and now my turn to my colleague from florida, mr. klein, to introduce the third witness. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is my honor to introduce helen chaitman, the author of of a global what, lender liability." she is one of a number of people who lost assets in the ponzi scheme and has a view of the issue and has been helpful to me and many others in understanding the nature of what was wrong and what should be done to resolve it. miss chaitman. >> thank you, congressman klein. chairman kanjorski, thank you for having me here. distinguished representatives, i thank you as well. it was just about a year ago that i learned that i have off my life savings and my grandson's college fund and mr. madoff's limited liability company. and it took me a little bit of time to get over the shock and devastation. and when i did, i realize that i was one of the lucky ones because i am still working and able to support myself. i devoted myself to the next six months to working completely on a pro bono basis helping hundreds of destitute madoff investors

mr. kleinam speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on the question are postponed. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from new jersey, congressman lance. mr. lance: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? mr. kucinich: good morning, madam speaker. i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kucinich: yesterday, our president mused about the inevidentibility of war, war's instrumentality of war and peace. it'

ellison of minnesota, mr. klein of florida, and mr. perlmutter of colorado who have helped to select today's witnesses and advance discussions on reforming the securities investor protection act. together, i hope that we can learn more from these terrible events and figure out how we can further improve our regulatory system. now what would like to recognize the ranking member for his opening statement. >> and i thank the chairman and all of the witnesses for joining us today to testify before our subcommittee. from people situated similar to yourself, i have been all aware of the suffering inflicted on so many investors, and in my area, that the district of new jersey and across the country as well, due to the madoff situation and the stanford situation as well. it is important that we hold this hearing today to hear first hand from some of the victims. not only to get a better render standing of their situation and their plight, but also to hear your ideas. having been to this experience personally. how to make this process work bett

ellison of minnesota, mr. klein of florida, and mr. perlmutter of colorado who have helped to select today's witnesses and advance discussions on reforming the securities investor protection act. together, i hope that we can learn more from these terrible events and figure out how we can further improve our regulatory system. now what would like to recognize the ranking member for his opening statement. >> and i thank the chairman and all of the witnesses for joining us today to testify before our subcommittee. from people situated similar to yourself, i have been all aware of the suffering inflicted on so many investors, and in my area, that the district of new jersey and across the country as well, due to the madoff situation and the stanford situation as well. it is important that we hold this hearing today to hear first hand from some of the victims. not only to get a better render standing of their situation and their plight, but also to hear your ideas. having been to this experience personally. how to make this process work bett

mr. klein the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. klein: i thank the gentleman for his colorado for his work on the financial services committee and on this rule. certainly i support the rule and the underlying bill, h r. 1473, wall street reform and consumer protection act. we think about the name, wall street reform and consumer protection act, this is self-descriptive of exactly what americans have been looking for for the past year. our current economic crisis is the worst in decades and it certainly didn't happen overnight. it happened over several years because of the failure of regulation and oversight. one thing i'll agree with mr. dreier from california is, it's not a question of more or less regulation, it's smart regulation. it's the right type of regulation, it's the right type of people in those agencies that know what they're doing, that have the proper training, have the -- they're properly paid and are not outsmarted by people who are trying to

justice dealt out for everybody, is just for to encourage more activities >> our next witness is mr. klein. >> part of the frustration most americans have is the fact that there has not been enough punishment. accountability is one thing. those people need to be removed if they cannot do the job. they're one of the people providing regulation. the decisions were made. this should have been shot down a long time ago. people make four decisions and those people need to be punished. i do not think that there is not punishment for people that break the laws. he could not have done this by himself. i do not accept that. there are too many other people involved in this process. it sends a very strong message. i think you for your testimony. one of the problems that i see is that there seems to be some inconsistency by the sec. people need to know that the symbol mean something. they need to know that it means something if we look back at the original language, and there is a federal regulation that says that the rules provide in accordance with the " of a customer, based upon the written confirm

