mr. brownback: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. brownback: i ask that further proceedings under the quor call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brownback: mr. president, as i understand, we had agreement that i was going to call up an amendment and then it could be set aside, but just to get it pending. so with that, mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent that the pending business be set aside and that amendment number 3789 be called up as the pending business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brownback: mr. president, i'd ask that -- i send a modification to my amendment to the desk for its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment as modified. the clerk: the senator from kansas, mr. brownback, proposes an amendment numbered 3789, as modified. mr. brownback: mr. president, i ask further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brownback: mr. pr

mr. brownback: -- mr. brown: thank you to my colleague from montana and senator from texas as well.e've been working hard on this amendment. the senator just got through speaking, i just want to commend him privately and publicly for really taking this effort and trying to work through in a bipartisan manner, because as i've said publicly many times, this is an issue that affects the american people in very serious ways. and i don't want to rush it. i want to do it right so we don't have to come here next year or next month and try to fix the problems that we may have inadvertently created here. so i appreciate you allowing me to come and speak to you privately in your office, and your staff, and work through this. and i'm hoping we can continue with that bipartisan effort. as a reflection of that, i've signed on to many amendments, some by my democratic colleagues and some by my republican colleagues. i'm thankful that the majority leader has said publicly that we're going to get a full and fair discourse on these issues. and the one that i'm referring to here today is the tester-h

mr. brownback: i say as well to my colleague from vermont, my colleague from south carolina and others that are sponsors of this, this is an issue i hear a lot about. when i'm around -- traveling around my state, which is often that i'm traveling around and listening to people, this is something people are concerned about. they are concerned about the monetary policy, they are concerned about the money system. they are -- they are concerned. and i would note to people and my colleagues in particular, the congress created the fed, the fed didn't create the congress. so the congress does have control over this issue, and i think we need to look at it and say let's look at what is appropriate and what's proper here, and this is clearly one piece of it. i think the fed has done a number of things quite well and quite right, yet i don't see any problem whatsoever with having a simple audit, that that's going to somehow reveal the genie in the bottle and let out all these secrets that are going to be harmful to the development of monetary policy. this seems to me to be a lot of -- a fair amount o

mr. sherman, that is not acceptable. thank you. >> thank you. that was absolutely perfect timing. senator brownback. >> thanks, mr. chairman. it is certainly a strong supporter of nasa. chair of the subcommittee some years ago. this is a great topic and three timely that you're putting this together. i look forward to working with you and other members on the space program and these issues. i am a strong supporter of nasa and the commercial space industry and have a steadfast believe the united states needs a vision for the u.s. spac program. i've been a proponent of phasing out the space shuttle and to use the resources for alternative deep space ventures and cutting edge research. with the impending retirement nasa is not assuming a much different role than in the past and i think there is great opportunity to have a space program that leads the world that will be a space program as embedded in opportunity for all. by opening up the commercial space ensures a strong future for the u.s. and the competitive aerospace industry. mr. sherman you have assembled an exceptional panel of experts. i met with mr. augustine two weeks

mr. sherman, that is not acceptable. thank you. >> thank you. that was absolutely perfect timing. senator brownback. >> thanks, mr. chairman.it is certainly a strong supporter of nasa. chair of the subcommittee some years ago. this is a great topic and three timely that you're putting this together. i look forward to working with you and other members on the space program and these issues. i am a strong supporter of nasa and the commercial space industry and have a steadfast believe the united states needs a vision for the u.s. space program. i've been a proponent of phasing out the space shuttle and to use the resources for alternative deep space ventures and cutting edge research. with the impending retirement nasa is not assuming a much different role than in the past and i think there is great opportunity to have a space program that leads the world that will be a space program as embedded in opportunity for all. by opening up the commercial space ensures a strong future for the u.s. and the competitive aerospace industry. mr. sherman you have assembled an exceptional panel of experts. i met with mr. augustine two weeks

mr. president, a strong consumer bureau will be good for responsible auto dealers as well. if the brownback amendment wins, wall street wins and those responsible dealers will lose. let me explain why this is true. if auto dealers are carved out of the bill as the brownback amendment will do, we are exempting the wall street-funded auto dealers and putting credit unions and community banks at a disadvantage. wall street will continue to incentivize auto dealers to have bad, overpriced loans to make it impossible for responsible dealers to compete. we have seen this time and time again in every market. the bad money pushes out the good money. the responsible players who play by the rules are undercut by the sharp dealers who cut corners. furthermore a strong consumer bureau will restore america's faith in auto deals and loans that they make. responsible auto dealers ought to welcome this. what happens when we have an uneven playing field? unfortunately we've seen many cases where people, particularly men and women serving in our military have been the victims of shady auto dealers financing

i thank you. >> senator brownback. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. this is the kind of hearings we ought to have all the time. why not do what captain cernan suggests here, let's face out the shuttle and use that money to fund and move forward with consolation. we spend what, $9 billion on consolation thus far? this is one thing that drives me nuts, that we stop space programs all the time. we put five lien on it and the administration goes somewhere else. at drives all folks crazy but you noted correctly, consolation was underfunded by a third in this, but why not go the route that captain cernan said and the way to move forward with consolation? >> that is very good question and it is a question we addressed early on. i have met britain more articles than i would like to admit over my career about don't change programs, don't start and stop them. if you are going to start them finish them unless there is a compelling reason to stop but in this case we think there is a compelling reason. yes, it also is very tragic to have to write off $9 billion ar