mr. ackerman by name that during the stock market crash mr. madoff was getting calls from officials of the united states government and asked what his recommendation, should they close the markets? that's understood. he was the president of the nasdaq at one time and a substantial person in this country, but after we see what happened, what are we doing to prevent this in the future? are we checking out some of the these very substantial people are involved? are they trading on that? are they enticing relatively innocent people to trust them? what has your company done? we have asked them how are they getting advice on where to invest and what advice is being made and who are they using and are we finding some way to check the people out and if they get creamed, they get creamed. it seems that once you see something like this happen, being either in the government or quasi in the government, we have more of a responsibility to do something. we can't cure it all. we can't save everybody. we can't prevent all injury, but obviouk@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @

mr. ackerman and mr. maffei, and others who have helped me so let today's witnesses and advance the discussion on reforming the securities investor protection act. together i hope that we can learn more from these troubled advance and be your out how we can further improve our regulatory system. -- and figure out how we can further improve our regulatory system. and now like to recognize our ranking member. >> i thank the chairman. and i think all the witnesses, too, for joining us today. and from people similar situated to yourself, i had been informed and am keenly aware of the suffering that has been suffered and inflicted on so many investors, in my area and district of new jersey and across the country as well due to the madoff situation and the stanford fraud as well. mr. chairman, it is important we hold this hearing today to hear first hand from some of the victim's. not only to get a better understanding of their situation and their plight, but also to hear your ideas. having been through this ex

mr. ackerman by name that during the stock market crash mr. madoff was getting calls from officials of the united states government and asked what his recommendation, should they close the markets? that's understood. he was the president of the nasdaq at one time and a substantial person in this country, but after we see what happened, what are we doing to prevent this in the future? are we checking out some of the these very substantial people are involved? are they trading on that? are they enticing relatively innocent people to trust them? what has your company done? we have asked them how are they getting advice on where to invest and what advice is being made and who are they using and are we finding some way to check the people out and if they get creamed, they get creamed. it seems that once you see something like this happen, being either in the government or quasi in the government, we have more of a responsibility to do something. we can't cure it all. we can't save everybody. we can't prevent all injury, but obvious injury, we have

mr. ackerman and mr. maffei, as well as mr. ellison of minnesota, mr. klein of florida, and mr. perlmutter of colorado who have helped to select today's witnesses and advance discussions on reforming the securities investor protection act. together, i hope that we can learn more from these terrible events and figure out how we can further improve our regulatory system. now what would like to recognize the ranking member for his opening statement. >> and i thank the chairman and all of the witnesses for joining us today to testify before our subcommittee. from people situated similar to yourself, i have been all aware of the suffering inflicted on so many investors, and in my area, that the district of new jersey and across the country as well, due to the madoff situation and the stanford situation as well. it is important that we hold this hearing today to hear first hand from some of the victims. not only to get a better render standing of their situation and their plight, but also to hear your ideas. having been to this experience personally. how to make this process work bett

mr. ackerman and mr. maffei, as well as mr. ellison of minnesota, mr. klein of florida, and mr. perlmutter of colorado who have helped to select today's witnesses and advance discussions on reforming the securities investor protection act. together, i hope that we can learn more from these terrible events and figure out how we can further improve our regulatory system. now what would like to recognize the ranking member for his opening statement. >> and i thank the chairman and all of the witnesses for joining us today to testify before our subcommittee. from people situated similar to yourself, i have been all aware of the suffering inflicted on so many investors, and in my area, that the district of new jersey and across the country as well, due to the madoff situation and the stanford situation as well. it is important that we hold this hearing today to hear first hand from some of the victims. not only to get a better render standing of their situation and their plight, but also to hear your ideas. having been to this experience personally. how to make this process work bett

mr. ackerman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. kerman: i thank the speaker and thank the chairman. i rise in strong support of a sanctions bill that will strengthen the obama administration's ability to conduct effective diplomacy. the world, and i mean both our allies and others, needs to know that the u.s. congress is dead serious about sanctions should diplomacy fail to resolve the real concerns about iran's nuclear program. for those who worry that sanctions may lead to conflict, i would suggest that the opposite is true. with iranian proliferation on the horizon, it is reckless. if you don't want war it seems to me that you absolutely must back the toughest possible political and economic sanctions. it is true that sanctions alone are almost certainly not going to be sufficient to force the iranian regime to change course. but if we are serious about stopping iran's race for nuclear capability, we must apply the maximum possible pressure by enhancing our capacity to unilateral sanctions, as we're doing today, by implementing c

