if you covered them before, i apologize. >> i had begun in my first week in the treasury to meet with the inspector general. i meet with him every week, if not more often. our staff at the treasury meets with him also and his staff. we are, i think, all intent on making sure these programs are very well controlled. and that there's as much transparency as practical given the need for these program to be quite broad. i know the inspector general shares those perspectives. so we are respectful of his findings and we take them very seriously and we're working with him to find practical ways of dealing with those concerns. >> and there's another issue, potential issue. i know the regulators are doing a great deal to avoid an issue. that is a reapplication to t.a.r.p. for an institution that might pay out but then need additional assistance. is -- are you establishing any procedures for that? or is that something that's still off on the horizon? >> senator frank confirmed we'll certainly look at that. and i'll be happy to meet with you and your staff on that question. >> thank you, mr. allison for your willingn

if you covered them before, i apologize. >> i had begun in my first week in the treasury to meet with the inspector generali meet with him every week, if not more often. our staff at the treasury meets with him also and his staff. we are, i think, all intent on making sure these programs are very well controlled. and that there's as much transparency as practical given the need for these program to be quite broad. i know the inspector general shares those

i may also want to add that this money, up to 15% of this essentially is not going into the general treasury. 15% of this is going into the treasury and going right back out to the low income people we are talking about. the rest of the value of this program is going to york utility, going to your utility, and that utility by law would be required to recycle the value of that back to you in ways to keep your rates low, in ways to insulate your home and to help you get an energy efficient washer or dryer. that is going to be recycled back to you. we could go through the list of where else that goes. but this money basically is required to go back to the u.s. economy. it is not going to be subject to appropriations of congress. one other thing frankly that i think a very good in this bill -- this money is not subject to congress appropriating it. it is all designate where it is going to go back to the american people. that means congress men and women cannot go there and redirect this money to any particular project or purpose. we have assured ourselves and our constituents that it would be us

jake, i don't know how more to say the answer to your question is the inspector general has the documents. >> will the treasury department respect the office of the inspector general or doesn't. >> we can go back on your question and my answer. i think i've answered the question >> [inaudible] -- opposition on the conservative including -- >> no. the president believes strongly for the uninsured entering the market there has to be the choice and competition. the american people when suddenly believe that, too. the president believes it is an important aspect of any health care reform plan that has to go through congress. yes, sir. >> in light of ayatollah's comments is it more difficult now for the administration to have any kind of significant dialogue with iran over the nuclear issue? >> the president and the team don't believe so. this is again we've talked about this, our interests remained the same. we are concerned about the islamic republic living up to its responsibilities. as it relates to -- >> but if the ayatollah is singing the u.s. is giving mixed messages or the president specifically how well th

protect the public interest, manage systemic risk and promote capital formation and general economic welfare. treasury secretary geithner's may 13th letter to the congressional leadership outline the administrations plan for establishing a comprehensive framework for regulating the otc derivatives. multiple federal regulatory agencies will play critical roles, including those represented here today. in fashioning a regulatory framework for otc derivatives, it is crucial to recognize the close relationship between the regulated securities and futures markets and that no, mostly unregulated, markets for otc derivatives. for example with respect to the securities markets, when otc derivative references an issuer of securities such as a public company or security itself, it can be used to establish synthetic, long or short exposures to an underlying security or group of securities. in this way, market participants can replicate the economics of the deray purchase or sale of securities without purchasing or selling the securities themselves. because market participants can use these securities related the

has been a shift of personnel within the department treasury to deal with the obvious demands and the administrative demands and can you give me a general impression of whether or not this has created dislocations in other parts of the treasury that needs to be addressed and the payback on the t.a.r.p. funds is some indication that we maying getting out of this business and get back to business as normal. >> the way that the legislation was written to provide funding for the administrative resources required to run the programs and we've substantially increased resources using the authority to restaff the office of financial stability and we'll also have to increase as we proposed in the budget, the rest of the domestic finance staff because they've got this greatly expanded and much more complicated set of challenges in the range of policies including the one you just raised and we did announce the appointment of the new deputy assistant secretary for the consumer policy issues in the financial sector. i do not believe we've had to devote resources from other parts of the government to these financial crisis imperatives on a scale that

