senator johanns? >> chairman gensler, let me follow up on some things that senator crapo was asking and i will be very blunt. your testimony worries me. if i have a very standardized product it's going to go through the system lightning speed, we are going to know exactly what the rules or, but if i have a little bit or maybe even significantly different product it's going to hit a barrier because you're going to have to analyze the risk. some bureaucracy is going to have to shake it and make it and figure it out and discuss it and then somebody is going to have to say it's now standardized and therefore it has got to be xy and see in terms of the cattle requirement. isn't that what kind of you are getting at? >> senator, i appreciate your concerns. what we are recommending is clear rules of the road would be put out. the regulators best at setting capital which is most likely for the steelers is going to be either back or other provincial in some cases the securities and exchange commission possibly

committee, i recommend to the chair the appointment of senators martinez, demint, barrasso, wicker, johanns, and risch. the presiding officer: pursuant to the resolution on the appointment of an impeachment trial committee and impeachment rule 11, the chair appoints upon the recommends of the two leaders the following senators to be members of the committee to receive and report evidence in the impeachment of judge samuel b. kent: senators mccaskill, klobuchar, whitehouse, udall, shaheen, kaufman, martinez, demint, barrasso, wicker, johanns and risch. the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the resolution on will meet at a time to be determined. the presiding officer: the senate will take proper order and notify the house of representatives and counsel for judge kent. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask in an orderly fashion that senators approach the desk for signing of the resolution. of the impeachment before they leave the chamber. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call : quorum call:

senator johanns. i apologize. senator johanns. >> thank you very much. i have to tell you at the end of this hearing and it's been a long afternoon and we appreciate your patience. it is our government that comes across as heartless and indifferent. in different because you keep saying, well, even though we own 60%, we don't want to be in the middle of this, we don't want to run it. but you own it. i don't know how you sustain that position over time. and then, you know, senator brown asked a really good question about product liability claims. it reminded me of a very poignant letter i got from a lady back home in nebraska, quadriplegic, injured and i'll accident with chrysler product, battle's chrysler for years and years and years, finally on the edge of getting into court, and bankruptcy is filed. and of course, she's not going to get anything from chrysler. you know that, and yet you said in your testimony, well, she probably won't get as much as she wished. , she's not going to get anything. you file a state of bankruptcy and then you file a discha

there was discussion earlier, senator johanns' questions about senator johanns' questions about stockholders, creditors, others getting in line but the dollars never get to them, i guess, in line. what's going to happen with people that have product liability claims, that somebody drove a chrysler and that chrysler malfunctioned and someone was paralyzed as a result of a defective product? what happens to their claims? >> again, just to be direct with you, that is obviously a very emotional and difficult issue for those people who are victims, and nobody takes delight in not seeing them get all that they would like to get. but unfortunately, again, if one looks at the way bankruptcies are conducted, bankruptcies are about taking liabilities that companies can no longer afford and finding a way to discharge them in an orderly way. we would expect the company will act in accordance with traditional bankruptcy practice and law on how product liability claims are handled, which is to say that largely they would be a matter for the old estate to be dealt with and therefore, will not receive the f

johanns: yes. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent that the period for morning business be extended until 11:30 a.m. with senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: is there any objection? no objection, so ordered. mr. merkley: i thank my colleague from the state of idaho. thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. johanns: the legislation that i introduced today, as i said, mr. president, is the free enterprise act of 2009. and its purpose is very straightforward. the free enterprise act of 2009 requires prior congressional approval of any tarp funding that results in the government taking a common or preferred equity interest in any private entity. since the inception of the tarp program, my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, in a very bipartisan way, have voiced concerns over the management, the oversight, and the purpose of tarp. yet, the program continues to drift away from its original purpose to buy toxic assets and keep credit flowing.

. >> thank you, senator johanns. >> thank you, mr. cohen, how many regional airlines are in operation? how many would that be? >> as has been talked about, the term regional airline is almost a term of art rather than science. there are 31 member airlines and those members carry 90% of the passengers in scheduled service. >> how many of those would be profitable today? how many are making money? >> some of them are privately held. i don't have that information. >> of those that are not privately-owned, could you get that information? >> we would be glad to get it to you and provide it to the committee. >> let me understand your business model because it bears some submissions. as i understand it, the cost of the ticket that i would purchase is not determined by that regional, it is determined by the contract for the majority, the vast majority of business operations? how are your revenues determined? is it based on that ticket cost? >> there is a variety of business arrangements which are proprietary in nature but it is my general und

