mr. chairman. i yield ack the balance of my time. >> the chair to recognize the gentle lady from california. >> i thank you for yielding at this time and i welcome the opportunity here from the witnesses today. this is our energy security and the ongoing spills. the companies represented at the table are at the forefront of energy research and development and growth. their insides are important to ensure that this does not happen again. as we just heard from my other colleague, many of us in california still recall the oil spill in 1959. to get a sense of what we're facing, the and ministration says yesterday were right -- or saying that it could be spelling four that time -- four that oil every day. american lives have been tragically lost and we have yet to fully understand the informal and economic impact. have priority today and for the day said ahead are to completely stop the leak. i hope our witnesses are willing to tell for in his dissent they have to make sure that that is our focus. i am

mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentlan is recognized. mr. harper: if there is anything the hearings on this bill and subsequent discussion taught us, it is that the bill is far from clear. theeauthors of the bill say it does one thing, the experts says it does another. the majority's own witnesses have said it will be up to the f.c.c. to decide what the language means. this conclusion and am bigute would be bad enough in any bill, but it is especially bad here. this bill s implementing language that makes it take effect 0 days after enactment. regardless of whether the f.c.c. has published regulations. indeed one of the majority's witnesses said at a hearing it would be next to impossible for the s.e.c.o promulgate regulations before the november electis. that means as we move toward elections just four months away, and americans consider howo express their views, there will be no guidance to clear up the bill's am big gute, no instructions for how to comply,

mr. chairman. i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california, another valued member of the house administration, ms. susan davis. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of the disclose act. under current law, yes, it is correct that groups must disclose their name, their name and advertisements and file a disclosure form. but you know, that doesn't tell anyone very much at all. right now, voters see tv ads sponsored by organizations they've never heard of. groups like the american future fund. american leadership project. citizens for strength and security. common sense in america. and today i'm getting calls from the campaign for liberty. but they will not tell us who they are. does anybody know who they are? in 2008, there were over 80 of these groups and they bought $135 million in advertisements. i for one don't think our constituents should go through another election cycle in the dark. voters want

mr. chairman. i would like to make unanimous consent request that both sides be allocated an additional two minutes for debate. the chair: is there objection? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. nye: i'd like to yield to the distinguished ranking member of the committee, mr. graves. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. graves: i thank the gentleman. thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia. under the program, the way it was reported out of the financial services committee, the bill bases lending on the size of loans and assumes that loans under $250,000 and $1 million will be made to small businesses. however, there's no such assurance in the bill and loans of those sizes could be made to large businesses but count as small business lending. if this is a small business lending program then it should use the definition of small business used throughout the government and that is the one in the small business act. and the

mr. chairman, mr. chairman, today i rise in opposition to h.r. 5297, the small business lending fund act. although my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim other side of the aisle claim this bill would

mr. chairman. >> mr. sullivan, hold your opening statement to three minutes, please sir. >> chairman, stupak, thank you for holding this hearing today. on april 20, 2010, a fire -- this terrible disaster resulted in the loss of 11 lives and injured many more members of the 6-person crew. there is no question that the bp oil spill is a tragedy. in fact it is the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history. i believe we must do everything in our power to cap the leak, find out what caused the explosion and ensure nothing like this ever happens again. bp must bear the entire financial burden for this dister and the american taxpayer shouldot be on the hook for a dime. according to the occupation safety health administration, there's mounting evidence that bp has one of the worst safety records of any major oil company operating in the united states. to this end, i'm looking forward to examining with mr. hayward ether there is a deficient safety culture at bp that led to this disaster and other recent

mr. chairman. mr. secretary, mr. airman, admiral, thank you for all of your service and the good work you do and all the hard work to do. i have listened with great interest to the questions of my colleagues, and they have addressed all the major issues, and so i'm going to be a little bit parochial. senator murray talked about tankers, and senator cochran talked about ships. it will come as no surprise to i'm going to talk about solid rocket motors. and you are well aware that many of us are concerned with the solid rocket industrial base and the importance of sustaining that. and in the nuclear posture review i understand the quadrennial defense review recently published national security strategy testimonies and so one. dewaal underscored the need for the capabilities and stability of systems that rely on the solid rocket motors and robust production industry. unfortunately, the administration's budget seems determined to go the other way. the other direction, and we will not and lose the industry, we will lose the