ellison of minnesota, mr. klein of florida, and mr. perlmutter of colorado who have helped to select today's witnesses and advance discussions on reforming the securities investor protection act. together, i hope that we can learn more from these terrible events and figure out how we can further improve our regulatory system. now what would like to recognize the ranking member for his opening statement. >> and i thank the chairman and all of the witnesses for joining us today to testify before our subcommittee. from people situated similar to yourself, i have been all aware of the suffering inflicted on so many investors, and in my area, that the district of new jersey and across the country as well, due to the madoff situation and the stanford situation as well. it is important that we hold this hearing today to hear first hand from some of the victims. not only to get a better render standing of their situation and their plight, but also to hear your ideas. having been to this experience personally. how to make this process work bett

from the witnesses today and my time is expired and i now recognize the gentleman from florida, mr. klein, for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman and for putting this important hearing. i am from south florida and we face serious problems with housing market as many other parts of the country do. and i think we all understand its essentials for banking and services as well as federal government to implement effective programs to increase loan modification and prevent foreclosures where they can be prevented. i'm pleased to see increase focus on foreclosure prevention from the obama administration and they've taken some steps in the right direction but we have a long way to go. one of the problems with the home affordable modification program, and other initiatives is incomplete paperwork and we hear this over and over again. documents are submitted and for the loan modification and we keep hearing it's not the right documents and that for the borrowers side we hear that they've asked over and over to prevent the same documents. it's a communication problem tracking of the feet proble

mr. klein: i rise to support the iran refined petroleum sanctions act.t is deeply disappointing that the iranian government continues to choose to isolate itself. the iranian government has chosen its clandestine nuclear program other joining the community of nations and allowing its economy to thrive. that is why i worked to include an important provision in today's legislation that requires companies applying for contracts with the united states government to affirmatively certify they do not conduct business with iran. it gives companies a single choice, give business with -- do business with the united states or do business with iran. we cannot allow the u.s. government to be a financial crutch of this rogue regime, not on our watch and not on our dime. iranian businesses will have a choice as well. the choice is economic isolation or work to change the behavior of the iranian government. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. who seeks recog

mr. klein: i rise to support the iran refined petroleum sanctions act. it is deeply disappointing that the iranian government continues to choose to isolate itself. the iranian government has chosen its clandestine nuclear program other joining the community of nations and allowing its economy to thrive. that is why i worked to include an important provision in today's legislation that requires companies applying for contracts with the united states government to affirmatively certify they do not conduct business with iran. it gives companies a single choice, give business with -- do business with the united states or do business with iran. we cannot allow the u.s. government to be a financial crutch of this rogue regime, not on our watch and not on our dime. iranian businesses will have a choice as well. the choice is economic isolation or work to change the behavior of the iranian government. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. who seeks rec

from the witnesses today and my time is expired and i now recognize the gentleman from florida, mr. kleinmportant hearing. i am from south florida and we face serious problems with housing market as many other parts of the country do. and i think we all understand its essentials for banking and services as well as federal government to implement effective programs to increase loan modification and prevent foreclosures where they can be prevented. i'm pleased to see increase focus on foreclosure prevention from the obama administration and they've taken some steps in the right direction but we have a long way to go. one of the problems with the home affordable modification program, and other initiatives is incomplete paperwork and we hear this over and over again. documents are submitted and for the loan modification and we keep hearing it's not the right documents and that for the borrowers side we hear that they've asked over and over to prevent the same documents. it's a communication problem tracking of the feet problem and some cases problem of the services and banks not having adequa

mr. klein? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, gentlemen, for being here and for your service. admiral mullen, in response to a couple of questions you have affirmed that the 30,000 troops is of what general mcchrystal wanted for 2010. i guess we don't know what he wanted in total and perhaps when we see him next week we can see what that total number is. unless you can tell us what his total request was. but in the meantime, we have 30,000 that we're looking at. can you help us understand what the makeup of that 30,000 is? how many combat brigades, how many people we trainers -- what kind of enablers are going with it and particularly because you've already talked about the stress on enablers and the difficulty of moving some to iraq to afghanistan and their quick turn around, can you give us the idea of a 30,000? is the strategy complete enough for that? >> actually, with the decision as recent as it is, the details out through the 30,000 -- the further you get to the right and the timetable, we've got some more precise work to do. but up front, it's clearly regimental combat

