mr. bachus: thank you. madam chair, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. royce. mr. royce: the democratic bill is silent on the root cause of the financial collapse. it was the government-sponsored enterprises fannie and freddie that were at the heart of the housing market and largely responsible for the proliferation of subprime andality a mortgages throughout the financial system. and over the years they loaded up on over $1 trillion worth of these junk loans. frankly fannie and freddie also infected capital markets that spread through every sector of our banking system. before the bursting of the housing bubble, g.s.e. securities cost more than 150% of core capital for insured banks. more than 0% of money market initially fund holdings were in the form of g.s.e. securities. that's why senator chuck hagel offers legislation for stronger regulation which passed the senate banking committee on a party line vote but was blocked by the senate democrats from coming to the floor. my amendmen

mr. bachus: madam chair. i request a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from massachusetts will be postponed. mr. sessions: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in house report 11-310. mr. sessions: my amendment number 96, i would like to speak on. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 2 printed in house report 111-370, offered by mr. sessions of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 964, the gentleman from texas, mr. sessions, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: since 2002, congress has significantly built upon the budget, payroll and authorities of the securities and exchange commission to provide proper investor and consumer protections. among the s.e.c.'s many responsibilities is handling regulatory dispute, which they are engaged in on a day-to-

mr. bachus from alabama oakow in my ears, mr. speaker, and that is that it isn't so much about this stack in the bill that mr. frank says might be too heavy for to us carry, it's about the culture of the bill that might be too heavy for the american people to carry. it's about the difference between believing the federal government can regulate more aspects of our society, more aspects of our economy, and the difference in believing whether people can become and entities can become too big to be allowed to fail or whether small businesses might be too small to be allowed to succeed. and it's about the difference between the free enterprise economy and a managed and controlled economy. it's about the difference between liberty and the difference between a socialized economy. and i've watched this economy -- as this economy has spiraled downward over the last 15 or so months and we've been involved in this. we've been engaged in it intensively. and it comes down to two divergent philosophies. one of those philosophies is echoed in

mr. bachus: thank you.me say to the gentleman from tennessee, let me explain the purpose behind the provision which your amendment seeks to strike. and i say that -- i would be glad to work with the chairman and with the member in at this time striking the provision that i inserted in the committee that you object to. and we'll asker for a recorded vote. -- we'll ask for a recorded vote. let me explain the background behind this amendment. i think we -- if we can all work together we can -- i think we can make investors safer. and make a better system. the body will recall and the chairman on december 12 of last year, about a year ago, bernie madoff was arrested for committing the largest financial fraud in the history of the country. tremendous scam. $65 million ponzi scheme which defrauded you nonprofits, universities, pension funds, and wiped out the savings of literally tens of thousands of families and citizens. now, to do this bernie madoff operated two separate entities. one was a broker-dealer, and

mr. bachus from alabama oakow in my ears, mr. speaker, and that is that it isn't so much about this stack in the bill that mr. frank says might be too heavy for to us carry, it's about the culture of the bill that might be too heavy for the american people to carry. it's about the difference between believing the federal government can regulate more aspects of our society, more aspects of our economy, and the difference in believing whether people can become and entities can become too big to be allowed to fail or whether small businesses might be too small to be allowed to succeed. and it's about the difference between the free enterprise economy and a managed and controlled economy. it's about the difference between liberty and the difference between a socialized economy. and i've watched this economy -- as this economy has spiraled downward over the last 15 or so months and we've been involved in this. we've been engaged in it intensively. and it comes down to two divergent philosophies. one of those philosophies is echoed in

mr. bachus of alabama as modified. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote the yeas are 175. the nays are 251. the amendment is not adopted. there being no further amendments, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: madam chair. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 964, i report the bill as amended pursuant to house resolution 966 back to the house with sundry further amendments adopted in the committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union re

mr. wittman: thank you. madam speaker, in closing, i do want to thank ranking member bachus. he's done a tremendous job in pushing forward this bill along with the chairman. and i also want to thank mr. ellsworth for his passion and his leadership on this issue. we all know that we dread times of storm. we just gone through one in virginia. we're luckily we didn't lose any lives. but we know when there are ways to prevent death and destruction we ought to act in that way. mr. ellsworth and his leadership, seeing the need, seeing where we can save lives stood up, assumed that leadership role and was really done, i think, a great thing for folks that have manufactured homes throughout the united states. so, again, thank you for your leadership and thank you, again, to mr. bachus, the ranking member, for his leadership on this and to the chairman for pushing this important legislation through. and, madam chairman, with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the ru

mr. bachus' amendment which does the right thing to address this issue. mr. hastings: -- the speaker pro tempore: the chair will note that the gentleman from texas has 17 minutes remaining and the gentleman from florida has 15 minutes remaining. mr. sessions: i thank the gentleman very much. mr. speaker, that the time i'd like to yield two minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from chester springs, pennsylvania, mr. gerlat. . mr. gerlat: there is no doubt that the american people are hurting. our nation's unemployment rate is at 10% and some states even higher. our citizens are struggling to make ends meet. the democrats' permanent bailout bill, however, will not put americans back to work. in fact, it will actually cost more americans their jobs. this bill will make it harder for our families and our small businesses to get credit in their local communities that they need to create more jobs. it's certainly going to expand the federal government even beyond its current size and empower washington bureaucrats through the creation of yet another federal

mr. president. the majority leader, senator reid and german bachus and i have come to agreement that will also provide the opportunity to get more choice and competition into the health care marketplace. what we have agreed is folks who spend more than 8% of their income on health care but are not eligible for subsidies, in effect folks with what are called the hardship waiver, they would be able to get a voucher and go into the marketplace, and with that kind of approach which would be tax-free to them, our estimate is that will be only about one-third as expensive in terms of getting health care for those folks as the alternative, the traditional system of subsidies. so again, we get more people covered in a more affordable way building on these time-honored principles of choice and competition. finally, senator collins, senter by and i have a proposal that has been endorsed by the national federation of independent businesses that would say that employers who are in the exchange if the employer voluntarily says that they want to give their workers more choices they could do so. in effect it would s