. >> senator johanns we're doing another round this is a complex topic and we're fortunate to have the chairmen and chairman and miss white from the federal reserve. let me just ask one question. we're engaged in a very complicated regulatory reform process, which is going to touch many, many different areas. so i would ask you to just tell us, what do you believe the two or three most important legislative changes we have to enact, given the fear that it's going to be so big and so broad that every detail will be considered but we need to know what you think the most importantódáies are in terms of legislative changes, and chairman you seem poised to answer. >> i was poised to let chair shapiro answer first. it's a very appropriate question and it's hard when one's president lays out a bold agenda and i think it's a bold agenda that president obama laid out. i think it's incumbent upon all of us to address this over-the-counter derivatives. so one of them is absolutely over-the-counter derivatives and i would say protecting consumers. the whole approach to having a strong, vigorous, o

johanns, and it's not coming together for me either. and i'm going to refer to the march 30th white house determination of viability summary for the general motors corporation in response to their viability plan of february 17 in which the document states the company is currently burdened with underperforming brands, name plates and an excess of dealers. the plan does not aggressively enough act to curb these problems. it goes on to say that gm has been successfully pruning unprofitable or underperforming dealers for several years, however, its current pace will leave it with too many such dealers. these underperforming dealers create a drag on the overall brand equity of gm and hurt the prospects of the many stronger dealers who could help gm drive in cremental sales. and on main 18th the treasury department says that as with the case with chrysler dealer consolidation plans, the task force was not involved in deciding which dealers or how many dealers were part of gm's announcement. so it seems to me that the task force is and the tre

let me go to another russian that senator johanns asked and that is regarding the pay rate. i'm not going to -- it surprise me that you did not have the beginning salary or arrange. has the association ever done a salary study? i'm just guessing a much have had announced them, and if so can you provide to the committee? >> mr. chairman, senator, we will provide you the information of our member carriers, what is publicly available and we will get that to. >> and i guess i would push a little bit further. we have rules here. we can keep things proprietary information so i would ask you to stretch further if you can. >> we will do so. >> the issue on the pay, and i know you mentioned that the compensation pay is not necessarily a driving factor. i would disagree with you so it's clear on that fact because again as former mayor managing over 500 police officers, 300 public safety people, paramedics and fire. what i never want them to have was a second job. i wanted one job, and one job was doing the safety of the community. so we paid them very well. that result was we had very

press, in response to, i think it was senator johanns question about economic analysis, mr. henderson, did you say you did not perform any economic analysis on dealer by dealer in making these decisions? did either of you perform an economic analysis using specific criteria by cwhich you made thee decisions in targeting these dealers. >> the criteria was sales effectiveness so the dealers that were notified for wind down have been consistently underperforming in terms of sales effectiveness. we have

johanns' case, you were saying this is what they are. why not go bankruptcy a different route on this. instead of cutting free the dealerships, why not say to your lower performing ones that you articulated and found them, we can't afford to subsidize to support you. so therefore we are not going to provide the network of money and backing to you that we're going to provide to a higher performing category, so that you're not just cutting them free on this, because you had two guys over here saying, that, looks like they're good salesman to me, frankly. >> they don't subsidize us. >> they are saying they got costs associated with this large dealer network. and you guys are saying they're not a penny associated with us. why not then bifurcate the structure on it so you have the network out here that is important to many communities and very important to rural communities, but you see costs associated with it. why not look at it that way? >> maybe i can start, sir. i appreciate the question. it is not a cost issue. that's not the basis. in

press, in response to, i think it was senator johanns question about economic analysis, mr. hendern, did you say you did not perform any economic analysis on dealer by dealer in making these decisions? did either of you perform an economic analysis using specific criteria by cwhich you made thee decisions in targeting these dealers. >> the criteria was sales effectiveness so the dealers that were notified for wind down have been consistently underperforming in terms of sales effectiveness. we have had made mistakes, however. and second, customer satisfaction has been below average by a significant degree for a significant period of time. >> that's contrary to some of the dealers i've heard from in terms of where they ranked. i said it once specifically, so where it is truly puzzling given the fact in the state of maine, just so you understand, more than 50% of the registered vehicles are either gm or chrysler. and yet we're going to have some of the largest counties in maine without any dealerships. it simply -- it doesn't make economic sense. and it goes to the question tha