mr. chairman. >> thank you. i turn to mr. sullivan. >> chairman stupak, thank you for holding this hearing today. on april 20, 2010, a fire and explosion occurred on the british petroleum deep water horizon rig in the gulf of mexico. this terrible disaster resulted in the loss of 11 lives and injured many more members of the 126-person crew. there is no question that the bp oil spill is a tragedy. in fact, it is the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history. i believe we must do everything in our power to cap the leak, find out what caused the explosion, and ensure nothing like this ever happens again. bp must bear the entire financial burden for this disaster, and the american taxpayer should not be on the hook for a dime. according to the occupational health and safety administration, there is mounting evidence that bp has one of the worst safety records of any major oil company operating in the united states. to this end, i am looking forward to examining with mr. hayward whether there is a deficient safety cultu

mr. chairman, i yield back my tiie. chatha>> mr. chairman, just a if we waive opening statements, will we get the additional minute? holloway my opening statement. >> the chair recognizes the chairman from arizona. >> i semele wave my opening statement. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. sullivan. >> i waved my opening statement. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. griffith. >> i want at thank you for calling this important hearing+ today and the witnesses for taking time to come before a subcommittee to discuss drilling in our current and future energy portfolio. our number-one priority must be stopping the flow of oil. it is the job of this congress to do whatever we can to aid and unified command to reach his goal. this is engineering inaction. is not time to put together knee-jerk energy policy that could jeopardize our security in the future. it is imperative that this committee remember that the united states is one of the global eeergy

mr. chairman. mr. hayward, in the 49 days since the deep water horizon explosion 'caused this extraordinary environmental catastrophe, we've heard time and again from bp this was an abration, the facts regrettably tell a different story. in 2005, when bp's texas city operation blew up, 14 workers lost their lives n 2006, a bp oil pipeline in texas ruptured and spilled 200,000 gallons of crude oil n in 2007, the year you became ceo, the bp corporation settled a series of criminal charchgs not civil charge, krill unanimous charge and paid $370 million in fines. according to risk met tri, an independent okay, bp has one of the worst health, environment and safety records of any company in the world n only one year, the occupational safety and health administration found more than 700 violations at bp's texas city refinery and bp paid a record $87 million in a fine. bp was charged with putting profits before safety. earlier this year, a refinery in toledo was fined $3 million for willful safety violations

mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. harper: if there is anything in the hearings on this bill and subsequent discussion taught us, it is that the bill is far from clear. theeauthors of the bill say it does one thing, the experts says it does another. the majority's own witnesses have said it will be up to the f.c.c. to decide whathe language means. this conclusion and am big gute would be bad enough in any bill, but it is especially bad here. this bill has implementing language that makes i take effect 0 days after enactment. regardless of whether the f.c.c. has published regulations. indeed one of the majority's witnesses said at a hearing it would be next to impossible for the s.e.c. to promulgate regulations before the november elections. that means as we move toward elections just four months away, and americans consider how to express their views, there will be no guidance to clear up the bill's am big gu, no instructions for how

mr. chairman. i yield myself two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. israel: i thank the chairman. i rise in support of the israel-barrow amendment.

mr. chairman, mr. chairman, yield. would ask for unanimo consent to withdraw the amendment then. >> the amendment is withdrawn. i appreciate that. the question is now on the amendment, all in favor say, aye. >> aye. >> opposed, no. >> the nos have it. the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> the chairman votes no. mr. kanjorski? >> no. >> mr. waters? >> no. >> mrs. maloney? >> no. >> mr. gutierrez? >> no by proxy. >> mr. watt? >> no. >> mr. meeks? >> no. >> mr. moore? >> no. >> miss kilroy? >> no. >> mr. peters? >> no. >> mr. baucus? >> yes. >> mrs. bigart? >> aye. >> mr. henserling? >> aye. >> mr. garrett votes aye. >> clerk will report, please >> mr. chairman on that vote there are six ayes and ten nees. >> let me turn to a house response to the senate. >> i now move the house nd to the senate subtitle -- title 9 subtitle d as in david. we accept the senate counter offer with three modifications involving the landru and capro amendments. are there any further discussns? >> do you have a copy? >> i've

mr. chairman. >> w that, mr. hayes, if you -- time is -- my question is over. i would just hope that you would talk aut how much is being captured and w what you project is a reduction, if any, in the . >> certainly, senator. leme sort of paint the picture here of t government's effort to identify the flow rate. as the secretary testified, a flow rate technical group was formed and dr. marsha mcnutt, the director of the usgs is in charge of that. there are seven independe scientists that are on tha group, a couple of weeks ago, they -- they -- before the riser was cut, t looked at variety of data streams to do an estimate of how much might be leaking out of at that time there were some leaks in the kink of the riser and then at the end of the riser and also at that time there was a tool tt was bringing some of the material uprom the end of the riser, youl recall and collecting some of that material. what they did is they had several different work streams. they had -- they had video that they ordere

mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. harper: if there is anything in the hearings on this bill and subsequent discussion taught us, it is that the bill is far from clear. theeauthors of the bill say it does one thing, the experts says it does another. the majority's own witnesses have said it will be up to the f.c.c. to decide what the language means. this conclusion and am big gute would be bad enough in any bill, but it is especially bad here. this bill has implementing language that makes it take effect 0 days after enactment. regardless of whether the f.c.c. has published regulations. indeed one of the majority's witnesses said at a hearing it would be next to impossible for the s.e.c. to promulgate regulations before the november elections. that means as we move toward elections just four months away, and americans consider how to express their views, there will be no guidance to clear up the bill's am big gute, no instructions for

mr. chairman. would be glad to. i have created the first associate director for education interpretation. it's a senior executive position in washington that will lead the national park service in the field of education and interpretation. for many years, essentially from steven mather's time, we have had field nalt lists, interpreters as we call them, that provide great programs for the public and help explain the natural history and the cultural history of these extraordinary places that are in our stewardship. and over time, educational institutions such as the public schools have learned that these are great opportunities to, i mean, where better to learn about american history than to go to those places like getiesberg or the statue of liberty or any of these place whence you're talking about the experiences of all americans. and but we've never really formalized that relationship. we've helped build curriculum, we do field trips. we are beginning to use technology in ways that we have never d

mr. chairman. mr. secretary, mr. airman, admiral, thank you for all of your service and the good work you do and all the hard work to do. i have stened with great interest to the uestions of my colleagu, and they have addressed all the major issues, anso i'm going to be a little bit parochial. senator murray talked about tankers, and senar cochran talked about ships. it will come as no surprise to i'm going to talk about solid rocket motors. and you are well aware that many of us are concerned with the solid rocket industrial base and the importance of sustaining that. and in the nuclear posture review i understand the quadrennial defense review recently published national security strategy testimonies and so one. dewaal underscored the need for the capabilities and stability of systems that rely on the solid rocket motors anrobust production industry. unfortunately, the administration's budget seems determined to go theother way. the other direction, and we will not and lose the industry, we will lose the skills that

mr. chairman and as the chairman just pointed out, general kagan, i'm last. and that's because i'm most junior. but senator byrd was always kind to me. even though he was a giant of this institution and i was moved that he always came in when we needed him. even during the deep snows of late december. i would have to serve till i'm 118 years old to serve as long as senator byrd. i very much doubt that will happen. and or that i will have a legacy as permanent as his. i would also like to extend my condolences to justice ginsburg and her family and she's in our thoughts and prayers. every senator who has spoken before me has sworn to support and defend the constitution of the united states, and so have i. there are a few things that we do that are more important to fulfilling that oath than making sure that the justices of the supreme court are brilliant, humane, and just in individuals. but these hearings are also a learning experience for the people in minnesota and for every american. before i joined the united states senate, i watched every televised confi

mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman i recognized. mr. harper: if there is anything in the hearings on this bill and subsequent discussion taught us, it is that the bill is far from clear. theeauthors of the bill say it does one thing, the experts says it does another. the majority's own witnesses have said it will be up to the f.c.c. to decide what the language means. this conclusion and am big gute would be bad enough in any bill, but it is especially bad here. this bill has implementing language that makes it take effect 0 days after ectment. regardless of whether the f.c.c. has published regulations. indeed one of the majority's witnesses said at a hearing it would be next to impossible for the s.e.c. to promulgate regulations before the november elections. that means as we move toward elections just four months away, and americans consider how to express their views, there will be no guidance to clear up the bill's am big gute, no instructions for ho

mr. chairman, i yield back my time. >> thank you, mr. green. miss sutton for around opening statement. three minute, please. >> thank you, chairman stupak. it's been nearly two months since the explosion of the deep water horizon drilling rig resulting in the death s of 11 workers and injured additional workers. since then, we've witnessed the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history, that continues to pour an estimated 60,000 barrels of oil a day into the gulf of mexico. that has led to over 66,000 victims filing claims to receive compensation. through this subcommittee's work, several alarming decisions by bp have come to light to save money and time. it's unconscionable when companies pay more attention to their comforts andheir profits than to their own workers' safety and to our environment. at our last hearing one witness from transocean testified that a duplicate blowout preventer system comforts rough $15 million not used on the deep war horizon rig. bp also utilized a risky option for steel tubing saving $7 million. bp did not circulate drilling mud or secure casing

