mr. chairman, thank you for letting me share those remarks, we, chairman bernanke, value your opinion. and you can help us work our way through the most dangerous systematic debt challenge that the nation has faced. >> senator sessions, i am optimistic you said that you are not. i am. >> about the budget that the president is submitting? that is different, i said i'm not confident that he will layout a plan that he will get us off this debt course. >> i a am optimistic and the president's budget that comes out will reflect the overall optimism that is rising in the country yard to the economy. and it all summed up in this chart. this is private sector jobs. and you can see for about a year and a half there were massive job losses in the private sector in each of the months and of course, this only starts in january of '09 on this chart. you can take it back even further into '08 and that is when the rcrisis started in the fall of '08 and this tells us along about march of 2010, the jobs' picture dramatically changed. and there's the trend line to the point at which it's now 257,000 in

mr. chairman, and thank you chairman bernanke, i think you are close to what we need to be doing and we value that. i would yield to senator grassly at this time. >> first of all, i want to compliment you on your movements forwards transparency and the more you can do of that, and do it not just for the sake of people know about the economic impact of your policies so there's not that -- the obscurity that existed but to do it for the purpose of educating the public more about the important role of the federal reserve. you are too important for people to think that there's some conspiritorial aspect of everything that the federal government does, it comes up, not all the time, but too often in my town meetings the more you can tell people about what your role is important. my question is based upon first of all, if congress fails to act 1st, 2013, our nation will see the largest tax increase in the history of the country, and people do not understand that will happen even without a vote of congress. it's estimated that the impacts of this tax increase along with a few other policies, cbo esti

mr. chairman. welcome, chairman bernanke. it's always a pleasure to hear you because you are eminently sane about all of these issues. i have heard from our life insurers and grantors or providers of annuities that they are very concerned, as you can imagine, about an interest rate squeeze that may occur in the future. almost feels predictable in some respects. how do you recommend that they proceed, that they anticipate the challenges that we're facing because of the way in which we have to have an accommodative monetary policy? >> well, we've had numerous discussions with insurance companies and pension funds and others. and there certainly is a problem in the sense that they're under a current accounting rules. obligations to put money into the fund or what can be greater with low interest rates. i agree that's a problem and one we've discussed with them. again, going back to my conversation to mr. mccotter, on the other side we're trying to strengthen an economy that gives them higher return on portfolios. so it cuts both

mr. chairman. dr. bernanke, i want to drill down on something you talk about in general here today which is europe. i want to go into detail on the central bank, swaps with the dollar swap agreements. since you've been here last time, i think it's grown from the agreements with various central banks have grown to $103 billion as of last week. my first question is, where does that money come from? is that money you have in existing reserves? is that new money? where does that $103 billion come from that we participate in the agreements? >> it's -- it becomes both a liability and asset on the federal reserve's balance sheet. in some sense paid for by greater excess reserves in the banking system. and on the other side, we have an asset which is the money given in exchange to the european central bank. >> but to the extent that it's in layman's terms, it's new money. it's not something you moved over to a swap agreement. this is money you set aside? >> we chose to do that way because monetary policy currently is o

mr. chairman, thank you for letting me share those remarks. we -- chairman bernanke, we value your opinion. and if you can help us work our way through the most dangerous systematic debt challenge i believe the nation has ever faced. thank you. >> thank you senator sessions. senator sessions, i'm optimistic. you said you are not optimistic. i am optimistic. >> about the budget the president is submitting? >> about the overall -- >> okay, that is different. i said i'm not optimistic he would layout a plan to get us off an unstainable debt course. excuse me. >> well i'm optimistic and the president's budget that is going to come out, i think, will reflect the overall optimism that is rising in the country with regard to the committee and think it's all summed up in this chart. this is private sector jobs. and you can see for about a year and a half, there were massive job losses in the private sector in each of the months and of course, this only starts in january of '09 in this chart, you can take it back to further in '08, that is when the crisis started. this tells