or senator johanns, the distinguished former governor of nebraska, has his free enterprise act of 2009. he has 29 cosponsors. he'd like to require congressional approval before the federal government can use tarp funds to acquire ownership of an entity through stock. and a few other provisions like that. then senator thune, a member of the republican leadership, has a government ownership exit plan act of 2009. he would require the treasury to sell any ownership of private entity by july 1, 2010 and prohibit additional ownership. well, i think you can get the drift, madam president. we have a number of senators, mostly from this side but cosponsored from the other side, who say the american people are tired of washington take overs. they know that cars aren't going to get better in this country if the government is medaling with them and designing them and building them and making them. i can just imagine what we'll have. we'll have a purple, polka dot car that gets 50 miles per gallon, and will have a windmill on top and a solar panel on the side. and it will have this part made in th

johanns: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise this afternoon to speak about the president's announcement a few hours ago relative to pay-go. today the president said, and i'm quoting, paying for what you spend is basic common sense. perhaps that's why here in washington it's been so elusive. unquote. well, i could not agree more. but i must ask: where was that common sense when the president proposed to add $10 trillion to the national debt in the fiscal year 2010 budget mission is? where was -- submission? where was this basic common sense when he signed a bill earlier this year that adds adds $1 trillion in debt. when was this fiscal discipline when he proposed a massive universal health care proposal that is now turning out to be a government-run proposal with just a downpayment o of $650 billion? the president's announcement undoubtedly was meant to quell rising fears about the amount of spending and borrowing that his administration has undertaken. it was likely intended to calm the fierce of those who buy

. >> senator johanns was making the point, and a perfectly reasonable point that if we are flying through very difficult economic conditions, if regional carriers are smaller companies having substantial difficulty, isn't it likely you will have leslie experience an airplane, you are paying lower salaries and so on. doesn't have an impact on the capability of the airplane to fly through difficult since under circumstances? >> the airline industry has created for the most part in this country to different systems. one is a hub and spoke system and the other is flying between city pairs with cost carriers. in a hub and spoke system, in the old days a northwest airlines would serve my state would fly if the jet carriers into that city, one of four cities in north dakota with 720 sevens, had a pilot and copilot and flight engineer your and i assume the pilots that have been on those routes were probably pilots with less time in the company then somebody who'd been on a san francisco two-door reda root. so i understand that there are longer routes and bigger planes and so on are going to get t

we asked two independent experts, professor eric tally, and professor johann walden, people who are knownernationally, to take a look at the model the treasury used and the way treasury constructed its model and give us an idea of what they thought about it. it was a very conservative model. conservative meeting a dependable model, a good model for stress testing. -- conservative meaning a dependable model, a good model for stress testing. we have put a lot of that into our report as part of appendix one and integrated into our work. but they identify limits from the stress test, as we do in our report. the first is the question about the worst-case scenario. the part of the point of the stress test -- there is a family sitting around with the stress test. you have to think about what are the worst case options? you may get laid off, a credit interest rates may go up, you may be in default on your mortgage -- what is it that we need to worry about here? the stress test said one of the key economic indications of the worst case scenario would be an 8.9% unemployment rate. we are now 9.4% t

. >> senator johanns. do you have an opening statement? >> i do not. >> let me introduce our witnesses. we are very pleased to be joined today, first by the honorable mary schapiro chairman of the securities and exchange commission. prior to becoming chairman she was ceo of the financial industry regulatory authority, the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business within the united states. chairman schapiro served as the commissioner at the fcc from december 1988 to october 1994 and chairman of the commodity futures trading commission from 1994 until 1996. thank you chairman. next is the honorable gary gensler. gary gensler is the chairman of the commodity futures-- he served at the u.s. department treasury as undersecretary of domestic finance from 1999 to 2000, assistant secretary of financial markets from 1997 to 1999. persia joining the treasury he worked it 18 years of goldman sachs most recently as the co-head of finance. our third witness is ms. patricia wide, secede director of the federal reserve, a

our final question will be from senator johanns. >> mr. chairman, thank you. how many, mr.press, how many minority dealers are going to be put out of business by your action here? >> the minority dealer reduction is exactly the same of the total dealer body reduction. the share of dealers that are minority dealers increases a small amount. >> not from the in share. raw numbers. tell me how many are going to be out of business. >> 38. >> 38. mr. henderson, how many minority dealerships will be out of business because of your action? >> of our 230 minority dealers, we're in the brands that will go forward with us, 44 will be affected by this action or 19%, which is less than the average, sir. >> okay. you talk about the auto task force putting pressure on you to close more dealerships, the report on march 30th criticized you for not being aggressive enough. did you have a plan or a notion prior to march 30th as to how many dealerships general motors would close? >> two things changed, sir. one is we actually accelerated our brand rationalization so, for example, we dropped th

