mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i offer an amendment tonight that will save both blood and an immense am of money. the amendment i'm introducing along with congressman blumenauer designates already authorized funds in the amount of $15 million to be used to insulate shelters at forward operating paces in afghanistan. properly insulating military shelters can significantly reduce energy consumption, which in turn can decrease the number of fuel convoys needed to support our troops. these fuel convoys cost us dearly. they're absolutely vital supply link to our troops in the field but they are exposed to constant and devastating attack. despite the pentagon spending $24 billion a year to protect fuel convoys in afghanistan, more than 3,000 troops and civilian contractors have been killed or wounded while riding in convoy. what's more, fully 2/3 of the fuel used in afghanistan goes to provide electricity for air-conditioning and heating in military installations. if we can reduce the energy required in these ar

mr. chairman. i yield back to mr. platts of pennsylvania. mr. platts: thank you for yielding. i would like to add my words of great thanks to chairman young who has been a great lead for the doing right by our brave men and women in uniform especially those who have suffered traumatic brain injury. we are indebted to you and your staff for your great leadershipism yield back. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina rise? ms. foxx: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 61 printed in the congressional record offered by ms. foxx of north carolina. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, what sets the united states apart from many other countries that have lots of resources are our values and that we are a nation of laws. we may not agree with all of our laws but they are the laws of our land and

mr. chairman, mr. chairman, the state of louisiana loses an entire football field of land that has eroded away. and what exactly does america's wetland protect that's eroding away? i want to show a chart here of the oil and gas infrastructure, the infrastructure, the pipeline that move america's energy throughout the country. in the gulf coast alone just in louisiana, we produce about 1/3 of america's energy. and we talk all the time about our interest in reducing our country's dependence on foreign oil, and i strongly, strongly support that effort. louisiana is at the forefront of doing that, but that energy that we produce, and we ought to be producing more of it, but the energy we do produce is distributed throughout the entire country through pipelines that are in jeopardy right now because of that erosion of this coast, this wetland in america. not only is it the oil and gas infrastructure that's at risk, but also seafood production. the gulf coast of louisiana, we produce 1/3 of the country seafoo

mr. chairman, i request a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from kansas, mr. pompeo, will be postponed. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 66, line 1, office of inspector general, $41,099,000 to remain available until september 30, 2013. building of office -- the chair: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 23 printed in the congressional record offered by ms. richardson of california. the chair: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for five minutes. ms. richardson: thank you, mr. chairman, for allowing me to speak on the richardson amendment. this amendment adds an additional $5 million to the diesel emissions reduction act, also known as vera grants, by cutting $10 million from the e.p.a. buildings and facilities account. the richardson amendment is about creating jobs, saving li

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i'm pleased to bring to the floor the 2584 the fiscal year 2012 interior, environment and related agencies appropriations bill. as we begin i want to personally thank mr. moran, mr. dicks and each member of our subcommittee for their active participation and bipartisan spirit. regardless of our positions on this bill i sincerely appreciate their constructive contributions. mr. chairman, we're living in a time when the federal government borrows more than 40 cents on each dollar it spends. we're living in a time of record deficits and debt. while reductions in discretionary spending alone will not totally erase the deficit we know that reducing federal spending is the first step. the fiscal year 2012 interior and environment bill is funded at $27.5 billion which is 7% below the f.y. 2011 enacted level and $3.8 billion or 12% below the budget request. funding in this year is with 2009 spending. the subcommittee has made some very difficult choices in preparing this budget p

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, basically what i'm trying to do here is point out the absurdity and misalignment of priorities which has become clear in this appropriations bill. i live along the missouri river in missouri and we have families that have been inundated by the flooding that has taken place this year with no real end in sight to be quite honest with you. it provides $73 million for the missouri river recovery program which is used to fund habitat creation projects. unfortunately the underlying bill only provides slightly more than $6 million for the maintenance of levees all the way from sioux city, iowa, to the mouth of the missouri where it meets the mississippi. essentially we are spending nearly 12 times more to buy land for the betterment of fish and birds than we are to protect farms, businesses, and homes being flooded right now. this year many levees in missouri have been breached as a result of the amount of water and mismanagement of the river. many people in my district who have bee