mr. chairman. chairman bernanke, good to have you back again. one of the things that the g-8 central banks have expanded their balance sheets. if you convert the currencies to dollars to about $15 trillion over the last two years. what do you see looking forward? how much more expansion in these balance sheets in these central banks do you see? and what could be some of the consequences of that? >> well, i don't know what expansion may or may not be. the japanese, for example, have, again, begun some asset purchases. the ecb has put out again this morning about a half a trillionutrillion u eur euros. i think some is sterilized. these central banks is dealing in a similar way. it is not unusual. they're trying to find ways to provide more accommodation in a situation where interest rates are close to zero. and so standard cutting the basis of the federal funds rate by 25 basis points doesn't work. all of the central banks in question have similar tools to the ones we have including the ability to pay interest on reserves, ability to sell assets,

mr. chairman. thank you, mr. bernanke for being here. thank you for the conversation on the phone a few weeks ago. i agree that there's efforts, and i'm excited to see that you'll be out in the circuit. and i'll be anxious. i might tune into one of those to see how they go i'm new here, too. i'm not here to defend the president at all. we're all to blame for the fumgs of washington, d.c. it's not just the president. it's congress that is also part of the problem here. that's what i hear when i go back home. and because of that, and you kind of answered it, and i think i want to clarify or make sure i hear what you're saying and that is because of the inability for this body to figure out and compromise and figure out pathways with long term certainty, it has an impact to the consumer confidence and the business confidence of this country. yes? >> yes. >> so, you know, what i've learned while i've been an executive, an assembly member in this legislative body is -- legislative bodies love to blame the executives. executives love to blame

. >> chairman bernanke, the vice chairman of the full is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman bernanke, in your testimony you described the recovery as modest relative to historic terms. i would note for the record that under this administration when you add in those who are underemployed, those who have left the labor force due to giving up the true unemployment rate is 15.4%, half of all americans are now classified by the census bureau as either low income or in poverty, one in seven now have to rely on food stamps. so from the perspective of my constituents, the use of the term modest is indeed modest. i would like to the subject of our structural debt. one of the major players in our economy has said, quote, the major driver of our long-term liabilities, everybody here knows it, is medicare and medicaid, and our health care spending, nothing comes close. that, of course, our president barack obama. so i would suggest to the ranking member when convenient he first debate the president on the subject before he debates us. and i would ask this simply, mr.

mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, dr. bernanke for visiting with us today. clearly, this economic recovery has been long delayed. it remains fragile. my constituents are frustrated as are so many of us serving them that we're not doing some things on the fiscal side of the ledger to get the economy moving more quickly. private sector forecast indicate that in the coming year we're going to be at 2.2%. that is well below the 3% growth that trends recent history. we have a jobs deficit 8.6 million jobs lost in '08-'09 recession. less than a third recovered. i'm concerned about our country tipping back into a recession at this point maybe as a result of europe. we spent some time discussing europe here today. in your interaction with ecb officials and others, but what i'd like to hear from you, doctor, is what preparation our fed has made for an orderly -- excuse my, a disorderly default by greece or the other countries within europe? i haven't heard any specifics there. you indicated that the fed is prepared to use all the different liefers that you have. so t

mr. chairman and mr. bernanke remarks have been very insightful and we all have different opinions but i think you are pretty close to what we need to be doing and we tell you that. i would yield to senator grassley. >> first one to compliment you on your movements towards transparency, and i think even the more you can do with that not just for the sake of letting people know about the economic impact of your policies of that there is not the security that existed, but to do it for the purpose of educating the public more about the important role of the federal research for people to think that there's some conspiratorial aspect of everything the federal reserve does. and this comes up not often, but it comes up too often in my town meetings and i think the more you can tell people about what your role is my question is based upon first of all if congress fails to act on january 1st, 2013 or a nation is going to see the largest tax increase in the history of the country and people don't understand that's not goin

