fees so he was still overdrawn and charged him $8 a day. by the time this youn

that is working in close concert and supporting the missions of the various inspectors general, the gaoternal reporting mechanisms. what i would say about corruption is that this is an issue that is at the core of our strategy in afghanistan. we have made a very robust and consistent case are dealing more aggressive on corruption to the karzai government. it was part of his inaugural speech, as we hoped it would be. he held just yesterday the anti- corruption conference. it is something that we and the rest of the international community will watch very closely. there has been all range of suggestions from revitalizing it and anti corruption commission to bring in some high-level prosecutions. if we cannot deal with it nationally, to work at a regional level where we can work around corruption if we have to. so, it is something that is at -- it is very central to our core mission. >> thank you very much. >> if i could add real quickly, one of the things we are doing with our soldiers as we see them as the front line on being able to identify bad business practices. we are teaching all o

been posting significant case is that merit a press release on the website command wasn't until the gaoreport came out that we learned the specific numbers of cases in the previous administration and then you said the members for this administration. would you consider posting every single case so that on a week by week basis we can see the progress you've talked about in part how many cases in each category have been brought, how many settlements, how many guilty pleas, not just on the case is the desert a press release but on every one. >> i'm happy to take a very careful look at that because we want to build systems that are as transparent as possible, and our web sites are a good vehicle for communicating that. so i'm happy to take a very close look at that. yes, sir. >> my name is charlie salon.com and i direct and international prison reform organization. i can't you know, being a councilman that there are a lot of people going into prisons and jails. i think 14.5 million a year are going in and out of jail. i think 4 million of the 13.5 million go in multiple times. we have 2.3 m

working with close concert in supporting the missions of a cigar the various inspectors general, the gao and other external reporting mechanisms. and lastly what i would say about protection and particular is this is an issue that's at the core of our strategy combining it with afghanistan. we've made a very robust and consistent case on dealing more aggressively on corruption to the karzai government. it was part of his inaccurate speech as we hoped it would be. he held just yesterday the anticorruption conference, but it something that we in the rest of the international community are going to continue to watch very, very closely. there's been a range of suggestions from revitalized anticorruption commission to hopefully bring in some high-level prosecutions to if we can't deal with it at the national level to working hours from national, regional government structures where we can hopefully work around corruption if we have to. so it is something that that's a very central to our core mission. >> thank you very much. >> sir, if i could add real quickly. one of the things were doing wi

. >> thank you, former gao director walker and now head of the piers and foundation. really powerful testimony. i really do hope people are listening, paying close attention because the stakes are very high here. we are also joined this morning by the former head of cbo, somebody that developed real respect from colleagues on this committee and throughout congress for the way he conducted himself in that important position. welcome. good to have you back before the committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is a privilege to be back at this table again. i have had the opportunity in the past to discuss at length the dismal fiscal future, which has been outlined by many of the proceedings, so i will not deliver that, but i do have a statement i would like to submit. >> without objection. >> i will make a couple of points that i think our most important about the current budget outlook. number one i think is simply the time scale and how rapidly it has shifted. what used to be a three-decade problem, which was well understood but not addressed, is now something that look

gao provided unqualified opinion of those statements included no material weaknesses in internal controlsand this is a notable achievement for the men and women who have helped put in place this very important program in a short period of time. let me just end by emphasizing as you did the importance we continue to work to reinforce the process of repair in our financial system. it is absolutely essential to make sure we establish a strong recovery that have put americans back to work and it is very important because of the consequences kre -- kre yad by the actions necessary to put out this financial fire that congress move to adapt a strong and comprehensive package of financial reforms and i've -- and i'm encouraged by the progress we've seen to. a lot of channels ahead to getting a strong package in place. i know you played a helpful role to bring strong insight to those choices and i'm sure you'll continue to work with us to make sure we have a strong package in place as quickly as possible. thank you. >> thank you mr. secretary. let's start with your statement. you say as part of th

. >> before he does, and i will of course turn to the admiral, i just want to put in the record a gao study that shows as we've added more troops the violence actually escalated. and this interview by general mcchrystal was at the very end of september. so admiral mullen, could you explain -- here is what i am getting at. i voted with reluctance because i believed more troops would help hour were situation. we added the troops and the violence got worse. now we are being told we should add more troops. and i guess what i'm asking you is how can we now lead to the conclusion more troops would mean less violence when the opposite seems to have occurred? >> ma'am, general mcchrystal's assessment, and i agree with secretary defense, it really was the first thorough comprehensive assessment that i have seen from a commander. as we talked about under resource in this campaign for a long time for a good four or five years seen the insurgency just get worse particularly starting in 06 it's been evident we couldn't resources and get the troops because of commitment to iraq so it is where we fo

gao provided unqualified opinion of those statements included no material weaknesses in internal controlsand this is a notable achievement for the men and women who have helped put in place this very important program in a short period of time. let me just end by emphasizing as you did the importance we continue to work to reinforce the process of repair in our financial system. it is absolutely essential to make sure we establish a strong recovery that have put americans back to work and it is very important because of the consequences kre -- kre yad by the actions necessary to put out this financial fire that congress move to adapt a strong and comprehensive package of financial reforms and i've -- and i'm encouraged by the progress we've seen to. a lot of channels ahead to getting a strong package in place. i know you played a helpful role to bring strong insight to those choices and i'm sure you'll continue to work with us to make sure we have a strong package in place as quickly as possible. thank you. >> thank you mr. secretary. let's start with your statement. you say as part of th

the gao found that the average noninterest fees including overdraft fees increased by 10% or more since the year 2000. >> uh-huh. >> so how is the imposition of these fees as a determent show if increasing revenue coming to these banks as fees. >> right. we've been surveying the largest banks overdraft fees for the last several years. every time we go back and look, the fees have gone up. more banks are charging tiered fees so the second and third and fourth overdraft is even more expensive and now they're starting to add sustained overdraft fees so you can get charged $35 immediately if you don't pay the bank back in a few days. it's another $35. some banks charge an $8 per day sustained overdraft fee. i heard from a young fellow in indiana this summer. he's just out of high school working a minimum wage job. he made a $10 math error on his bank account. he had four debit transactions that overdrew his account. his bank charged $35 for each of them. he rushed down and deposited $100. that was sucked out to pay the overdraft fees so he was still overdrawn. and they charged $8 a day. by