so the treasury secretary says wearing a hat, looking out for the benefit of general motors, i am going to switch and take my hat as treasury secretary and determine that some money will go to relieve my problems as an executive overseeing the on companies. those are the two aspects of the addition by making to center alexander's amendment. we're giving the secretary of the treasury this same type of fiduciary responsibility and therefore exposure to any officer or director have in a corporate opportunity, and at the same time we're saying no more tarp money, mr. secretary. >> i support -- i'm just teasing. i'm proud to be a co-sponsor of the alexander-and amendment because they joined to excellent ideas together in something i think is critical. the american people are fed up with this notion of the federal government taking over businesses and running them. part of this is in response to that. but there is a very good governance aspect to this that i want to bring to your attention. the government of the united states of america is made up of the people. the people came first. it is w

it would say that the treasury can't put any more tarp funds to bail out general motors or chrysler. that while the government has stock in these companies, the secretary of the treasury or his designee has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayer to get a return on that investment. and most importantly, it says that in the year after general motors comes out of the bankruptcy, that the government should distribute its stock to the 120 million americans who pay taxes on april 15. in other words, let's have a big stock distribution the same way procter & gamble did when it distributed clorox or other companies do every year. we've got a core business -- the car company -- that has nothing to do with the owner -- us -- and we should give it to the owners, the 120 million people who pay taxes. that's what we ought to do. and the rationale is i paid for it, i should own it. that's the first amendment. now, senator corker, with a couple of cosponsors, including senator warner, from the other side of the aisle, he has another idea which i'm glad to support. a little different approach to

so the treasury secretary says well, wearing my hat looking out for the benefit of general motors on an going to suddenly switch and take my hat as the treasury secretary and determine some t.a.r.p. money is coming to go to relieve my problems as an executive overseeing the auto companies. so those are the two aspects of the addition of ibm making to senator alexander's amendment, number one, we are giving the secretary of the treasury the same kind of fiduciary responsibility and therefore exposure any officer or director would have with a corporate opportunity and at the same time we are saying no more t.a.r.p. money, mr. secretary, whichever hagee you may be wearing can go to one of the bankrupt of companies. senator kyl has joined. >> i support the kyl-bennett -- just kidding. [laughter] the joint to excellent ideas together on something critical. first american people are really fed up with this notion of the federal government taking over business and running those businesses. and part of this is response to that, but there is a very good governance aspect of this i want to brin

money is being spent, so the treasury secretary says well, wearing my hat, looking out for the benefits of general motors i am going to suddenly switch and take my hat as the treasury secretary and determined that some t.a.r.p. money is going to go to relieve my problems as an executive overseeing the auto companies, so those are the two aspects of the addition that i am making two senator alexander's amendment. number one, we are giving the secretary of the treasury the same kind of fiduciary responsibility and therefore exposure that any officer or director would have any corporate opportunity and at the same time we are saying no more t.a.r.p. money mr. secretary, whichever hat you may be wearing gang goes to one of the bankrupt auto companies. >> i support the kyl-- i'm just teasing. i am proud to be a co-sponsor of the alexander bennett amendment because they joined to excellent ideas together in something i think is critical. first of all understand, the american people are fed up with the notion of the federal government taking over businesses and running those businesses. barda this is in

general motors, correct? >> yes, sir. >> the treasury wasn't involved?>> treasury was involved as a purchaser but they were not involved in individual decisions or what the exact number should be. >> so you acknowledge that decision whether it was right or wrong is a decision you made, not the white house? >> yes, sir. >> how about you, mr. press? >> it wasn't made by the white house, it was made by our company, chrysler. >> so the basic question here is not just a matter of fairness although i agree with my colleagues on that, it is a matter of business judgment, and somebody is right and somebody is wrong. q2 gentlemen on behalf of your companies have come to the conclusion closing down of dealers including dealers in good standing who've done a good job long time in some cases generations it is in the interest of the company to close them down; is that right? >> in our case is this the only way we will survive, and forward. >> there's obviously evidence that has presented the pos dealers arnall costing money but actually can be a lifeline to reenergiz