i went down there with senators barrasso, brownback and johanns. i would like to start out by saying how proud i am of the job of the men and women in uniform who are stationedded down there are doing. admiral dave thomas and his staff are doing an outstanding job and their efforts need to be recognized much these are the kind of individuals who make america great and who keep us safe. this was the type of facility where you don't have a true understanding of how well run it is until you go down there and see it in person for yourself. i would actually encourage our president to go down and see firsthand what guantanamo bay is really like, what the facility is like, how the prisoners are treated down there. as we are all aware, six months ago president obama set an a an arbitrary timeline of january of 2010 to close gitmo. it is now june and it appears he is no closer now than he was in this year's january in identifying what his plan is. we have still seen little more than political rhetoric and no concrete plan with how to deal with the prisoners

. >> senator johanns? >> mr. chairman, thank you. my comments will be very, very brief.t let me tell you what i'm thinking about and hoping to accomplish through this process. i think the burden is on the airlines to prove to the american people that when we get on for the price of our ticket, whatever that is, that we're going to have a well-experienced crew who will treat us politely and decently. an airplane that is safe as can possibly be and i think really the burden is there. when i think about this flight and i feel so badly for these families but this hearing is bigger than that one flight. i think about questions about, is the plane safe? what's the inspection background of this airplane? what would the service records show me if i were to take a look at them? i ask myself does the train have the training, the background, the discipline, have they gotten a good night's sleep so they can handle all situations. i had a pilot -- a dear friend of mine -- he flew small planes who said to me, you know, flying is hours and hours of boredom followed by moments of sheer

johanns: mr. president, today i rise in solemn remembrance of the life of a fallen hero: sergeant justin j. duffey of the united states army's 82nd airborne division. justin died while serving his country in iraq on june 2 when his humvee was struck byn

. >> senator johanns. >> mr. bloom, references made in the previous question about intervention from congressman barney frank. you can see why that leads to sell much suspicion even among members of this panel. i don't have that kind of power, dealerships imposed in the state of nebraska. were you aware of that? did the ceo or somebody call you and say what do i do with this? barnard frank what this facility left open? >> we were not. >> did you learn about it after the fact? >> i learned about it the same way you learned about it. >> do you know of any special deals that have been made? that we have not press the they did in? >> we have not participated in that activity. i can only speak to what the president has directed the administration officials to do and what we have been admonish to do and what we have done. we are going to continue to do what he has those do. >> does that mean you don't know of any other special deals that were struck? >> i don't know what i don't know. i can tell you the auto task force

johanns: on july 29, president uribe will visiting the united states to meet with president obama. they have met at the summit of americas in april. this will be president uribe's first time here. today, as one senator, i rise to express my hope for a continuing bond in our relationship with colombia's president uribe. i also rise to express some concerns that i'll talk about. now, i'm happy that president obama recognizes the importance of our closest ally in south america. i'm also pleased that president uribe continues to seek a close relation with the united states where he is truly a courageous and a visionary leader. coming to power in some of the darkest and most vicious days and marxist insurgency in that country, he pulled colombia back from the brink. president uribe has driven the terrorists from much of their ter tries, boosted much of the economy, and boosted the human rights record. if an american president had achieved this much, some would be clamoring for him or her to seek a third term. the same is true in colombia where despite term limits, uribe is actually bein

amazing performance in his declaration which working people read and people still read it -- he said johannes in chicago as a market, the four hong bobbing in the wind. you have garrett to the us in spain. i remember in 1975 when i was very young as franco was about to die clutching the left elbow up saying something they were detained and anarchist in barcelona. you shot at them in germany and you guillotined us in france like to he tried to avenge by killing people which is not good, but what you can never do is extinguished the roots of anarchism. there are too deep. of course, he was wrong. he was wrong about that in that for a couple reasons. anarchism is still terribly born in places where the impact of this day was seen as an imposition on the local folks paris summit once said that a language is a dialect with a provo army. witness catalonia and invaded and conquered by the castilians and that is certainly true or in southern italy where the state seemed to be tax collectors and fill the rich industrialists from the shrine bowl of the milan and turin. and, of course, in barcelona anar