mr. chairman. at a recent hearing, the democrat witnessed, the federal reserve bank of kansas city president called the enhanced bankruptcy a process that assures everyone that the largest institutions will be dismantled if it fails, and he continued he prefers a rule of law that takes away discretion from the bureaucrat or from the policy person so that in the crisis, you do not have the option to bail out so that you have to take certain steps to control -- to prevent a financial meltdown. with that, i would yield the balance of my time to the gentleman, mr. bachus. >> and the gentle lady from illinois. as necessary. that is apparently what they did with an aig. they decided that because certain european banks had so many obligations, that they needed to pay them off dollar for dollar or they would fail. they did not pay off -- we know with some of these companies that the different pension funds and municipalities were not paid. they determined that that was not necessary. you have two or three

mr. chairman. thank you, first, for inviting me in my capacity as chair of the full committee to come by this morning. i hope i can return your graciousness by speaking briefly and then leaving it to -pyou and the subcommittee to g forward. i look forward to hearing the results of this hearing. but i think it's a very important hearing because it is obvious to all of us that it has taken painfully long for the oil spill in the gulf, the deepwater horizon, to be stopped. but long after it is stopped, the people, the communities, the state and local governments of louisiana, alabama, still be dealing with its consequences, and i think it is very important that you have focused your attention as a subcommittee on this part of the problem. while i am saying that, i want to thank senator landrieu for the work, really pioneering, very effective work that she has done in disaster response in the subcommittee, this committee that she heads, and her tireless and persistent advocacy in this case for the peop

mr. chairman kent island to commend chairman dodd, chairman lincoln -- they do, mr. chairman. i just want to commend chairman doug, chairman lincoln, and others. there was the statement of trying to find at what went wrong. we know what went wrong. it went wrong in 1999. for 65 years, glass-steagall made our financial system in america sound and strong. it brought us through world war ii. it brought us through the korean war, the boom years of the 1950's, the tumultuous years of the 1960's and 1970's, brought andiberal president's conservative presidents. but, in the 1990's, what i3 these whiz kid wizards of wall street dreamed up new ways of creating wealth out of thin air. they devised ways of developing derivatives on derivatives on derivatives to the nth degree. they had nice mathematical %+rmulas. the problem was that they had no way of evaluating it appeared they had no real way of maximizing their promise. what they said was, to do this, all we can do now is under glass-steagall is to do it through the investment banking system. in order to really make money, we need acc

mr. chairman. mr. hayward, since my opening statement up to 416,666 gallons of oil have leaked into the gulf. that was about four hours ago. . . >> it has been pretty consistent today, with the p major exceptions. -- up the major exceptions. the level of discontent, anger, and frustration with bp. i also watched this on the news. it seems to me that bp has not been honest with the american people, with our government, and it seems as though you are trying to hide something. sir, it is hard to hide 2.5 million gallons of oil a day pouring into the gulf. we want answers. we want you to be honest and open with us, and want to finally see the kind of transparency that you have been talking about. we have a few questions for you. bp is currently in the process of killing two relief wells to stop the flow of oil, that may or may not work. -- drilling two relief wells that you said would be finished in august. after the two relief wells and the league has been stopped, what does dp plan to do with these wells

mr. chairman. as i have noted on a number of occasions, my sense of what the president was seeking to convey at west point in december were two messages. one was a message of additional commitment, culminating in the more than tripling number of u.s. forces, tripling the number of substantial funds that you all have authorized for the national security forces. and also a message of urgency, the urgency was the july 2011 peace, noting that what happens issa beginning of a prooess for transition that is conditions based and the beginning of a process of responsible drawdown of u.s. forces. >> when you said you continue to support the president's policy both in terms of additional troops and also the setting of that date to begin the reduction for the reasons the you just gave in terms of laying out the urgency for the afghans to take responsibility, is that represented of your best personal professional judgment? >> in a perfect world, mr. chairman, we have to be very careful with time lines. we went

mr. chairman? it is impossible to spend the money twice unless you are in the united states congress and you ignored the rules of financial budgeting. if we did this in a private sector, we would all be in jail. this is fraud and the american taxpayer, that is clear and simple. that is all i'm going said. and this is a responsible way to address this issue? i guess that is why we are 13 trillion dollars worth of debt and we're doubling in five years in tripling in the next 10 years. this is not responsible. this is profligate and not even honest. it is misleading, saying one thing and doing exactly the opposite, spending money twice, by allied it -- violating a law that we wrote -- not all little sense of a law, no beer you can get the attorney general to say, on obligated funds were never listed in the language of what goes back to pay down the debt. it did the money that comes in. well, you can get an attorney to parse the words that way, but everyone understood, beginning with the president down

mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady reserves her tim of the the gentlelady from west virginia. s. capito: i thank you, mr. chaian i thank the ranking member of the housing subcommittee for her good work onhis bill and the manager's -- chairwoman of the subcommitteesorry about that. the chair: does the gentlelady ri in opposition to the amendment? mrs. capito: i'd like to claim time in opposition but i'm not posed to the amendmen the chair: without objection. mrs. capito: we have worked together on this amendment as we have the rest of the bill as she summarized in her statement this provides provisions that drops out a few povision that is were problematic but it also increases the requirements for identification for valid social security number and the u.s. citizen to be able taccess the f.h.a. program. think this is an important-- goes to the coref a lot of discussion we have hadn this floor and rtainly we want to certain that thoseho are elible for programs are able to access themnd thoe that

mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina. mr. miller: on that i demand a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from north carolina will be postponed. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments printed in part c of house report 111-506 and house report 111-508 on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order, amendment number 1 in part c of house report 111-506 by mr. israel of new york, amendment number 12 in part c of house report 111-506, mr. cray of louisiana, and amendment number 2 in house report 111-508 by mr. miller of north carolina. the chair will reduce to five minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the question -- the unfinished business is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york, mr. israel, on which the aae prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number

mr. chairman. mr. n, again,s i was saying, it's been several weeks now since you have been before the committee. at that time, the oil had not yet reached the shores and the marshes of southern louisiana. a couple weeks ago, we had the opportunity, along with the chairman, to go over that spill. i think we a recognize that the gravity of the situation, the nightmare that's become for the residents of the gulf reon. today, we are examining the he interior department has recommended and implemented so far in response to the deepwater spill. we're examining not only the 44-page report on immediate recommendations for improved safety and environmental protections, but also, we need toiscuss the moratorium that the interior department is implemented for all deepwater exploration and the additional requiremts and suspensions for some shallow water exploration, aswell. there can be no doubt, most certainly, that the public outrage and the political pressure mounted for the government to do more about this stil

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator mccain. >> thank you very much for inviting me here to testify today. i like to give yyu an update on recent progress and remaining challenges in afghanistan. as you know, president obama announced a number of key refinements to our strategy last september, including the deployment of additional u.s. servicemen and women. today, over 18,000 are deployed and the remainder will be in place by the end of the summer. our own troops will be joinedby over 9000 international troops, approximately 60% in place in afghanistan and more will come in the coming months. currently the main operational efforts for isaf and our partners ccntinues to be the central helmand valley and kandahar. we protect the population and foster afghan governance. so far i believe we have been making gradual but important process. the insurgency ii contested in more places and with more forces. tthis insurgency is both resilient and resourceful. in april and may, we saw the insurgency

mr. chairman. i want to thank the st. today. i also want toothank you for coming to share your stories with us today. it is never easy. there is nothing we can do today to replace the pain of your loss. but the one thing we can do is never forget what your husbands went through and what those other men on the rig went through, and to get to the bottom of why that happened and make sure that it never happens again so that no other families have to go through what you have gone through. so thank you for coming today. i thhnk that one of our witnesses on the second panel, mr. chairman, summarized the concerns of ploft of us on -- most of us on the committee in his opening statement when he said there are really more happened out on that deepwater horizon rig. that came out in our first hearing. one of the things that concerns many of us is the story keeps shifting. we were originally told there about 1,000 barrels per day. then when bp's people ttstified, that number was up to 5,000 barrels per day, a

mr. chairman and weome, secretary salaz. it's always wonderful to see you, although these all wish we were not having to be involved in and to all of you, thank you for your service. this a horrendous situation. and i appreciate the efforts that y are taking and have takesince the beginning of your term to focus on reforming what has clearly been an process. i think it's important that we learn lessons from history, from the past, otherwise, we are condemned to repeat them. that's certainly a very famous phrase, and i think it's very, very true today in terms of the way we approach the public interest in our jobs as it relates to overseeing what is done in the private sector when it relates to public risk, and in my judgment this has been a perfect storm of alar company that has had according to the records 97% of all of the admiral mullen egregious and willful safety violation being ought by this company coupled with a philosophy that's been in place for the last decade and other times in our history that's basically said,

