mr. alvarez for his time. unintelligible] there are fairly small steps for the that we need to complete this. we will know how largour next witness. mr. woods. >> thomas woods is a senior fellow in auburn, alabama. he graduated from harvard university and received his master's and ph.d. from columbia university. his written two books, including "meltdown, a free- market look at what the stock market collapsed." he won a prize in 2006 for his book "the church and the market." is also a contributing editor of the american conservative. i welcome -- he is also a contributing editor of the american conservative. >> let me begin this summary of my written testimony in support of hr 1207 by recalling a controversy that happened in late 2008. bloomberg news ran a headline. the article dealt with trillions of dollars in loans whose recipients and whose collateral that had been put were unknown to the american people. the editor in chief of bloomberg news, matthew winkler, stated it very simply. he said that taxpayers,

mr. alvarez. his answers were very scary as to 13-3. the federal reserve board has testified before that they will make only virtually no-risk loans under 13-3. but their general counsel testified that just about any loan and any amount would be allowed under 13-3 as long as the board felt secure. that might very well mean that they have a 51% chance of repayment. he was not all that specific. we have an agency that can now make not risk-free loans, but higher-risk loans, at least a 51%. even in a junk-bond, you have a 51% chance of being repaid. these are enormous amounts. there is no scrutiny as to how secure they are. if i gather your testimony correctly, you are saying that they have extended billions and billions of dollars of loans that they tell us are fully secured, but they will not reveal to congress what security have? >> that seems to be the case. -- what security they have? >> that seems to be the case. the reason -- this is the reason it has become such a mainstream issue. those who have nothing against the fed per se, bel

mr. alvarez for his time. unintelligible] there are fairly small steps for the that we need to complete this. we will know how largour next witness. mr. woods. >> thomas woods is a senior fellow in auburn, alabama. he graduated from harvard university and received his master's and ph.d. from columbia university. his written two books, including "meltdown, a free- market look at what the stock market collapsed." he won a prize in 2006 for his book "the church and the market." is also a contributing editor of the american conservative. i welcome -- he is also a contributing editor of the american conservative. >> let me begin this summary of my written testimony in support of hr 1207 by recalling a controversy that happened in late 2008. bloomberg news ran a headline. the article dealt with trillions of dollars in loans whose recipients and whose collateral that had been put were unknown to the american people. the editor in chief of bloomberg news, matthew winkler, stated it very simply. he said that taxpayers,