mr. chairman, and chairman bernanke. thank you. your remarks have been very insightful. and we all have differences of opinions. i think you're pretty close to what we need to be doing. and we value that. i would yield to senator grassley. >> personal note, i want to compliment you on your movements towards transparency. do of that and do it not just for the sake of letting people know about the economic impact of your policies. so that there's not -- so that there's not the obscurity that exists. but to do it for the purpose of educating the public more about the important role of the federal reserve. you're too important for people to think that there is some conspiracy aspect to everything the flal the federal reserve does. this comes up too often in my town meetings. the more you can tell people about what your role is very important. my xwe baquestion is based upon congress fails to act on january 1st, 2013, our nation is going to see the largest tax increase in the history of the country and people don't understand this. that is going to happen even without a vote

mr. chairman and dr. bernanke. a suggestion was made earlier that you make policy pronouncements on housing, and i'm very deeply, as you know, involved in trying to restructure housing finance and the housing market. as much as i personally wish that were true and that you would weigh in on the side of the proposals that i have made and versus others, you and the fed have been, i think, judicious in not doing that, but what you have opined on and i would like to be ask to you say in your own words is the importance of housing, the housing market and a housing recovery if we wish to have a robust economic recovery and job growth. would you care to comment on -- >> oh, i certainly would, and this is the reason that we have a housing committee, basically, at the fed, which a bnch unch o staff and governors looking at this all the time. i would say that one of the main reasons that the recovery has been as disappointing as it has been is that usually housing provides an important amount of the impetus to growth. not ju

bernanke, again, thank you and your colleagues for your work. mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you. chairman bernanke, the floor is yours. >> thank you. >> chir man ryan, ranking member van hollen and other members of the committee, i appreciate this opportunity to discuss my views on economic outlook, monetary policy and the challenges facing federal fiscal policymakers. over the past 2 1/2 years, u.s. economy has been gradually recovering from a deep recession. while conditions have certainly improved over this period, the pace of the recovery has been frustratingly slow. particularly from the perspective of the millions of workers who remain unemployed or underemployment. moreover, this sluggish expansion has left the economy vulnerable to shocks. indeed last year supply chain disruption stemming from the earthquake in japan, a surge in the prices of oil and other commodities and spillovers from the european debt crisis risked derailing the economy. fortunately over the last few months, spending and job market activity have shown signs of improvement. in

thank you, chairman bernanke. thank you mr. chairman for your courtesy. i hope our permanent chairman feels the same. >> we wish him well, beleaguered with an infection today. mr. chairman, i would like to review a discussion we had in our earlier meeting. i think it is helpful to put the spotlight on the issue. it is the question of health care, which is the most significant part of the discussion about so-called entitlements. i begin with the observation that we have very significant medicare liabilities. we have private health insurance which costs are going up at least as fast if not faster -- it is hard to judge because they take away benefits to offset costs. it appears faster, in my view. you have the reductions administration and defense budget, both suffering from increase in health-care costs. secretary gates said that health care costs are eating my budget alive, talking about the defense budget. we burn 18% of our gross domestic product on health care costs. our nearest, most inefficient industrialized competitors at about 12%. it puts us 50%

mr. chairman, and welcome chairman bernanke. you know, i guess over the last 30 or 40 years i've criticized the fed on occasion but the congress deserve some criticism too. the federal reserve is a creature of the congress and if we do not know what the fed is doing, we have the authority and we certainly have the authority to pursue a lot more oversight which i would like to see, so although the fed is on the receiving end and i think rightfully so, when you look at the record. if fed has been around for 99 years. and 99% of the dollar value is gone from the 1913 dollar, so that is not really a very good record. we are witnessing the end stages of a experiment, yes, they have been debasing currencies for hundreds of thousands of years, they always end badly. and they also run to gold and simple. this experiment is something different than what we had before, it started in 1971 where we were actually given an opportunity in many ways to be the issuer of the currency and we had too many benefits from that then people realized. bu