mr. chairman, i'd like to first thank the chairlady of the subcommittee, mrs. biggert from illinois, and also the ranking member, maxine waters, as well as chairman bachus and ranking member frank of the full committee. mr. costello: and also mr. schock and mr. shimkus from illinois. we all worked on this amendment together. it's a good amendment. as i think mr. schock explained, the bachus amendment gives the administrator the authority to allow for a possible fourth and fifth suspension of the mandatory purchase for certain communities that are making adequate progress in the flood protection system. it's a commonsense amendment. it's a bipartisan agreement, and i urge its adoption and not only support the amendment but the underlying bill as well. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. schock: thank you, mr. chairman. i would yield the balance of my time to the author of the amendment, the chairman of the committee, spencer bachus. the chair: the gentlem

mr. chairman, thank you, mr. crenshaw, i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes visit. the amendment is adopted. it is now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in house report 112-173. . for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? mr. watt: i have an amendment at the desk made in order under the rule. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 2, printed in house report number 112-173. offered by mr. watt of north carolina. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 359, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. watt, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina. mr. watt: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. watt: mr. chairman, my amendment to the legislative branch bill would decrease funding for the office

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, davis-bacon is a pretty simple concept and it is a very fair one. what it does is to protect the government and the taxpayers as well as the workers in carrying out the policy of paying a decent wage on government contracts. davis-bacon act requires that workers on federally funded construction projects be paid no less than the wages paid in the community for similar work. the fact is that opponents claim davis-bacon requires union wage jobs. however, more than 75% of davis-bacon wage determinations are not based solely on union wages. the quality of the work on energy and water projects, for example, is crucial to the communities depending upon them and we do need individuals who are trained, who are more efficient and who are going to do the job right the first time. one of the things that tends not to be noted when we have a discussion and debate about davis-bacon is the money it saves to the taxpayers that are hidden costs by those who do not use union labor and do no

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 2018 and pursuant to house rule 347, i report the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 2018 and pursuant to house resolution 347 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule, the question is ordered. is a separate vote demanded? if not, question is on the adoption of the committee -- of the committee aamendment in the nature of a substitute. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to amend the federal water pollution control act to preserve the authority of each state to make determinatio

mr. chairman i have a motion? mr. chairman and listening to your statement a few moments ago and since the key focus of today's hearing is the abuses by a mortgage servicers house rule 11, the committee authorized subpoenas to document five mortgage servicing companies that have not been responsive and by the way mr. chairman you said that there were some that haven't knitted wrongdoing. the five we are talking about have not admitted wrongdoing. and i think it would be appropriate based upon what we have done in other cases just like you said. we want to make certain things a priority of those things we need to continue to look into. i think this is an appropriate situation for us to look into. >> i thank the gentleman. at a hearing only motions for subpoenas related to that hearing can be considered in order. for witnesses. however, we will take the motion and work with the ranking member on a business meeting for it could be in order. >> they tell us that under rule 11 this motion is in order and it must be recogniz

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2018, directs me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 2018 and has come to no resolution thereon. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the house will stand in recess subject to the call of the chair. petry could have done. >> "washington journal" continues. host: in this segment we are talking about u.s. policy in afghanistan and iraq. we want to begin the segment by talking with the defense policy reporter with bloomberg news. she joins us by phone. she has traveled with defense and that i ton patte iraq. talk about what you heard the defense secretary do while he was overseas. guest: it was interesting to watch secretary panetta and compare how he handled the trip and his interaction with troops and with foreign leade

mr. chairman, mr. graham next response will be enlightening. we wouldn't disagree with the perspective of what we've seen from consumers. there's an obvious financial opportunity for the carriers because they are receiving a portion of those charges that ultimately end up on dean consumer's phone bills. >> not that much. >> not that much, but this has been going on over 15 years. over that period of time, it adds up to some money. what we need to look at is the fact that landline service is a declining surveys and many people are now relying solely on their wireless carriers to provide them with their phone service. and though, and maybe the dad here is one of our last opportunities to bring some money. i don't think that's the proper way to look at it from a business to, but that's really all that we can come up with in terms of why they allow this to go on because consumers are absolutely furious as i stated an i think others have as well on the piano. people are unaware this is used as a credit card. i talked to my husband last night, said t