mr. chairman. >> you bet. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i do not want to go back to this but whose responsibility is it to determine liability? is not jail or the coast guard? >> my staff will -- >> determine which liability apply to which company? who determines the percentage? >> we bill them all for all costs. >> but it bp says forget it, to determine percentage? >> i'd judge will. if we do not get paid, the department of justice takes them all the court. >> just for clarity point. there a couple of things i have to ask, and mr. bennett, i will ask you. thereabout 51,000 claims and 26,000 have been paid. as of june 14. does that sound about right for mark >> that is right. >> those folks who got paid, is their legal recourse? >> no one has been as the door release for any payment or give away any right. they are primarily to fishermen and they can get interim payments in continue to get -- make other claims as it goes on. >> thank you. mr. willis, there is a whole bunch of information out there on bp and violations with kosher -- osha a

mr. lamar mckay, the president and chairman of b.p. america. mr. mckay, please begin when you are ready. >> thank you. chairman markey, ranking member upton and members of the committee, i am chairman and president of b.p. america. before addressing the main topic of today's hearing, i would like to reiterate the profound sorrow and regret all of us at b.p. feel for the loss of life and the oil spill horizon explosion and fire. this is very prnlbole to me and b.p. i am from mississippi. i grew up in mississippi. i spent summers on the gulf coast. most of my family's in new orleans. anha

mr. chairman. and couple reasons why today's hearing is notable. and once again we have the chairman dr. hack bar. time to take a look and see if -- that's the larger and grander goal. but today is also notable because doctors across the country who participate in the medicare system are israeliing 21% less for the services they performed last month for taking care of some of our nation's sickest -- allowing this dramatic doubt daycare place. i have voted for some very bad policy in the past. very bad policy that had at its base, stopping those cuts from occurring. unfortunately, we have not had, in all the hearings that were rempsed by chairman waxman, since 2006 a hearing on the sustainible growth rate formula. and i think it's time we do that. i have a bill 4693. i'd like to see that get a full hearing. since this will not i will be holding a forum by myself dutch, astonishing, holding up the bill. ok. maybe it's delinquent, perhaps scanned louse so. but it's a repreview for the speaker because

mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> i yield 30 seconds. >> i just have one follow up question. you reference medicare plus choice, far between my time here, but that kind of went away because it was underfunded, did it not? >> the moment did increase, it went through a similar cycle -- >> the short answer is yes. let me ask you one more question before this other question. wouldn't it have been better, if there's more money going into medicare advantage that needs to go into it, and if we have these additional dollars in medicare, wouldn't it have been better use of those funds to keep them in medicare and deal with the number one problem that's going to affect access for medicare patients in the future, that's offsetting the cost of fit fixing the s.g.r. formula? >> how to allocate funds is really above my pay grade. those are choices for the congress. >> we've got a whole book here about allocating funds -- >> all right, we've got to move on here. >> next is mr. barrett. ok, mr. green. >> thank you, m

mr. chairman. thank you for this opportunity for me to testify, and also, it is great to be with my colleague. and generally we are on the same page. i think this page by be a little tilted in the other direction at this time. however, we are certainly here today to discuss the proposed merger. continental airlines is the largest employer in my city of newark. i am here today to offer my support for this proposed merger. as a general policy, though, i am generally concerned about mergers, because, in instances it does mean significant reductions in jobs, stifling competition, and some of the other situations that we heard the previous speaker talked about. however, this airline merger is different, in my opinion. these two new airlines have a very complementary routes, with very little overlap. when there is very little overlap, there is no need for significant reduction of employees. this is a fact that continental's ceo has confirmed to me and other members of the new jersey delegation. i know th

mr. chairman -- mr. speaker, and i thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in opposition to this job killing continuation of a bailout bill. chairman frank said he was astonished in the interpretation that this is a bailout bill. what is even more astonishing is that this is the same chairman who was earlier last session leading the effort in our last bailout bill. and here he is once again leading the effort on this bill for a continuation of bailout. what is even more astonishing than that is here he stands as the author of the bill with a 2,300 pages in front of him holding up and actually reading the bill and he fails to see that this underlying piece of legislation continues to bail out creditors at the expense of u.s. taxpayers. just as we saw with the situation with a.i.g., where the creditors on wall street and the creditors over in china and such areas as that were bailed out at 100%, we see the same things possibly going forward here in this legislation as well. perhaps that explains to us all why wall street is applauding this bill, because

