mr. scott: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2661. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will -- mr. scott: as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2661, a bill to amend title 18, united states code to increase the penalty for violations of section 119 relating to protection of individuals performing certain official duties. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, and the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scott: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: the court security enhancement act add

mr. scott: i ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the legislation under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scott: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: this resolution recognizes the historic significance of the civil rights baseball game in cincinnati, ohio. i want to commend my colleague the gentleman from cincinnati, mr. driehaus, for introducing this legislation. the civil rights baseball game is an important event and deserves to be recognized by the house of representatives. the third annual civil rights baseball game will be played in cincinnati, ohio the great american baseball ballpark on june 20, 2009, between the cincinnati reds and the chicago white sox. many celebrities will be in attendance, including hank aaron, muhammad ali, bill cosby, and b.b. wayans. this game was created to honor those who fought bo

mr. scott: this amendment, while i'm sure well intended by the lady would strike a part of the bill waiving dissemination of public diplomacy materials in the united states to make the film "aa fateful harvest" available for viewing. the voice of america's afghanster vis produced this 52-minute documentary examining the markets industry in afghanistan, including poppy growing, opium production, trafficking, law enforcement efforts and the harmful health effects of drugs. it drumets the challenges facing the afghan government as swellwell as our own. it's financed by the department of narcotics and nat law enforcement affairs. the film has been viewed in their country. it has been on the voice of america's website and in six separate parts on youtube. mr. speaker, voice of america has received several requests for a clean copy of the documentary in its original high resolution. and in one single piece for viewing at u.s. venues because of the film's educational value. among those seeking access

what to call mr. scott. -- at this time, i want to call mr. scott. then i'll call mr. hunter. mrs. romer is going to be allowed to leave the committee under our arrangement of getting here here today. then we will hear from our second panel. mr. scott? >> i wanted to follow-up on the

. >> we will now here from mr. scott. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the chairman for holding this important hearing concerning fannie may and freddie mac. this continues to be of utmost concern to our economy. the collapse of these two mortgage giants had a profound impact on our whole economy. i want to hear more about the risk of a prolonged economic slump and how long the g.o.p.'s plan to proceed in the future as well as their current conserve toreship situation. i am further interested in hearing what the federal housing agency has to say about the future of s.c.e.'s, and what this agency believes they should or will look like down the line, especially as mortgage markets continue to face turmoil. there are many 80's and proposals regarding the direction in which g.s.e.'s should take from making them a government entity or absorbing them into another government entity, such as the f.h.a., to splitting them up into multiple g.s.e.'s to privatization, and simply eliminating all implicit and explicit government backing for mortgage-re

airplane and some things seem to make commonsense right now, but i d0y the pleasure)-of introducing mr. scotturer this morning. mr. maurer of a 30-year-old flight -- a 30-year-old who was in in the flight crash. he was born and raised in redding, pennsylvania, where he and his wife daughter raised their daughter. he currently lives in south carolina. i appreciate him taking the time to come to washington. i think this is his third week here and i know this is very difficult for him to continue to recount this tragedy in public as well as private. mr. maurer comes before this committee this morning as a representative of over 150 people and the families of the 3407 group. they've come together as a result of the terrible tragedy where the goal of making changes in the airline industry and the faa hoping to keep an accident like 3407 from happening again. and saving many other families the sadness that they are continuing to endure. mr. maurer is joined by his wife teri and lauren's boyfriend. i appreciate the work of the maurer and all the families of the victims of flight 3407 as a father of

meeks: i yield one minute to the the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: first of all, i would like to commend mr. meeks, the gentleman from new york, for his long service in this area of bringing attention to bringing equality to the cultures of central america, south america and latin america. he is to be commended. madam speaker, the united states and brazil are strong partners with a common history and ancestry that unfortunately includes experiences of slavery, racism and discrimination against citizens of african heritage. still the united states and brazil under the joint action plan are looking to learn from each other's experiences in order to combat racism and promote equality and education, culture, health and sports. madam speaker, because combating racism and discrimination requires constant dill gans, i support the gentleman's amendment which would move towards that end. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: how much time do i have remaining? the chair: the gentleman has one minute remai

mr. scott, may i add a comment to that? going back to the chairman's opening statement, there are some aspects of insurance, some lines of insurance and in our okay reinsurance where a financial regulator would in fact enhance the kind of relationship at the consumer level you want, the lack of a federal regulators calls outs for the problems associated with international agreements, focus on international insurers and reinsurers doing business in the company. i would suggest even suggesting your promise about the consumer concerns, there's still aspects of regulation, where a federal regulator would enhance that. >> however, may i add to that? the ultimate consumer protection, congressman, is when your constituent pays a premium and doesn't have a claim for several years that the company is not only able to -- not only around to answer the telephone but able financially to pay the claim. reinsurance is an essential part of solvency and solvency is the core mission, core purpose of consumer protection in each state. and for