mr. junge: i'd like at this time to ask the chairman to participate in a colloquy with me. mr. chairman, i rise today to express my concern about strategic ports. i want to thank the chairman for discussing this important chairman with me. i think the chairman will understand that addressing vital infrastructure needs is a major -- is of major importance. mr. young: will the gentleman yield? mr. young: yes. mr. young: i do agree that assessing and correcting infrastructure problems at the nation's sea ports which are an integral part of our nation's readiness is of vital importance. mr. young: the sea port program has moved security through the sea ports. each sea port has been table contribute to the department of deft. -- defense. however the existing infrastructure at many strategic ports may not be adequate to meet the needs of the military. i think it's time to address these needs. that's why i worked with chairman mckeon to include language that requires study of the infrastructure needs of the strategic ports. once that study has been conducted, it's vitally important tha

mr. chairman. mrs. olson, i in your testimony you talked about reform alternatives that you believe should be in the tax code. one of the proposals as you mentioned it is the lower corporate tax rate. i in your view, what should that rate be and how far with that proposal go towards addressing the problem? >> mr. johnson, i am not sure what the optimal corporate rate is. we have to look at what the rate has fallen to in other countries around the globe and our major trading partners. that would suggest a rate of around 25%. that would include the state and local rate, which adds about four or five points to the rates. we have to take that into account as well. i think companies use leverage for a lot of reasons besides the interest deduction. lots of times companies find that equity capital is less expensive than taking into account the deduction of interest and the amount of deductibility of dividends. i can bring the corporate rate down would go a long way towards eliminating the bias that currently e

mr. chairman. we've had a tradition in this place for many years of having strong, bipartisan support for reasonable, sensible land and water conservation programs. that's why earlier this month a coalition of over 640 outdoor recreation entities sent a letter to each of our offices including the congressional leadership expressing their deep concern and dismay over the funding cuts proposed in this appropriation bill. this letter was signed by entities such as the boone and crockett club, ducks unlimited, national fish and wildlife foundation, thabble wild turkey foundation, tedy roosevelt conservation partnership, trout unlimited and it was also signed by the president of the wilderness society, bill meadows and the board member of the civil war trust, john mao. i'd like to read the letter at this time. we are a broad coalition of organizations representing millions of members with diverse political backgrounds and areas of interest united behind a shared belief that natural resource conservation

mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. chairman, for being here. moody's, in their recent outlook said that a credible agreement on substantial debt as it reduction would support a continued stable outlook. lack of such an agreement could prompt moody's to change its outlook to negative on the aaa rating. do you think that sort of statement about the planned deficit-reduction is indicative of the entire market? >> yes, i do. as i have said, there are two prongs here. one is to navigate this debt ceiling issue without any kind of destruction, but the other, with that being successful, kick in the can down the road in terms of our long term fiscal situation -- so i very much support a strong fiscal deal. >> .right, and i have asked you previously how quickly this lack of a sustainable fiscal pest could have serious consequences, and i believe, i do not want to put words in your mouth, but if you do not know, it's certainly could be sooner rather and later. could you make a comment on that now? we're seeing this around the world. interest rates start

mr. chairman. the afa has talked about several other important aviation security issues that need to be addressed. one of them is the communication device, discrete communication device in emergency situations because every second you lose any of your response is going to be putting you more at risk for a terrorist attack or could tsa be looking at this issue because it was required to be looked at it than the homeland security act almost 10 years ago and i understand that they have been looking at different types of devices that could be used for communication with the flight deck of the flight attendants. but we were never invited or included in those discussions directly affecting the flight attendant security aboard the aircraft. we did participate in a panel that looked at the federal air marshal communication system and we contributed to that quite extensively but as far as the flight attendant issue which we understood they were discussing we were not included and we felt we should have been

mr. chairman. thank you, madam speaker. i appreciate the time. you know, the champlee spoke to the cost of these bills an how incredibly expensive they are and indeed our constituents have talked about that and to my colleagues who are going to try to support this standard and this de facto ban on the incandescent light bulb, i would say, two wrongs do not make a right. i know you heard that as you grew up and i would ask you to think about that in this chamber today. putting this ban, putting these higher efficiency standards in place, many people thought it was the right decision, i didn't think it was the right decision, i voted against it in committee, i voted against all of this on the floor, but i would ask you just to remember, the american people are telling us, this doesn't work. they don't like the restrictions that are there in the marketplace. they don't like the fact that the bulbs cost too much money. and i would also remind my colleagues that all of the c.f.l.'s, the compact fluoresc

mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. moran: mr. chairman, in response to my very good friend , it appears that the conduct -- it appears that conduct of these park rangers was wrong, so they have been reassigned, and i'm sure that whoever has responsibility now in that jurisdiction has been told, you don't do this. now, these kinds of things happen all over the country if not all over the world. clearly some people in authority abuse their power. it happens with local police departments. it happens to state police. it happens with other people with a badge, and so they get disciplined. sometimes they get taken to court. but normally we don't change national policy to deal with misconduct, if that's what it was, on the part of certain individuals. we don't change national policy. that's what you're trying to do. let me put into this discussion and deliberation the fact that they had to go through national park land to get to that state water. well, they do, and t

mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> thank you for this opportunity to testify. on the anniversary, it is worth reminding ourselves of what congress passed the reforms. the financial crisis was unprecedented in its scope. some of the world's largest firms collapsed or nearly did so, sending shock waves to the financial system. critical markets came under enormous stress. asset prices fell sharply. the crisis in turn wreaked havoc on the economy's causing sharp declines in production and trade. extraordinary actions by authorities around the world helped stabilize the situation, but three years later the recovery from the crisis in the united states and other countries remains far from complete. in response to the crisis we have seen a rethinking of financial regulation in the united states and around the world. among the core objectives of the effort are enhancing regulators' ability to monitor threats to stability, strengthening both oversight and resolve ability of important institutions, and improving

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, my amendment would eliminate the navy's funding for nato research and development and transfer $9.1 million to the varle cooperative program. -- the israeli cooperative program. the secretary of defense has went on record stating, and i quote, the nato alliance has been used by many european nations for the means to subsidize their own spending with u.s. taxpayer money. unquote. i cannot agree more with the secretary. many members of nato refuse to bear their share of the cost and risk. essentially, mr. chairman, we should invest our valuable research into an ally who is willing to pull their weight and take their fight to the enemy. the israeli cooperative program is a ballistic missile program to ensure the capability of our two missile defense programs. mr. chairman, we've never had a greater need for missile defense, not only in this nation, but in the middle east with our great ally, israel. we have no great ally in the middle east than israel and our research programs s

mr. chairman. >> i:the witnesses for your time and preparation. it has been very helpful. we have another panel otherwise i would keep asking questions. that i would remind all the witnesses that members may have additional questions. the whole purpose of this hearing is to layout the congressional records and facts. i have additional questions and other members mike and i would ask when those are submitted to you within 10 days to try to get us back a written response to those. [inaudible conversations] the chair recognizes the second panel. we are pleased to have with the several distinguished witnesses before us today on this important topic. let me remind the witnesses that their entire statements will be appearing in the record. our first witness is mr. nicholas calio. how did i pronounce that? i am sure it richard at. he is executive officer of the air transport association. the chair recognizes mr. calio for his opening testimony. you will have to get your microphone there mr. calio. >> than

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house of the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2584 directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the committee has had under consideration h.r. 2584 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise snr mr. dreier: i spend to the desk a privileged report from the committee of rules for filing under the rule. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 375, resolution providing for consideration of the bill senate 627 to establish the commission on freedom of information act, process and delays and information other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house and ordered printed. the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house for further consideration of h.r. 2584. will the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulsen, kindly resume the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house of the stat

mr. chairman. >> thank you. although congress and telephone companies haven't been doing enough to protect consumers from cramming, i'm glad to say that some state and federal law enforcement agencies have made on the job. we are going to hear from the attorney general of illinois, lisa madigan who says right there and will tell us our office is filed within 30 last used against crammers and we'll hear about a lot in vermont recently to protect his and against cramming. a lot of other law enforcement authorities including the federal communications filed lawsuits and shut down crammers. but what they need to know is crammers can come right back. they are ubiquitous. they are everywhere, like all the little satellite alien space beings. they just drift around waiting to collect a monthly phone bill. but as we hear today and i'm sorry in so long, when they shut down one crammer, new appeared to take their place. it's obvious that voluntary guidelines will not voluntary guidelines will not. it's also

mr. chairman. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from new hampshire rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. bass of new hampshire. mr. bass: i ask unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read. the chair: is there objection to dispensing of the reading? without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. bass: i thank the chairman for recognizing me and making it possible for me to offer this amendment at this point in the bill. it will restore $20 million to the land and water conservation fund. it is offset by a reduction from the department of superior -- interior salaries and expenses. at present it's about $250 million so this would represent roughly a 10% reduction in the overhead for the agency but what do you get for that? you get about an 8% increase in the land and water conservation fund funding. the land and water conservation fund was established 46