those rules are also being discussed with the special inspector general as well as the people within treasury. and i think it's very important for the credibility of the program and to protect the taxpayers that the program be administered in a way that prevents such conflicts of interest. >> absolutely. thank you. >> thank you. >> mr. allison, there's been a few figures floating around about how much is left to be invested or loaned, however you want to put it. have you been able too take a peek and see what's left out there, how many billion are left? >> it's roughly $100 billion, senator, that is available today. >> as as things unfold here, your crystal ball being as clear as anybody's, what kind of criteria do you see utilizing for poestentially investing tho dollars? >> i believe it is important that we leave some headroom in this program because we're not yet out of this crisis. >> correct. >> and i thing the treasury, the government needs some flexibility so that if there's a need in the future, we can intervene in a timely manner on behalf of the american public. >> so is 100 $100 bi

back to the inspector general issue, senator grassley has issued two letters yesterday and he has been pushing the americorps issue but he issued to lenders to the local treasury department and international trade commission regarding their inspector general. could someone infer is that a trend in which the administration? >> if they inverted it would be an incorrect inferences. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> happy father's day. >> happy father's day to all of you guys. >> yesterday canadian prime minister stephen harper took questions from members of the house of commons and the last question time before summer recess. members focused on the economy with unemployment insurance and jobs been the dominant issues. earlier this week the conservative party and the main opposition party, the liberals, agreed to a deal that would preserve the conservatives minority government temporarily. this is 45 minutes. ♪ >> the honorable leader of the opposition. [applause] >> mr. speaker, the acetone crisis isn't just a health care issue, it is about leadership. the government has not shown canadians that it has a plan to deal with the crisis. canadians need to know what is i

general commemorative coin act. this bill would authorize the u.s. treasury to mint five commemorative $1 and half dollar coins bearing these generals. these coins would honor the historic contributions these men have made in defense of justice and freedom they can collect. could i extend for 10 seconds? the speaker pro tempore: please complete your sentence. mr. boswell: thank you. americans young and old can collect them and the stories through popular imagination. perhaps inspiring some to follow their lead. this bill will honor the great soldiers of the past. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. boswell: thank you. please sponsor h.r. 1177. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta, for five minutes. mr. latta: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. latta: thank you. thank you, madam speaker. one of the issues we have been talking a lot on this floor and across the country i

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-owned auto companies. one is mr. ron bloom, a senior advisor on the auto industry at treasury. the other is mr. ed montgomery, white house director of recovery for auto communities and workers. and tomorrow over in the house of representatives, the financial services committee will hold a hearing on salaries of workers in companies the government owns. another obvious contender for the car czar award today is the administration's new chief price fixer for the cost of labor, mr. kenneth fineberg who will review and approve how managers of car companies are paid. according to "the new york times" article on june 8, mr. fineberg is likely not just to tell government-owned car companies and banks how

congressman frank's phone call to general motors always is likely to be returned since the united states treasury recently purchased 60% of g.m. and 8% of chrysler with $62 billion of your tax dollars. 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

i think there is a general agreement that, for instance, this proposal is that treasuries should havee sign off on it. -- to sign off on it. those of think that is sufficiently collateralized -- they should have the sign off on that. those will be under consideration. yes, we have a hearing coming up on the legislation. the chairs of the committees on oversight and monetary policy -- there will be increased auditing and transparency. >> what is the schedule at this point? >> we will start marking up in july. we probably did not finish marking up, but will mark of seven bills and consolidated. it will be marked up in july. compensation is very important. consumer product safety. financial product safety. probably the regulation of derivatives, those things. >> and the whole thing comes together when, september? >> yes. >> in a few moments, republican members of the house and white house chief of staff rahm emanuel discuss plans for the future of health care. in a little less than an hour, attorney general eric holder talked about a variety of issues including guantanamo bay detainee's.

actually one of my first steps as i joined the treasury was to contact the special inspector general, neil barofsky, and ask to meet with him. we've been meeting every week since. i think he plays a very important role in protecting american taxpayers, and i want to do all i can to work with him going forward. as you well said, this is an extremely complex and very large program. it requires vigilant control. one of my first acts will be to meet with our people in compliance as well as our own internal audit people. people in the legal area, to re-examine all of our controls over the financial stability programs. secondly, we are building our information systems even further so we can monitor the performance of each of these programs, monitor these controls. i'm having -- will have, when i'm confirmed, weekly meetings with the management team to go over all those metrics. we're going to be inviting in members and meeting with the congressional oversight panel and the other oversight groups including the gao and seeking their guidance as well to make sure that this program is well cont