late there are the w period, johann a hard check of sidney crosby. he would leave the game. but he would return. late there are the second, talbot again. led this one 2-0s in after two periods. we head to the third, lord stanley's cup putting on silver shine. was in eight david ortiz like salam, but that i had faith that our economy and david ortiz would be hitting home runs again. unfortunately the "boston globe" ran an editorial the next day questioning my judgment and linking david ortiz's recovery to the american economy. that night david ortiz hit a home run. last night david ortiz hit a home run. today and yesterday we received all of this new positive commentary about the american economy. i am not saying it is directly related to my speech on monday, however i do believe that, and i thank you for pointing this out that my comments were acrid so please continue and we will add back the time to your statement. >> i will see if i can remember the original. there was what i think it's gone hand-in-hand with the efforts to push for extended federal oversight over transmis

the other was i believe mike johanns. >> guest: center finn from south dakota was also there briefly. there's not a whole lot of republicans there. >> host: i want to go back to the media ownership before we move on to that. she was very clear about her position on this issue, was and she? >> guest: i think so. it was the statement in the form of a question and i think he responded to it very deftly and did not raise any haggles with her. >> host: speaking of senators attending, it did not seem that the full committee was there to attend this hearing. >> guest: i would say maybe half of the members were there for some of the time. in fact, i don't know if you have this on your clips but senator rockefeller actually got a little angry about senator showing up and asking questions and leaving. to be fair, this hearing has been a long time in the making. there is a lot going on in the senate but still, it was not particularly well attended. it was well attended by the media and the lobbyists. >> host: why? >> guest: you know, the problems surrounding the delay for julia genachowski's hav

. >> thank-you, senator johann. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. cohen, how many regional airlines are in operation out there today? how many would that be? >> mr. chairman, senator, again as it has been talked about the term regional airline is more of a term almost of the arts rather than a science. there are 31 member raa member airlines and those 31 members carry 90 plus% of the passengers in scheduled service. >> how many of those would be profitable today? how many are actually making money? >> mr. chairman, senator, many of them and, some of them are privately held so and do not report to and i just don't have that information available. >> of those who are now privately owned, could you get that information? >> we would be glad to get it to you and provide it to the committee. >> live the understand your business model because i think that bears some issues here. as i understand, the cost of the ticket that i would purchase is not determined that by that original, it is determined by the carrier they contract with. is that correct? >> for t

senator johanns has made an important step toward keeping that. let me talk about another threat to the middle-class families' budget, and that is health insurance. how do we pay for health care? and i don't have to explain to anyone who might be listening or reading these remarks that health care for most americans is a cost that is difficult to afford. it's difficult for most small businesses. we have many large businesses who are having a difficult time competing in the world marketplace because of health care costs. some, we think of the auto industry in detroit, has claimed that the legacy costs of health care have put them out of business, unable to compete even with car companies that locate in the united states and make cars here, employing american workers. so we on the republican side, like our friends on the democratic side, want health care reform this year. and president obama is going to town meetings and saying what he is for. he's saying let's do it this year. he is saying let's make sure we cover the 47 million americans who are u

johanns: mr. president, as the rhetoric over health care reform starts to heat up, and, of course, it has, i find myself trying to determine exactly what we are trying to accomplish here with this debate. are we really attempting to put together what i think is the right approach, a bipartisan solution to a problem that is affecting every american family and business or are we caught up in pushing something through this body with little deliberation, little regard for the consequences of hurried action and the consequences are great. mr. president, i fear that we are leaning towards the latter statement based upon the time limits and the rush in the committee charged with producing very, very complex health care legislation. i i do not envy them their task. i would argue that it is more important to craft a very good, a very solid bill that actually will solve the problem. instead of forcing a not-well-thought-out, half-analyzed bill on to the backs of the american people. and what we do in this a

as a matter of fact, i visited with my colleague, senator johanns, about the increase in in budget this year and have suggested to him that if there are other areas that we should cut, then we would take his thoughts into consideration and make any adjustments that would make sense. but to my knowledge, i haven't received any note of concern from the senator about -- the sponsor of this amendment about any of the items included in this bill while it was being created. we're all concerned about fiscal responsibility. let's talk a little bit about what this amendment would really mean. we now have a fully operating visitors' center here in the capitol that costs money to operate and to secure. it was just recently completed and there are still costs associated with bringing it up into the running process. the visitors center provided increased amenities for our constituents when they make the trip to washington to visit, but it costs money. i've already outlined the bill in my opening statement, so i won't go through all of that again. this is the first time through this process, madam pr