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, this amendment is indicative of why we are in opposition to much of what is being said today. this amendment assumes that there is some sort of onerous regulation or some sort of discrimination that has taken place within the cfpb when in fact the cfpb has not issued one regulation, not one, and because it has not issued one regulation, one can only assume that much of what is happening today is onerous speculation and -- because there seems to be this notion that this agency is going to be harmful and it hasn't done one thing. there is this concept of throwing out the baby with the bath water. but there is no bath water. there is no bath water to throw out because the baby hasn't done anything. the cfpb has done absolutely nothing and we are now trying to overregulate it before it has an opportunity to pass a single regulation. it was not the cfpb that created the crisis. it did not create 327's and 228's, it did not create prepayment penalties that coincide with teaser rate

mr. chairman. i offer this bipartisan amendment with my fellow louisiana colleague, democratic congressman richmond. this is for critical coastal restoration efforts and if you look at what we are trying to address here, not only can we

mr. chairman. while these were not terrorist incidents that reveal how when portend a leader of security represent in fact all of us who fly to work as i tell my elementary school children as i visit our schools when i tell them that life like to work depend upon those frontline armored but not armored flight attendants among with our pilots once those stores are closed and the last congress when we passed a bipartisan authorization bill we've recognized this and include provisions to include the oversight of the air carrier's security programs and directed that the work with the industry to implement accessible advanced security training for flight attendants. let me be very clear the airlines need to pay for flight attendant security training and it needs to be part of their compensation package on the airline package please recognize the hands of passengers, you have the passengers in your hands. i continue to support these concepts and continue not to understand our position to improving aircra

mr. chairman. thank you for the hearing and lessons and prevention and response and restoration are important issues as i outlined in my opening statement. i'm concerned about the future as it relates to the pacific northwest, and, admiral, i appreciate your testimony today. i wanted to ask you we put into the coast guard bill pushing cost guard to do analysis of the u.s.-canadian oil spill response agreement. can you tell me whether some analysis has been done and what you think the agreements are between the united states and canada? >> i can't on the record produce that, but certainly i'd be pleased to do so. i will say we have regular, at least on a quarterly basis, interactions with our canadian partners and everything from oil spill to, you know, security among our common borders, but i would be glad to provide you an update. >> thank you. you'll give me an analysis of those, what you think the existing agreements are and how they work and -- >> yes, senator. >> thank you. do you think -- i me

mr. chairman. my amendment is offered by my colleagues representative bass and representative fudge, it would simply restore the funding to the f.y. 2011 level of $1 the.6 million. arpa-e was created in 2009 to bring the kind of innovative thinking that is well known at darpa, the defense advanced research projects agency, to the energy sector. that includes the focus on high risk, high reward r&d. and a quick-moving culture made up of experts who stay for just a few years to ensure that new ideas are continually being brought forward. unlike some government agencies its philosophy, much like a tech startup, is to hire the best technical staff and then hire the managers in leadership that can get the best out of them. this reinvention of the way that government does business is something we should be encouraging. a leaner approach adopted from the private sector with a more agile leadership and the mandate to cut underperforming research avenues is exactly what the department of energy needs. the a

mr. chairman. mr. newell, june 15th, 2011, 3 agents under durkan and testified before this committee and the outlined very serious allegations that prompted this investigation. the line agents told us that as part of operation fast and furious one, they were instructed to cut surveillance of suspected straw purchasers. to, they were ordered to forgo the arrests of straw purchasers, and number three, they were prohibited from seizing or interdicting weapons from the straw purchasers on several occasions when they believed they have the lawful authority to do so. mr. newell come these are serious allegations. but in your transcribed interview with the committee, you said you never heard these complaints before they became public in february this year. is that right? here's what you said. to the best of my recollection i don't remember any time ever being advised there were discords among the agents. i became aware of that when the documents were released that i saw and what was probably early february so

mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> thank you for this opportunity to testify. on the anniversary, it is worth reminding ourselves of what congress passed the reforms. the financial crisis was unprecedented in its scope. some of the world's largest firms collapsed or nearly did so, sending shock waves to the financial system. critical markets came under enormous stress. asset prices fell sharply. the crisis in turn wreaked havoc on the economy's causing sharp declines in production and trade. extraordinary actions by authorities around the world helped stabilize the situation, but three years later the recovery from the crisis in the united states and other countries remains far from complete. in response to the crisis we have seen a rethinking of financial regulation in the united states and around the world. among the core objectives of the effort are enhancing regulators' ability to monitor threats to stability, strengthening both oversight and resolve ability of important institutions, and improving

mr. chairman, i move the committee do now rise. the chair: the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. young: mr. chairman, i move that the committee do now rise and i report the bill back to the house with an amendment, sundry amendments and with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill as amended do pass. the chair: the question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from florida. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it and the committee does now rise. mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house distribute committee of the whole house having had under consideration h.r. 229 directs me to report the same back with sundry amendments that the amendments be agreed to and the bill be amended do pass. the speaker pro tempore: the chairman of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 2219 and reports the bill back to the house with sundry amendments adopted in the

mr. chairman. i'd like to thank mr. duffy, chairman baucus, and chairman capito, for their leadership on this important matter. madam speaker, i strong -- i rise in strong support of the rule and the underlying bill with which important measures of accountability to an agency that currently operates independent of any real oversight. the mission of the consumer financial protection bureau is indeed puzzling. how exactly a government bureau is going to determine what financial products are suitable for every american family has been explained -- has never been explained. i have great concern that consumer protection is merely a euphemism for consume -- consumer restriction and creal. equally concerning is that this agency currently operates outside the normal checks and balances that exist of the bedrock of our system of government. the director of the agency has enormous influence over family decisions regarding credit cards and mortgages and there currently exists an extremely high and nonsensical standard for overturni

mr. chairman, members of the board and public, that completes my executive director's report. >> thank you, mr. ford. members of the board, questions or comments? >> mr. chairman, you do have members of the public that wish to address you. roland wong >> good afternoon. >> i'm having a technical difficulty. there you go. >> you want to try now? >> ok. >> there you go. >> i'm here to speak -- >> could you state your name for the report? >> oh, roland wong. i represent municipal services. today i'm here to speak about the judah express. i heard that it was very successful. when i first heard the announcement of the pilot express line, i liked the concept whereby passengers can get to downtown very quickly. sfmta has done a good job of providing this service to judah street corridor to relieve the crowdedness on the trains. passengers including seniors and people with disabilities riding between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 would also like speedy service. sfmta can seriously consider expanding this model along m oceanview and j church where accessible sideway ramps are extremely limited for wheelchair

mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman, as you know, i am is one of those who hopes we can get the votes quickly. i will say quickly that everybody is in agreement that these trade agreements will open up markets and help america competitively. they will do what we need to do in order to compete with china. we all agree with that. senator had just said, i cannot understand why these clear signals are being ignored, with respect to some of the opposition of the taa. we cannot understand why the by partisanship that has been part of taa can be on it. i heard senator had called it a spending program. -- senator hatch call it a spinning program. we have a notion that when we make a decision regarding tariffs and markets, businesses make decisions, call centers move to india, manufacturing plants move to mexico. there is one simple question. are we going to face the reality of the marketplace today? if you are 55 years old, it is hard to find a job. we are not creating them fast enough. the idea that we are going to do

mr. chairman. >> senator conrad? >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you very much for holding this hearing. i think it is so important. i was part of the fiscal commission, as was the chairman of the committee. i have been part of the group of six. both of them concluded you have to have fundamental tax reform to broaden the base, to lower rates, help us be more competitive. at the same time, to raise some additional revenue, to couple with entitlement reform and to couple with domestic spending reductions in order to get our debt down. that is the fundamental framework of both the fiscal commission and the group of six. i would like quickly to ask each of you does that fundamental framework make sense to you. mr. duke? >> senator, the fundamental framework of debt reduction and fiscal responsibility certainly makes sense. the comprehensive corporate tax reform we think is important. we do believe auto of -- all of this should be looked at long-term. others mentioned the uncertainty. that is why our interest is in a long-term compre

mr. chairman. i want to add my welcome to general dempsey and his family, his wife and congratulate him on this nomination. i first want to express my condolences to the family of general john shalikashivili who passed away last saturday. general shalikashivili was born.land of georgian parents in 1936, fled from the advancing soviets near the end of world war ii. came to the united states as a teenager and rose from the ranks to become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 1993 to 1997. and he was great american patriot and army leader. general dempsey, just three months ago on april 11th you became chief of staff of the army. you're now poised to become joint chief of staff. you're prepared well to become the principal military advisor to the president and leader of the joint chiefs. without question your combat experience and career military leadership, your service as acting commander of u.s. central command, and your thorough understanding of our transforming force stressed by a decade of