general for t.a.r.p. in his report in april criticized the treasury for not adopting recommendations to require that all t.a.r.p recipients account for the use of the funds. so i'd like to ask you to comment on why haven't -- why hasn't the treasury made as a condition of receipt of t.a.r.p. funds a condition requiring an increase in lending and full transparency? >> senator, excellent question. i can just start by saying this? this is a crisis produced in significant part by two things. one is families across the country substantially increased the amount they borrowed. so household debt rose dramatically as a share of our overall economy and we had pockets of excess leverage, too much lending build up across the financial system. now we're going through a very deep recession. in any recession, the demand for credit falls because economic activity falls and the recession that follows a long credit boom like this, you would normally have expected credit to fall quite sharply. that's important because it's hard to know how best to measure the full impact of these programs because again, it would have been under

general for t.a.r.p. in his report in april criticized the treasury for not adopting recommendations to@@@@ comment on, why hasn't the treasury made as a condition of receiving of tarp funds a condition requiring an increase in lending in full transparency? >> excellent question. the crisis produced two significant things. one, families across the country substantially increased the amount that they borrowed and household debt rose dramatically. we have pockets of excess leverage across the financial system. we are going through a very deep recession. and any recession the demand for credit falls. a recession that follows such a big credit boom like this would give you normally been expected very steep fall. it is hard to know how best to measure the full impact of these programs. measure the full impact of these programs because again, it would have been under any circumstance we would have had a period where borrowing would fall as homeowners, as families decide to go back to living within their means and decide to save more, reduce their debt outstanding and lending would fall as the weaker part of the

general, and congress? finally, relying upon the federal reserve instead of the treasury for bailouts can amass the true cost to the public in terms of national debt. any losses on assets of loans through these risky or abnormal emergency power activities could result in the fed giving less money to the treasury. remitting less money t have you taken a comprehensive analysis based on the loans being taken? i am not referring to the conclusionary -- concluesary statement that everything is fine, but if you have done such an analysis, can you provide it to us this month? >> congressman, on the oversight panel request, i'm sure we'll respond to that. i'm not aware of the status of that request. i would just note that the senate -- i think the congress passed a rule recently that would allow the gao to directly audit aig and other individual bank or other interventions, and we are perfectly comfortable with that. we provided extensive information to the congress on aig and those other rescues, including monthly reports required by congress on all 133 lending. so we have been quite open about it. if there are spe

general motors. >> so the vehicle acquisition holdings is really dominated by the u.s. treasury. >> they will be the primary shareholders to sell in your filing on the bankruptcy court, when you say on page 40, because there are now far more dealerships than the company's market share can support, including in some cases multiple dealers in a single contracting community and dealerships that have become poorly situated as riddles of changing demographics, the purchaser is not willing to continue all dealerships. that purchaser you've done enough is the u.s. treasury. >> yes, the purchaser is the largest shareholder is the u.s. treasury. >> and it goes on to say here in your comments to the court, among the dealerships that purchaser is not willing to continue, for example, are those approximately 400 dealers who sell fewer than 50 cars per yea and those approximately 250 dealers who sell fewer than 100 cars per year, approximately 630 other dealerships are not being continued because they are dealers who in whole or substantial parts of brands that are being discontinued. so th

. >> in testimony to the new york state attorney general andrew cuomo, you stated that you had been advised by representatives from the treasury department and the federal reserve not to disclose details of merrill lynch's difficult financial position. so why do you believe that representatives from the federal government would not want you to disclose knowledge you had of merrill lynch's increasingly dire economic position? >> during all of that time, there was never ever a time that the federal reserve or the treasury department told me that we should not disclose something we thought would be a disclosable event. >> so there was never a time that you were told to hold back on this information? >> not as regards something that should be disclosed. >> okay. remember you're under oath. okay. despite the fact that the plan for a merger was announced on september 15th, 2008, there was no mention of the $20 billion capital injection from the government until january 16th. at what point during the negotiations between the b of a, merrill lynch and federal government was it determined that this money would be necessary for the merg

younger americans and to the next generation much so let's take the $65 billion and use it as it was originally agreed it would be used, which is when it came back into the treasury with interest, which is pretty good, to be used to pay down the debt. why am i suspicious that this administration is giving us lip service on the fiscal issue and the issue of the debt. it is the second thing that happened today that raise that's suspicion, than is the fact that the president today came out and held a big press conference about how he was for pay-go. i have not heard a democratic candidate for congress, and now the president of the united states, not claim that they're going to exercise fiscal discipline around here by being for pay go it has motherhood implications, that you're going to pay for what you do around here. well, it's total hypocrisy. it is inconsistent with everything has happened -- that's happened from the other side of the aisle. not only do they not support pay-go, they punch holes in what we presently have for our pay-go laws. in the last tw 2 1/2 years this congress and now in the last three months, four months, five months, this presidency have p

