mr. levitin, you spoke that you felt pretty strongly about a single director. does it make sense, then to consolidate all the federal consumer financial protection powers at the bureau on the designated transfer date if is no director? >> well, actually, sub title f of title 11 of the dodd-frank act does say that if there is no director who has been appointed by the president on the designated transfer date, the powers go to the treasury secretary as director. so we would have an acting -- we would have the treasury secretary who's been confirmed by the senate exercising the powers at least under sub title f. >> madam chairman, i yield back. >> thank you. i would have to say that if that does, in fact, happen and the responsibilities go to the secretary of the treasury, i would question, is that not postponing, delaying, throwing the whole thing into a more chaotic position which is why i believe we ought to -- and part of my discussion draft, this is something that concerns me because of the length of time it takes to confirm anybody into one of these position

mr. renacci. >> thank you, madam chairman. professor levitin, you actually did change my direction of questioning, also. you talk about bank profitability and you said, i think one of the comments was that's what this was all about. bank profitability versus safety and soundness. you believe a bank losing money is better off going forward and providing safety and soundness to its customers? >> i apologize if you misunderstood my comments. what i said is bank safety and soundness means profitability. therefore, a bank that is not profitable is not safe and sound. but a bank that is less profitable but still profitable is safe and sound. if the bank is only earning a billion dollars a year, not a billion and a half it is still profitable and it is still safe and sound. i think it's important to make that distinction, that less profitable as opposed to unprofitable or exact level -- i don't think should be a concern at all of the government as long as banks are profitable. but the exact level should not be a concern for any of us. that's the marke