mr. chairman. mark noted in his presentation that the proposed interchange fees standard has to meet the statutory requirement that the interchange fee be reasonable and proportional to an issuer's kogs. i noted in looking through the public comments that a number of commenters indicated that in rankings for public utilitieuti the interpretation that would typically be given to the term reasonable would include some markup to allow for a fair rate of return. >> so getting back to the costs that the board is prohinted the from considering >> sts not specific to a particular transaction. a rate of return overall on your debit card program is difficult to attribute to a particular transaction. i would also say many of the rate making cases use a term just in reasonable rates. we have a different term here. reasonable and proportional to cost. congress wanted us to rely on this. they could have used that term. they did not. we were interpreting it differently. >> thank you very much. >> one other quest

mr. chairman. the -- mr. pompeo: thank you, mr. chairman. this would increase the energy renewable program by $45.6 million and the funding for d.o.e.'s vehicle technologies program. while i'm certainly 100% behind innovation and the development of domestic sources of energy and new vehicle technologies, this program is simply not the way to do it. we shouldn't take money from one set of citizens to subsidize companies that frankly have had subsidies for too long in the development of new energy vehicle technologies. it's a subsidy program plain and simple. the program is part of this president's administration's liberal agenda to replace the free market with government bureaucrats in determining which energy source we ought to use to propel our vehicles and for transportation. you know, we're already seeing tremendous advances in hybrid technology and electric vehicle technology in the state of kansas we have folks coming up with wonderful great, innovative ideas. they're seeking private capital markets to make that innovation happen. we ha

mr. white? >> chairman neugebauer, mr. capuano, i am a professor of economics at the stearns school of business. represents only myself at this hearing. thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important topic. the three large u.s.-based credit rating agencies, moody's, standard and poor's and fitch have their optimistic ratings from mortgage-backed securities in the middle years of the past decade. played a seminal role in the financial debacle of the past two years. given this context and history it is understandable there would be strong political sentiment as expressed in section 932 of the dodd-frank act for more extensive regulation of the credit rating agencies in hopes of forestalling future such debacle's. advocates of such regulation figuratively or literally want to grab the rating agencies by the lapels, shake them and shall do a better job. this urge for greater regulation is understandable and well-intentioned but is misguided and quite harmful. the regulation of the rating agencies will discourage an

mr. chairman. i yield back. >> i would remind the remember your chairman of the committee for four years and had the opportunity to hold the hearings if you thought there was a distinct threat to the united states, and i said whenever we can get intelligence that there is an organized threat against the country that cannot be met by the fbi with the agencies who would conduct the hearing but i don't think that he acts by a lone gunman who hates muslims and tells christians as any reflection on the committee or anything to do with the hearings conducted today for in the future but i would keep an open mind. mr. chairman i know that our good friend is here. before unanimous consent to allow him to sit on the question of the hearing i would ask my friend and ranking member thompson whether there's any effort to assign him on a permanent basis this is the ninth time in the congress that unanimous consent is requested and i would note the vacancy on the minority side and when a wheel of his visits to the

mr. vice chairman? >> thanks, madame chair. mr. olsen, let me carry that question one step further because obviously it is a very, very serious issue when you have a member of congress who thinks that he has been misled so i want you to have the opportunity to explain and i want to quote to you what congressman wolf's recollection of the scenario was in the memorandum that he prepared within the last couple of weeks. i know you had the opportunity to look at it. here is what he says. he said it has recently come to my attention that i was misled about the status of the transfer of the knees in april, to those inclined to read the information confirms the newsweek report the federal employees were explicitly directed to hide the information from the members of congress especially republican members. during an april 22nd, 2009 meeting in my office with members of the guantanamo bay detainee review task force including mr. olsen, i inquired about the status of the potential transfer of uighurs detainee's to the united states. mr. olse