generation. let's take the money and use this as it was originally agreed upon, when it came back into the treasury with interest, we would pay down the debt. why my suspicious that they're giving us live service on the issue of fiscal -- y m my suspicious that they're giving us live service on the issue of this -- why am i suspicious that they're giving us lip service about this. the president of the united states has claimed that they will exercise fiscal discipline out there because of the implementation -- the implications, you will pay for what you do around here. this is hypocrisy. this is inconsistent with everything that has happened, with the spending and the budget. they are putting holes in paygo loss. -- laws. the presidency has passed -- a democratically controlled, have passed 10 bills that have affected the paygo that are on the books, for $882 billion, and if you throw in the things that they were not able to pass, because we said, that is too much, over one trillion dollars, of instances where this congress, and this president have asked for, and issues that would go around the rul

center and a former counter-terrorism alice for the treasury department, the author of "al-qaeda's armies: middle east affiliate groups and the next generation of terror". for more information visit schanzer.pundicity.com. >> de capo press is one of the imprints of the perseus books group annalisa wharf is vice president at de capo press, what are some of the titles coming out from your imprint? >> we have a wonderful biography of james monroe coming up by a washington d.c. writer and is called the bill last founding father because he truly was one of the last xiaoning brothers emanation. >> what another biography of james monroe? >> this is one more complete than many of the others, new information has been found through all the archives and letters and records and we are finding that there is still a lot of patriotic interest out there so we want to give us to continue to feed that market. >> what else is coming out? >> a biography of a millionaire her coming out and actually there is something of a movie tie-in to it, with hillary swank and richard gary that is coming out this fall and will bring the book how to coincide with that. >> how

general motors and chrysler. the witnesses are two obama administration officials who are working with the auto companies. >> treasury has proposed equity stakes in gm and chrysler giving people great pause, as you have heard just in the to opening statements that senator shelby and i have made. why the treasury take such large equity stakes rather than providing the company's with more loans? number two, explain if you would have a treasury determine the size of the stakes and in to be taken and given the treasury's large stakes in these companies particularly gm, how will the u.s. government quickly extricate itself? as i said, i would like us to be out of this business yesterday. obviously that's something to happen but the point is i think a lot of us would like to see as to be on this, get out of it and get the business is function on their own. given the stakes we have how easy is that going to be to achieve and for you dr. montgomery i admire you taking on this job, the president has a lot of confidence in you. as i understand you have no budget to operate with other than what exists around. so we need to know

the treasury department has said it wants to sell the shares as soon as it can. but the president of general motors said in a phone call with a number of us in congress a few days ago that this is a very large amount of stock and an orderly offering of the shares might take several years. these shares might not be worth very much at first, but put them away and one day they might contribute something to a college education. for example, general motors 610 million shares were worth only 75 cents just before bankruptcy. but they were worth $40 a couple of years before that and $75 a few years before that. already we are beginning to see what government ownership of car companies looks like. yesterday, the president said gm and chrysler spent four hours before congressional committees talking about dealerships. i assumed they drove themselves here in congressionally- approved methods of transportation, probably their own hybrid cars. that man did not have the time yesterday to design cars, built cars, or sell cars. unless we get the stock out of the hands of washington, this will be repeated ov

transaction that would have been the treasury, federal deposit insurance corporation and office to control currency who were well informed. >> according to the new york general mr. cuomo said mr. paulson kept the sec out of the loop about efforts to push the bank of america merger with merrill lynch it seems to be backed up by the following exchange between your general counsel, scott alvernia as, and a new york federal official. the new york fed official is asked have we conveyed anything to the sec regarding the bank of america situation? the know something's up. how much if anything has been shared with the sec? mr. alvarez said i did discuss with sec. bank of america can plant someone did talk to the sec with a result the sec called late last week to say that they heard the bank of america was negotiating a deal with the u.s. government and to ask bank of america to explain the unexpectedly high losses at merrill lynch. you didn't direct any of those? >> i did not. >> does mr. elder is work for you? >> he does. >> he did this on his own? >> again, i would emphasize the issues at hand didn't directly involve the sec. the involved -- >> are you his boss? >