mr. chairman and mr. berman. i stand in strong support of the conference report h.r. 2194 that iran sanctions accountability and divestment act of 2010. as a conference committee member, i know this piece legislation represents a monumental step forward in the fight against iran's nuclear arms quest. these sanctions are a dramatic improvement. these tough new petroleum and financial sanctions will put further restrictions on the ability of the iranian regime to continue their nuclear aspirations and their oppression of the iranian people that has been well documented before and since the elections a year ago. these sanctions will send a strong signal that our nation will not stand for the development of this regime's nuclear arms program. especially with such violent threats against israel and others in the region. this legislation is an important part of the solution as we keep all our options onnthe table for our long-standing concerns about the prospect of a nuclear iran. i encourage my colleagues to support t

mr. chairman to all of you all, mr. man and colleagues, this is such an important task and i know everyone here takes it seriously. i certainldo and in listening to my constituents who have approached me about the serious nature of the economy that they have experienced, whether it is losing their children's college fund, whether it is retirement or other things, they want us desperately to get this right. i look forward to the discussions we have, certainly finding a olution and moving our financial regulatory system forward. as always, i come at this from common ground and more importantly looking to do what is right, and certainly with an open mind. thank you mr. chairman. >> well, let me invite our colleagues here. senator chambliss do you want to be heard on these matters? >> i don't have a comment. i just have an amendment when the senator is ready. >> senator reid you want to be heard on this? let me turn to senator chambliss for any comments. >> thank you very much mr. chairman and while i appreciate the comments

mr. chairman. >> m chairman, thank y very much. and mr. pistole,'m going to be supporti your nomination. i think you have a set of credentials that sorely need at tsa. and i think all of us on this committeeould believe that that has been vacant far t long for a number of circumstces. but it is aritically important posion. decades ago, you used to justo to the airport and wk on ton airplane when they told yout was time. a lot of younger amerins have never experienced that but you ju boarded an airplane. and then they began to hij airports, particularly to cuba, but some oer locations as well, and pretty sn they started screing passengers to make sure they didn't have a weap when they got on, and the reens has become more intensive and more intrusive and nowada, of course the chalnges of screening are pretty substantial. all of us have wched a 6-year-old child being wanded at an art somlace or a catholic nun being intensively scened, you know, so you watch e things an you just shake your head. on the other hand, we understand we want to get

mr. chairman. mr. logan, you said that despite some reports to the contrary, hamp modification has been strong, helping thousands of homeowners. can you explain how hamp augments your modification programs? >> hamp is top of the waterfall. it is the first program that we offer. it is the primary and first point of defense in providing modification. if a person, for whatever reason, does notualify for hamp -- either it is a jumbo loan or it is effective past the date that we did hamp or some reason it has fallen out of hamp, then we use a proprietary program. >> so, one complements the her? >> yes. >> you stated that this has facilitated the ability to streamline solutions more than ever before. can you outline how hamp has done this? >> when you think about how when hamp was first created, i believe it was 2009, at that time it was individual handling and approval from an investor . with the creation of hamp, i think it did serve as a bit of a mobilizing event to push servicers to take a broader action

mr. chairman. mr. tony hayward, since my opening statement, up to 416,000 barrels of oil have leaked into the gulf -- about four hours ago. in my opening statement four hours ago i asked you to provide us to be open with us, and honest in your responses. instead, it seems as though we're getting statements memorized by you and provided by your legal counsel. i don't know if bp quite understands how angry the american people and the world is at them. i can tell you it is rare that you see democrats and republicans on this panel agreeing with one another, yet it has been pretty consistent except for a few major disagreements. the level of frustration and discontent at bp -- also, watched this on the news, and it seems that bp has not been honest with the american people. has not been honest with our government. seems as though you are trying to hide something. sir, it is hard to hide to 0.5 million gallons of oil per day pouring into the gulf. we want answers. we want you to be open and honest. we want t

mr. chairman. >> thanks, mr. chairman. mr. jones, i've been on this committee for 12 years and we've considered this this issue issues, issues of medical malpractice, meezeo theelyomea froms a pest oast. i've never accepted lowering the cap and fought it for 12 years. i say the appearance of your father and yourself and your testimony in five minutes did more to make the case that i've ever made in 12 years. showing those photos of your brother's family and your brother, photos that would be shown to a jury i hope will start to convince some in congress that we should cap the amount of money that can be awarded to a family like that for the loss of your brother's life. so if for no other reason i thank you for coming today. i think you've had a profound impact on all of us. i sincerely regret your loss under these circumstances. i do believe your brother's family is entitled to full recovery from their loss in this. although money just won't buy your brother back. you know that as well as i do in your testimony. mr. coleman, i

