mr. hensarling -- >> i will just go ahead in the interest of time. first of all, i'd like to welcome director cordray and really thank you for your impressive accomplishments so far. i know that when we were doing the markup on dodd-frank, i offered a, an amendment that called for an annual report and oversight by this committee of the cfpb. that was later amended to make it a semiannual report to congress. but if i had known that you would be before this body or someone senior as yourself would be before this body 15 times so far this year alone, i would not have offered that amendment. because you have been very accountable to us and to this congress. and i'd like to say it was great to have you in my district in new york where you discussed and launched an inquiry into overdraft practices. i know that you have made similar meetings across this country with various concerns from student loans to mortgages to just general concerns of consumers. and as we reach the three month anniversary of the cfpb as a fully-operational agency, i would like to not

mr. hensarling, yesterday gave an education presentation of -- expression of appreciation, and i thank him for using a little bit of his time to give his expressions. i did not mention mr. grimm when i talked about this other initiative, the home for heros, and this is not something that you're associated with, but mr. grimm was the co-sponsor, and i want to make sure that i mention him. with reference to your appearance today, you also have an office for older americans that i think is important. i understand that mr. skip humphries is the person who will lead this agency or office, and i'm eager the hear more about this. i have some of the accomplishments. you've been there a short time, but your list of accomplishments has become very impressive over a very short period of time. this test pilot program, know before you owe, i think that's something that the consumers with credit cards will be excited about. you've initiated an examination into the student loan debt. i think it's something that college kids especially are going to be excited about. you have an ask the cfpb q&a opportunit

mr. secretary, welcome again. you are recognized. >> thank you, congressman. hensarling. members of the committee, thanks for giving me a chance to come before you today and talk about in particular developments in europe, but i'll be happy to answer any questions you have about the united states or the broader global economy. europe is of course a key strategic and economic partner of the united states, and we have a huge stake, huge economic stake, huge national security stake in the success of europe's efforts to contain its crisis. our economy, as you acknowledged, is gradually getting stronger, but we still face a lot of tough challenges ahead as a country. as you know, in early 2009, the u.s. and the global economy were facing the clear and present danger of a second great depression. and we acted with the federal reserve and with congress to pull the u.s. and the world economy back from the edge of the abyss. we successfully stabilized the financial system and restarted economic growth. over the past 2 1/2 years, despite the crisis in europe, despite the rise in oi