treasury. democrats at this point are >> tomorrow, on washington journal, michael crittenden, , dave mccurdy talks about the auto industry and the government's stake in general motors and stephen after googoo. washington journal, live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. coming up next on news makers, labor secretary talks about the latest in a normal situation didn't senator john ensign and then former vice-president dick cheney answers questions on a number of topics including the american national security. >> tonight, on "q&a," mitch daniels. q&a, at a p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> how does he spend funded? >> taxpayers? >> i don't really know. >> from public television. >> it donations. >> i do not know where the funds come from. >> how c-span funded? 30

general, mr. lewis testified that just nine days after the shareholder vote, he discovered a $12 billion loss at merrill lynch. mr. lewis said he told treasury secretary hank paulson that he was strongly considering backing out of the deal. according to mr. lewis, poles and ultimately told him that if he did not go through with the acquisition, he and the board would be fired. however, internal e-mail is we have obtained say they were very skeptical about mr. lewis's motives about backing out. federal chairman ben bernanke fought louis was using the merrill losses as a bargaining chip to obtain federal funds. other e-mail's revealed that federal analysts found a suspect that mr. lewis claimed to be surprised by the rapid growth of merrill lynch posted losses giving the clear signs in the dead. they noted that at a minimum, it calls into question the due diligence process. bankamerica has been doing it in preparation for the takeover. in short, the treasury department has provided $20 billion for a shotgun wedding. the question may be, who was holding the shotgun? @ today's hearing, we hope to better understand what happened when the merger w

>> i generally try not to talk about markets or the outlook in any detailed way. it's not a good thing to do for secretary of treasury. but if you step back and that the economy, we came into this with big pockets of excess leverage in the financial sector, a long time of excess borrowing by parts of the household sector, and a big boom in real estate. the rest of the economy, pretty resilient and healthy, no large, dramatic and balances. we are two years into this and has been a lot of it chessman and financial sector. a lot of adjustment in the real estate sector and private savings rates have come back dramatically. para 5% after being negative for a long time. you see a lot of healthy adjustment behind us. it does not mean we don't still have challenges ahead. but it is important to recognize that those are necessary conditions for getting through this and one of the great strengths of our economy is that because we are so flexible, these things happen with a force. the happen more quickly and that will ultimately be more healthy and we will come out of this matter because we just quickly. >> you alluded to this

treasury, where they will safeguard against the risks to financial stability. as this money is returned, the debt will go down by $68 billion, billions of dollars that this generation will not have to borrow and future generations will not have to repay. i have no interest in managing the banking system or running out of company -- running an auto company. the return of this money does not [unintelligible] it is important that we learn the lessons of this crisis, the short-term gains are not pursued without regard for long-term consequences. at the same time as we look for greater responsibility from the private sector, it is my view and the view of the people behind me today, that greater responsibility is required on the part of those who serve the public. as a nation, we have several imperatives of this difficult moment. we are confronting the worst recession we have faced in generations, another imperative

us as guardians of the treasury, as stewards of the trust -- of the trust given us by our constituents have a responsibility first and foremost to think about the next generation, to think about the amount of money that we're spending and the fact that the money we spend today is as, mr. campbell said, being borrowed from the chinese. that that debt will have to be paid. that we as congress have to remember on every vote on every issue, on every opportunity that we get, we should find ways to save money. and it's entirely appropriate and reasonable for this congress to trim expenses wherever we can at a time when the national debt is at record levels, when the deficit is at a record level, when we have already as we stand here tonight as a nation, accumulated over 60 thousands billion dollars of unfunded libets that must be paid by future generations. medicare runs out of money in 96 months. we have saddled our children and grandchildren with a level of debt never before seen in our nation's history since world war ii. and for what end? we in this fiscally liberal majority in congress passed this massive -- what they call a stimulus bill that all by itself spe

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 of them a better subject to litigation but i will come back to you. >> have either s of the spoken to brian? >> i have. >> have you exchanged e-mails with this individual? >> i think so, yes. i don't think i have addressed 12 him i think there may have seen and e-mails vivica would like to submit i would be particularly interested in those e-mails to be made available to the committee and made part of the record. i would like to spend some time before i finished up, the tar plans, a taxpayer funds paid by the e