mr. chairman. mr. bernanke, will you tell me if you do your own shopping at the store some. >> yes i do. >> so you are aware of the prices. nobody believes that prices are going up. people on fixed incomes, they are hurting and the middle class is hurting. their inflation rate is very much higher than the government tries to tell them and that is why they lose trust in government. but you know, this whom idea of prices and debasement of currency, if you loan me $100 and two years from now i gave you $90 back, you would be upset. but we are paying that money back and it's worth ten or 15 or 20% less and nobody seems to be able to do anything about it. it's upsetting. but it theft, if i do not give you your full hundred dollars back, i'm stealing $10 from you and it's upsetting. last january, you poked a bit of fun, to down play the 2% inflation rate. if i say it's 9% and you say it's 2%, compromise for the sake of argument, 5%, you said it does not hurt you if you put your money in a mattress. so where are you y

mr. chairman. mr. bernanke you tell me whether or not you do your own shopping at the grocery store? >> yes, i do. >> so you're aware of the prices. this argument that the prices are going up 2%, nobody believes it. the old cpi says prices are going up. people on fixed income are really hurting. the middle class is really hurting because their inflation rate is very much higher than the government tries to tell them. that's why they lose trust in government. but, you know, this whole idea about prices and debasement of currency, if you loan me $100 and two years from now i gave you 90 back, you'd be pretty upset. but we hand that money back that's worth 10% or 15% or 20% less and the fact that nobody's able to do anything about it is upsetting. but if i don't give you your full $100 back, i'm steal 10g from you. so somebody's stealing wealth and it's very upsetting. in january at one of your press conferences, you said that you sort of poked a little bit of fun at people to downplay the 2% inflation rate. but i

mr. chairman, dr. bernanke, thank you for your testimony. you laid out what i think is a very clear two-track strategy for dealing with economic growth as we move forward. the first is recognizing the fiscal and budget tear challenge that we've got, and i think there's agreement on this committee that we need to come up with a predictable stable way to reduce our deficits and debt. we've had disagreements over how we do it, but not whether we do it. and in looking at that, there are two lessons i think from what we see happening in europe, one is the debt crisis. if you wait too long to address these issues, you're right. your borrowing cost also go up. people will lose faith. we should heed that as an early warning and not delay putting in place those predictable changes. but your testimony also pointed out that there's a danger in overreacting to that in the near term in terms of the negative impact it could have on economic growth. and the other strategy that you've laid out is the need to nurture this very fragile economy we're in right

mr. chairman. chairman bernanke, it is good to see you. our friends on the other side of the aisle have tried to insist that it had no impact, that it created no jobs. according to the cdo, it lowered the recovery rate in 2010 relative to what it would have been had congress not acted at all. since that time, we have created more jobs in the last year since we have in 2005. since march of 2010, 3.2 million jobs have been created. my question to you is, had we not acted and passed the recovery act, would that have happened at all? there is the notion is only private markets that we should use to help an economy or a recession tenement. are there times when you think public investment is necessary? >> to answer your question, the cbo calculated some effects on gdp and employment. the fed, we are comfortable with the conclusions. we think it did have some effects. so, yes. >> shifting gears. there has also been a debate over the course of the last year over what is the best way to reduce the deficit. clearly, we all share the goal of reducing

thank you, chairman, bernanke and thank you, mr. chairman for your courtesy. i hope our chairman feels better soon. i wish our comrade well. >> beleaguered with an infection today. mr. chairman, i'd like to review a discussion we had in our earlier meeting. i think it's helpful to put the spotlight on the issue. it's the question of health care which is most significant part of the discussion about so-called entitlements. and i begin with the observation that we have very significant medicare liability out into the future and we also have significant medicaid liabilities that are going up. we have private health insurance whose costs are going up just as fast if not faster. hard to judge because they take away benefits to off set costs. it appears to be going up faster in my view. you have the veterans administration and defense budget, both suffering from increasing in health care costs and indeed secretary gates said health care costs are eating my budget alive, talking about the defense budget. when you fact your all of those different elements to the healt