mr. chairman. stinguished members of the committee, and william newell. as a former special agent in charge of the bureau phoenix division in june 2006 to may of this year i oversaw atf operations in the state of arizona and mexico which include 552 miles of the border. i appear before you today to discuss atf's operation fast and furious and ongoing strike force investigations of the large scale firearms organization. for the past 23 years i fully dedicated myself to confronting violent crime especially firearms along the southwest border. having served 15 of these years along the southwest border, and firearms in the year i am keenly aware of the violence is largely by mexico's drug cartels poses a serious challenge for u.s. law enforcement coming to this mexican law enforcement threatens the safety of civilians in of law enforcement personnel on both sides of the border. at the conclusion of a free investigation of the magnitude a review is appropriate to determine whether tactics, changes in tac

mr. chairman. mr. bernanke, you made a statement that not raising the debt ceiling was like going out on a spending spree, and then not be willing to pay your bill. with these people with a spending spree draw and not understand they eventually would have to pay it back? >> i don't know. spiff the point was that debt is to pay for tax decisions and spending decisions the congress has made and the president has signed and is already been implemented. >> because i know the debt ceiling was raised in june of 2010, after a spending spree of deficit spending. the senate has not passed a budget in almost 800 days. we continue to operate our government i a continuing resolution until april of this year. so, the people that were in charge of spending this money either didn't care if we have to pay it back, or they didn't think we had to pay it back. there's something there, so i agree with you think that, yeah, it's not like paying your debt, but i don't know if the people that are a key thing is that what the

mr. chairman. >> thank you. i look forward to hearing the nominee's testimony. will vote nominees please rise and raise your right hand? do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? do you agree to appear and testify before any duly appointed member of the committee or the senate? please be seated. please be assured your written statements will be part of the record. please also note that members of this committee may submit written questions to you for the record and you should respond to these questions promptly in order for the committee to proceed on your nomination. i invite all the witnesses to introduce your family and friends in attendance before beginning your statement. mr gruenberg, please begin. >> thank you very much. i would like to introduce my wife donna who is sitting next to me. chairman johnson, ranking member of the 14, members of the committee, it is my privilege to appear before u.s. the

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, my recollection of what cass sunstein said is the independent agency should comply with the spirit of the law, not the specific legal requirements. and i guess i'll ask you, chairman leibowitz, since your agency is supposed to be the paragon of virtue today, have you submitted a plan to o.m.b.? has your agency submit add plan to o.m.b.? >> we have not snitted a plan to o.m.b. >> that's because you aren't legally required to. >> because we are not legally required to do. >> it doesn't mean you aren't doing regulatory form. >> we are doing regulatory reform. >> and although your agency has not submitted a plan to o.m.b. you are doing regulatory review. >> that's correct. >> chairman leibowitz, something you said was very interesting to me. you talked about how a lot of the regulations that you do is a result of statutes passed by congress directing you to do regulations. correct? >> that's correct. >> and you gave several examples of that, right? >> yes. >> now, commissioner no

mr. chairman. >> senator lautenberg. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i ask consent that my full statement -- opening statement be entered into the record. >> no objections. >> mr. pruessing, i want to ask you, how many times has phmsa com2 axon and asked about problems with what the pipeline? >> inspections of our integrity program. they did a very detailed assessment of this particular silvertip line in june of this year. >> werther -- had you been notified of any problems that they saw over? let's talk about it. from 202003 on. >> the last time we did an in-line inspection was in 2009. after the inspection was completed, phmsa the records in the identified four or five things that they wanted us to respond to. they were not particularly integrity issues on the pipeline, but there were items they identify if we needed to improve. that included removing vegetation near a portion of the pipeline, adding some paint on a portion on the ground, doing some additional walking patrols on the pipeline and not just aerial patrols actually correct been packing li

mr. chairman. appreciate the remarks. i know you have a busy day. much is happening. so feel free to stay or leave, whichever you wish. >> thank you. thank you very much. mr. olsen, we will now turn to you. part of your remarks senator conrad did this to some extent, but perhaps he would go able further and even ask them to stand up. >> thank you very much, madam chairman and vice-chairman chambliss. i want to thank ev committee for taking the time to consider my nomination this morning. i especially want to thank senator conrad for that very warm and personal introduction. i really appreciate that, and i am grateful to the many members of the committee that i've had the opportunity over the last two weeks to meet and have conversations with. i really appreciate the thoughtful consideration the committee has given to my nomination. at the outset, i want to thank the president for having the confidence to nominate me for this position and director of national intelligence for supporting me. i am trem