mr. ackerman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. ackerman: i thank the speaker and thank the chairman. i rise in strong support of a sanctions bill that will strengthen the obama administration's ability to conduct effective diplomacy. the world, and i mean both our allies and others, needs to know that the u.s. congress is dead serious about sanctions should diplomacy fail to resolve the real concerns about iran's nuclear program. for those who worry that sanctions may lead to conflict, i would suggest that the opposite is true. with iranian proliferation on the horizon, it is reckless. if you don't want war it seems to me that you absolutely must back the toughest possible political and economic sanctions. it is true that sanctions alone are almost certainly not going to be sufficient to force the iranian regime to change course. but if we are serious about stopping iran's race for nuclear capability, we must apply the maximum possible pressure by enhancing our capacity to unilateral sanctions, as we're doing today, by implementing

mr. ackerman one question. >> i wanted to follow-up on the fist question that the chairman just asked. your response was that you're a creature of legislation. and under the legislation under which you act, you have a line of credit of $1 billion as i understand which can be accessed if fund is depleted and there's still a lot of money in the fund. if you did, and therefore, can act by resolution, high can't you generously and liberally pay out to the greatest number of people promptly as the statute requires, whatever money is in there and access your line of credit and at least have $1 billion and you don't have to wait for this legislative process to take place? everybody working on this and who are working hard and are entitled to whatever money they're entitled to earn on being trustees and whatever, all this money every week, but they expect to be paid promptly. and if the people who are victims were paid promptly a couple of months ago, some of them could have ridden the surprise and some of them could have gotten 40% in the market right now. everybody is losing and double losin

mr. ackerman: cease to in the future. i still have faith in the american people because this nation wasn't built because of its government but because of its people. people that took risk and chances and worked hard and went out and did different things in different ways and made things happen and they didn't conform to what was the standard. you see, when we start standardizing everything, we limit the potential for success and limit failure and there's no reward for those who do the extra and do special. that's not what built this nation on. in afghanistan, where our young men and women are doing remarkable things in the name of security, peace and liberty for our country. and you thought they would want to talk about, well, thank you force, the president's commitment to additional troops but this sergeant came up to me as i was to get on a plane and he said, congressman, you know what scares me? it's not these afghani taliban people but what you are doing to our country. every time i turn around, you are spending money

mr. ackerman by name -- [laughter] çthat during the stock market crash, mr.madoff was getting calls from officials from the united states government about what was his recommendation, should they close the market. that is understood. wasn't he president of nasdaq at one time? he is a pretty substantial person in this country. after we see what happened, what are we doing to prevent this in the future? are we checking out some of the things that these "a very substantial people close to or involved in? are they trading on that -- "a very substantial people" are involved in? but the trading on that? what have we done? what has your corporation done? asking them how they are getting advice as to -- what if ice is being made? -- what advice is being made? or do we not really give a damn, is up to them, and if they get cleaned, they get clean? it seems to me that once you see something like this happen, being in the government or quasi in the government, we have more responsibility to do something. we cannot prevent all injury, but obvious injury, obvious things t

and i'm going to ask vice chairman ackerman to preside r for, while i -- >> mr. chairman -- >> and be right back. >> mr. chairman, with awe due respect on behalf of myself and the rest of the senior members. >> i'm worried. >> who chair subcommittees, we will defer down the line to mr. wexler to chair the rest of the hearing on this, his last day as chairman. >> and while he's walking over here, the gentleman from new york, mr. meeks is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. madam secretary, first, please give my heartfelt congratulations to the youngest clinton on her decision to make a monumental move in her life. >> thank you. it was a very long, thoughtful process. >> i also want to thank the president of the united states for, as he ended his speech last night talking about the american people coming together and being unified. i think that we have forgotten that right after 9/11 the american people and in fact this congress almost unanimously wanted to go into afghanistan to make sure that we start doing the work that's being done now. the only time that,