mr. chairman, dr. bernanke you for your testimony and you laid out what i think is a very clear, two-track strategy for dealing with economic growth as we move forward. the first is recognizing the fiscal and budget tear -- there's an agreement on this committee that we need to come up with a predictable, stable way to reduce our debt. we have had disagreements over how we do it, but not whether we do it. in looking at that, there are two lessons, i think with what we see happening in europe. one is the debt crisis. that if you wait too long to address these issues, you're right, your borrowing costs are going to go up, people are going to lose faith and we should heed that as an early warning and not delay putting in place those predictable changes. but your testimony also pointed out that there's a dangerous in overreacting to that in the near term in terms of the negative impact it could have on economic growth and the other strategy that you have laid out is the need to nurture in very fragile economy we're

mr. chairman, and chairman bernanke thank you, your remarks have been very insightful.ou're pretty close to what we need to be doing that. i would yield to senator grassley at this time. >> first of all, i want to compliment you on your movements towards transparency. >> i think the more you can do that and not just for the sake of letting people know about the economic impact of your policies, so that there's not but to do it for the purpose of educating the public more, you're too important for people to think that's summer conspiratorial aspect to everything that the federal reserve does. this comes up not often, but comes up too often in my town hall meetings, and the more you can tell people about your role is very important. my question is based upon, if congress fails to act, our nation will see the largest tax increase in the history of the country, and people don't understand this, because that will happen without even a vote of congress. the congressional budget office has estimated the economic impacts of this three and 5/10 tax increase along with a few othe

mr. chairman. thank you, chairman bernanke for your return to the committee. unemployment is declining and is now the lowest in three years. and we can get pretty technical in these hearings. but my constituents in st. louis would like to know what we in congress and you at the federal reserve can do to put americans back to work in ways that, perhaps, we can all understand. what do you suggest? >> well, from the federal reserve's point of view, as you know, we have been keeping interest rates low and trying to create financial conditions that will foster investment and entrepreneurship and demand on the part of consumers and that should help bring the economy back to a more normal level of functioning. but as i said earlier, again, the fed cannot affect the long run health prosperity and productivity of the economy. that is really up to congress. there is a whole range of policies there starting with fiscal, i would say. having a fiscal program that on the one hand achieves fiscal sustainability and on the other hand is protective of the recovery which is sti

mr. scott for five minutes. >> welcome, chairman bernanke. it's very good to have you.mmend you and the fed. i think it's very important for us to recognize the achievement and the progress we are making with economic recovery. and i think it's in no small measure to your monetary policy of accommodation and creating credit facilities and certainly ensuring liquidity for borrowers. i think that is the real core. unemployment now is going down, we're at 8.3%. we're averaging 200,000 new jobs each month now. we're not bleeding jobs, we're adding. and the dow jones is still cracking around 13,000. we've come a long way. but we're not out of the woods. but i do, it's important for us recognize that your contribution in helping us to wade through some very troubled waters. let me ask you about the stringent prudential standards that you are required under dodd/frank and under section 165 of dodd/frank. you were given the opportunity to differentiate among companies on an individual basis or by category, taking into consideration capital structure, riskiness and complexity. a

mr. secretary, do you agree with chairman bernanke's and cbo's assessment that the failure to prevent this tax increase will have serious negative impact on our economy in terms of gdp growth, and unemployment? >> absolutely. but with just one short qualification. what the president's proposing is to extend the bulk of those tax cuts that go to 98% of taxpayers and to let expire those that affect only the top 2% of americans. in addition to that, to limit the value of deductions and exclusions they get. the impact of that tax -- mix of tax reforms and spending things would be very, very modest on growth, but you're right to point out as the chairman has and the cbo has, if you let all the bush tax cuts expire and add on to that the impact of the sequester, that would be a very damaging blow to the economy. >> you're right to say that a modified version of the sunset would maybe help to some extent but i think you got to take into consideration this is my rebuttal to you, you've got to take into consideration that where most of those tax increases would take impact would affect small busine