mr. chairman. >> thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond. let me start by saying that historical the there have been these kinds of unilateral statements made by the russians. in fact, in connection with the signing of the original start treaty, the russians made similar statements that it would consider u.s. withdrawal from the abm treaty as sufficient grounds for its withdrawal from start. the u.s. withdrew from that treaty in 2001. the russian federation, as a successor to the soviet union, did not withdraw. secondly, these unilateral statements have no binding effect, no legal effect. the agreement that president obama and medvedev signed is the treaty. and as with many other arms control treaties, it provides that either party, including obviously us, may withdraw from the treaty if that party decides that extraordinary events have jeopardized its security interests. the russian unilateral statement merely reflects its current view that they disagree, as we have heard for years, with

mr. chairman. >> the chair will now recognize mr. mcgee. >> my name is william j. mcgee and i appear before you for consumers union. i think you for the opportunity to express our concern about the proposed merger between united airlines and continental airlines. just as we have seen with banking and other businesses, we see the airline turning into an oligopoly. in this environment, financial struggling characters reverse that argument, claiming that united and continental would be too big to fail and they would be right. when the u.s. airline industry received a bailout in 2001, it was argued that airlines were essential to the economy and defense. what we have been witnessing is an incredibly shrinking airline industry. in less than 20 years, we will see the demise of seven major brands in the united states. while others can speak to the adverse effects on labor and travel industries, i will focus my comments on the adverse affects upon passengers. there have been potential threats to consumers.

mr. chairman. i would like to join you in recognizing the special moment of the loss of senator byrd who is such an institution here. he believed they were two great senates, the roman and american he wanted ours to be the greatest ever. and i remember one day he gave a speech on friday morning in whi he complained about the text books and the failure to stin distinguish between a republic and a democracy. he called them touchy feely twaddle but he loved the constitution and loved our country and loved clarity of thought and we will certainly miss him. miss kagan, let me welcome you here today. this nomination is certainly a proud day for you and your family and frienns and rightfully so. i enjoyed very much our meeting a few weeks ago and appreciated the chance toalk with you then. mr. chairman, thank you for your work on this nomination. republicans are committeed to conducting this hearing in a respectful manner. serious questions will be asked, miss kagan will be given amp opportunity to respon

mr. chairman. i think our distinguished witnesses for joining us this morning to discuus events in afghanistan. and let me thank you for your leadership of our men and women in uniform, especially those in harm's way. as is well known, i believe that winning the war in afghanistan is of vital national security interest. i've said for years that the best way to achieve success is insurgency strategy. backed by strong civil, military, and u.s.-afghan partnerships. for this reason i have supported and still do support this president's decision to increase our commitment in afghanistan. i'll be brief, mr. chairman, and come right to the point. as a gauge the process of any war effort, i look at the broader trend line. it is for this reason that i am campaign in afghanistan. many of the key trends eem to be heading in a bad direction, perhaps signaling a mounting crisis. as an example, 10,000 additional nato troops are supposed to deploy along with our forces, but we definitely have only half that numbe

mr. chairman kent island to commendhairman dodd, chairman lincoln -- they do, mr. chairman. i just want to commend chairman doug, chaman lincoln, and others. there was the statement of trying to find at what went wrong. we know what went wrong. it went wrong in 1999. for 65 years, glass-steagall de our financial system in americaound and strong. it brought us through world war ii. it brought us through the korn war, the boom years of the 1950's, the tumultuous ars of the 1960's and 1970's, brought andiberal president's conservative presidents. but, in the 1990's, what i3 these whiz kid wizards of wall street dreamed up ne ways of creating wealth out of thin air. they devised ways of developing derivatives on derivatives on deritives to the nth degree. they had nice mathematical %+rmulas. the problem was that they hado way of evaluating it appeared they had no real way of maximizing their promi. what they said was, to do this, all we can do now is under glass-eagall is to do it through the investment banking system. in order to really make money, we need access. we need access

mr. chairman. i -- mr. himes: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to enter into a colloquy with chairman frank. the bill would prohibit firms from investing in traditional private inequity funds and hedge funds, because they use the act that defines the hedge funds, it could apply to corporate structures and not just hedge funds. joint ventures used to hold other investments that the volcker rule won't deem those things hedge funds. mr. frank: if the gentleman would yield. there's been some mockery because this bill has a large number of pages. although our bill's smaller. we do that -- by the way there are also the people who complain sometimes we have too much discretion to the regulators. it's a complex bill and we want to make sure we get it right. the point the gentleman makes is correct. there is -- we do not want these overdone or extensive regulation and the distinction the gentleman draws is very much in this bill and we are confident that the regulators will appreciate that distinction, mainta