mr. klein is recognized. >> thank you very much. how are you?thank you for being with us today and thank you for your service to our country. difficult challenges, and we appreciate you taking these challenges on. general mcchrystal, this week when you testified before the armed services committee, explained that the taliban may react to the arrival of reinforcements with a shift of a symmetrical tactics, suicide bombers, increased use of improvised security devices. can you share with us, what are we doing to prepare our troops who are already there to confront these types of asymmetrical threats and what are we doing to get the afghan military to prevent these as well? >> congressman, on the direct tactical end, we are doing extensive training on combatting improvised explosive devices. we're using a number of technical means from engineering technical, reconnaissance, drones and whatnot. we're using human intelligence as well. so we're doing the tactical things to try to combat the problem as it already arises. i think more widely, the real w

> the gentleman's time has expired, and i recognize myself for two minutes and then i will go to mr. kleinas our final opening statement. let me just say that it particularly secondary limbs and investor interest which my attitude is where there is a will there is a way. i think these are things that can be worked through. another issue is appraisals. this seems a constant issue working for difficulties in loan modifications because some properties will overvalue on the we have and because there's little activity at the ground level right now the appraisals are coming in while and not necessarily reflective of the value. again this is something that is deepening the problem and prolonging the agony. last i want to point out that in many cases banks are also sitting on foreclosure proceedings. so they don't have to miss a surly right on the acid or take title and step in the shoes of the bar and that is creating another problem in the communities because people are not keeping up with mortgages, not keeping up with taxes and with their homeowners' assessments and condominium assessments and

mr. klein is recognized. >> thank you very much. how are you? thank you for being with us today and thank you for your service to our country. difficult challenges, and we appreciate you taking these challenges on. general mcchrystal, this week when you testified before the armed services committee, explained that the taliban may react to the arrival of reinforcements with a shift of a symmetrical tactics, suicide bombers, increased use of improvised security devices. can you share with us, what are we doing to prepare our troops who are already there to confront these types of asymmetrical threats and what are we doing to get the afghan military to prevent these as well? >> congressman, on the direct tactical end, we are doing extensive training on combatting improvised explosive devices. we're using a number of technical means from engineering technical, reconnaissance, drones and whatnot. we're using human intelligence as well. so we're doing the tactical things to try to combat the problem as it already arises. i think more widely, the real

mr. klein: thank you, madam speaker. this week i had the chance to meet with some of the survivors of the s.s. st. louis in florida. this is a memorable and moving experience that provides each of us with a powerful lesson about our past. as you know, the s.s. st. louis carried nearly 1,000 jewish refugees from nazi germany in 1939 and shamefully, the united states and other countries turned the ship away. its passengers were sent back to europe were hundreds of them perished. we cannot forget this dark moment in our nation's history. we must remember the story and share it with the next generation in order to keep our promise of never again. i'd like to associate myself with resolution 111 passed by the u.s. senate which recognizes the tragedy of the s.s. st. louis and honors the memory of the passengers who lost their lives. i join my colleagues and continue to pay tribute to those who do not survive and express my gratitude for the opportunity to join them in person this week. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro

. >> may i make one response to something mr. klein said it? >> he already did runoff, and we of the courtesy -- we want to get mr. perlmutter in. >> i would like to start with mr. green. he has had his hand up for a couple of times. if you share what you were going to share, and then i will launch into my tirade. >> thank you, mr. perlmutter. two things -- what is i wanted to a ballot, because at the beginning of my remarks, i did not acknowledge that i'm a lawyer. in this discussion about how decisions will be made, mr. chairman, you have raised the issue that some tough choices are going to have to be made, and i would like to, again, try to focus on some of the prior housing considerations, public policy considerations, particularly embodied in what was treated as one of the three legs of the school to promote the retirement savings of the -- created as one of the three legs of the stool to promote the retirement savings of the american worker. the public policy was to encourage employers to create plans to put funds into retirement, instead