mr. chairman. chairman bernanke, it is good to see you. all our friends on the other side of the aisle, since the debate over the recovery at have ensued, insisted that it had no impact and created new jobs and it was not necessary. according to the cbo, the recovery act lowered the recovery rate -- the unemployment rate up to 1.4 percentage points in 2011 relative to what it would have been if congress had not acted at all. since that time -- since 2005, we have created more jobs last year that we have since 2005. since march of 2010, 3.2 million jobs have been created in the private sector. my question to you is, had we not acted and passed it recovery act, with that recovery had happened as soon or even at all? mr. flores seems to be pressing the notion that only private market investments should be used to help an economy or a recession turnaround. are there times when you think public investments like the recovery act are necessary? >> to answer your question directly, the cbo calculate the effects on unemployment and gdp. that requir

chairman bernanke said just last week, if you had to geta choice between -- >> mr. ryan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's interesting, and thank you very much, you're doing a great job, i'm enjoying just watching. i was just going to yield my time to a republican. it's much more entertaining. you'll take it. not that republican. it's interesting that the other side is saying simple bonn-bowles and we had a vote in this committee that talked about just the structure, not even the details that a lot of republicans voted against. you could not get one republican on the other side to raise their hand and say yes i would be for some tax increase on 1%, 2%, .5% of the top 1%. so that's the holdup. that's where the comp rise would come in. >> would you yield, mr. ryan. >> i would be happy to yield. >> house democrats voesed against simpson-bowles. >> put out alternatives in place of it. >> i agree with you, but i'm not the one sitting here blaming the administration for not adopting simpson-bowles. i remember exactly. and so the point is there's accusations being made again

mr. chairman. >> time of the gentleman has been yielded back. chairman bernanke, we thank you for your testimony today. the chair notes that some members may have additional questions for chairman bernanke, which they may wish to submit in writing. without objection, the hearing record will remain open for 30 days for members to submit written questions to the witness and to place responses in the record. this hearing is adjourned. >> thank you. >> as the fed chair leaves, he'll be on capitol hill again tomorrow, testifying before a senate committee. and we'll have coverage of that. we will be back here on capitol hill in just under half an hour with secretary of state clinton testifying before the house foreign relations committee on her department's budget request for 2013. the president is requesting $51.6 billion, and that is a 1.6% increase over 2012. secretary clinton was on the hill yesterday, testifying before the senate foreign relations committee, where she was asked by committee chair, john kerry, about increasing demands on the state department. >> i'

mr. bernanke again today, courtney. >> we do. fed chairman ben bernanke back on capitol hill today. we'll see if he changes his tune from what he had said previou y previously. he'll be before the senate budget committee. now bernanke expect ed to repea much of that testimony from last week's house budget committee hearing but investors are listening for any changes in his comments to account for an improving u.s. economy in the wake of friday's better than expected jobs report, that is the one big change that happened between then and now. so joining us is edward, and, edward, forgive me, i don't know the pro-nuns of your last name. i didn't want to mess that up. if you can start there with bernanke, recently he said he's going to keep interest rates low until at least 2014, what does that mean for the retail investors? >> it means you'd better do something. another two and a half years of no interest income in the banks. so if you're going to get that you have to make a decision what am i going to do to offset the fact my money will be worth less if it's at 2 1/2%, you're going to

hope your advice to bernanke would be all iranian banks, not just those that have been sanctioned by the eu. >> thank you, mr. sherman. thank you, madam secretary. mr. burton, the chairman on europe and eurasia is recognized. >> madam secretary, nice seeing you again. "understand there was an indication that we might open some dialogue with north korea. i just checked and we gave north korea during the clinton administration over $1 billion in fuel and food aid as well as money we spent building their light battewater reactor. and, of course, they violated their agreement they made. i only reason i bring that up is i hope if we start a dialogue with them we realize that their history is one of -- that they certainly can't trust. and even though kim jong-il is gone and we have a new leader, there i think it's extremely important that the state department get everything written in blood, so to speak, to make sure that we're not shaft at the end. recently dom donovan and the chairman of the joint chiefs went over to visit israel. and the tone of the reports that i received and, of course, all this isn't in writing. but the tone was that they were urging israel not to take

mr. chairman. >> the exchange between senator ron wyden, a democrat from oregon, a member of the senate budget committee as he questioned ben bernanke, the chair of the federal reserve. other headlines that came out of today's testimony by the fed chairman, his indication that inflation will remain low at around 2% for the foreseeable future. electrical rates will stay at their current level, near zero in some cases for the next two years, but raising more concerns about the jobless picture in this indicating we could see an uptick in unemployment and more concern about those underemployed. the entire programming at c-span.org. news tonight from the prime minister of greece who has postponed a meeting with heads of the political parties supporting his caretaker government. it's the second time in as many days as the government and international creditors haggled over terms tore secure a second aid package. the greek prime minister will meet with leaders tomorrow morning instead of tonight. there appears to be some movement in working out an agreement. a spokesperson for the private creditors in xwrooes saying the prime minister will

and i remember last year when chairman of the fed, mr. bernanketified before the committee and said something to this effect. he said, you see those projections of your spending and debt trajectory. and in the out years you have these projections of what it's going to be like. basically he said you're not going to get there because you're going to have a debt crisis before that happens, before those years pass. mr. erskine bowles, the man chosen by president obama to head the deficit commission with alan simpson, they signed a written statement to the budget committee last year, and they said the course we're on will lead america to the most predictable financial crisis in our history. so you can clearly see the path we're on. it's a path to financial crisis. we've got to realize we cannot continue to put this off. and i find it deeply disappointing that the president of the united states in his fourth year in office lays out a plan that does nothing to improve the financial status of our country, that does nothing to talk and deal seriously with

bernanke, the chairman, leads the way. but you can have your favorite guy like fisher. >> there you go. we all knew mr. brady ran the house but jan and peter had a say as well. one trend over the past few years the growing importance of dividends investors buying stocks looking for those stocks with high and hopefully safe dividend yields. is there more to the dividend story than meets the eye? joining us courtney reagan joining us for the entire hour, shame on me for not saying at the top, i was in skonsed. i want to ask about dividend. people rushing into dividends. something like six companies pay 6%, 70 companies pay over 4% in the s&p 500, how important or not is the dividend story to investors right now? >> certainly given the very low interest rates we're seeing courtesy of the federal reserve and bond markets generally, higher dividend yielding anything has a lot of riel venn relevant relevancy. doesn't mean the company's fundamentals are sound. just indicates they're paying a certain percentage of free cash flow in dividends. you have to look for sustainability and growth in that dividend stre

bernanke asked today that he should have been? >> he was not asked about the jobs report. there was no point-blank question, mr. chairman, what did you make of the decline of the unemployment rate, the 243,000 jobs created, the upward revisions to the prior, does this change your policy outlook, does it change the forecast that you remain low until 2014? why or why not? i think it was a very simple question that markets wanted to hear from the senators. they didn't get it. a little bit surprised. the senators tend to ask better questions than they do on the house of representatives. but paul ryan last week on our behalf asked market-type questions. >> steve, thank you. >> my pleasure. >>> as you know, mr. bernanke renewing his pledge to keep the u.s. safe from europe's debt crisis. today, two of greece's biggest unions hold a massive strike to protest those austerity measures. cnbc's julia chatterly is live in athens. how close do we think fwrees is greece is to a debt deal? obviously we're having an issue with her shot. why don't we go to diana olick right now. and talk about the housing market. it's a big overhang in

mr. chairman. >> we have quite a bit of time left. mr. 11? -- mr. levin? >> thank you. by the way, congressman van hollen is in a budget hearing and mr. bernanke is testifying. he decided to stay there for a little bit. he will be here as soon as possible. we need to extend this program. i will pick up, senator casey, with your comments. last year, only one in five poor children were receiving assistance. that is one in five. i think it all shows should be mentioned -- it also should be mentioned, these are the figures that i have. since december 2008, the caseload has increased only rather lightly. from 2008, july, through 2011, june, the caseload increased by 15%, roughly 250,000 families. this is a time of exceptionally high unemployment. we are now trying to gather the figures. we do not have them. as to how many people have exhausted their unemployment insurance. but it is far larger in number than those who have become part of the program. this underlines the absolute importance of our continuing the unemployment insurance program in this country. and that is why we very much voted against and criticized the house republican bill which w