. >> mr. scott from virginia? >> thank you, mr. chairman. we just -- the gentleman from texas just showed a chart that showed how bad things have gotten since 2000 and what he didn't show -- show the first chart -- is how we got there. this chart shows that when the clinton administration came into office, we made some tough choices and ran up a surplus that was to be surpluses as far as i could see kind of locked into the budget. in 2001, that's when the budget deficit exploded. the next chart shows the fact had nothing happened after 2001, we had a $5.6 trillion ten-year surplus. and because as the gentleman from texas has shown, that's gone into additional deficit. in fact, his chart, if you think back to the chart that he showed, showed less than a $4 trillion debt held by the public. we had enough ten-year surplus to pay off the entire national debt and in fact it was projected to have been paid off by last year, all of the debt held by the public, if we hadn't messed up the budget. so i think the entire budget process should be shown,

mr. scott: thank you very much, mr. speaker. and thank you very much, chairman berman, and to mr. pence for this very timely resolution. this is a time of great thought and deliberation and concern of what the united states must do and say. our words have got to be carefully calculated to make sure that they are seen as not meddling, as not trying to tell it the iranian people what to do because quite honestly, mr. speaker, the iranian people have already spoken. they have decided. and i believe that it's in our responsibility, if we hold true to the principles of our founding fathers, as i was coming over on the floor, i was thinking what i could say, and the words of our -- one of our great founders and patriarches beams very deem in my heart as i think and watch the news reports of what is happening in the streets of tehran. when that great patriot said, give me liberty or give me death. that is why the united states of america cannot be silent. it is our foundation. i was reminded of the words of thomas jefferson, when he wrote that all men are created equal and are denied --

we'll hear from the gentleman of georgia mr. scott for one minute. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i think this is of course a very important and timely hearing. the issue is, of course, i think what is the systemic risk as relates to our insurance industry. and where and how is it best regulated at state or federal level? but i think that the major mod thael we are using, aig, is flawed at its best because as we look back at it, what caused the problem with aig was their financial products division based in london, which again was regulated at the federal level. so the question becomes, if we use a federal charter or regulate insurance at the federal level, would that have prevented the situation at aig? i think going forward we have to be very careful to make sure that the points we take into consideration are these. that we have the sound consumer protections in place. that we also do not deter competition. that we do not bring on ulation is the way to go? i think there's a lot to be said with making sure that we have regulations at the state level that works. thank yo

i do have the pleasure of introducing mr. scott maurer, who is the father of a 30-year- old who was in the 3407 crash. he was born and raised in at reading, pa., where they raised their daughter. he currently lives in south carolina. the appreciate you taking the time to come to washington. i think this is his third week here, and i know it is difficult for you to continue recounting this tragedy in public as well as private. if he comes as a representative of over 150 people -- he comes as a representative of over 150 people from the 3407 group. they come with the goal of making changes in the airline industry, the faa, hoping to keep an accident like 3407 from happening again. and saving many other families the sadness they are continuing to endure. he is also joined this morning by his wife, terri. i am deeply impressed with the work of the maurers and all the families of the victims of flight 3407. as the father of four and grandfather of two, i cannot begin to imagine the pain that comes from tragically losing a loved one. it

it will also hear from the air line pilots association and mr. scott -- scott mauer representing the families of the continental express flight 3407 which crashed on february 12th of this year in new york. i do want to say as well as mr. this hearing and that i had intended it and wished to have representatives of the carriers themselves at a hearing and so we did not accomplish that today. i am not minimizing and all other representatives of the 80 a but i will wish to expand invitation and have representatives of the airlines themselves here within the next month or so. it is important i think that they wouldn't accept an invitation to, and so i will extend those invitations again. in this country i think it is safe to say that we have a remarkably safe system of air travel. it is not my intention with hearings about aviation safety to alarm anyone about taking a flight to on a regional carrier when our carrier. we operate aircraft all across this country everyday and provide critical air service to many people who would not otherwise have that kind

mr. scott: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. chairman, thank you very much. this is really the most critical, the most important piece of legislation facing us right now. the situation in pakistan is very ten with us. it is a -- tenuous. it is very critical. we have before us a very significant piece of legislation that has been expertly crafted. yes, trade is a part of it because trade is important at this time to make sure that we are able to help sustain the economy of pakistan at this very critical time. pakistan is in a fragile situation. military aid is in here. yes, because pakistan needs this. but we have the safeguards here because let me just -- the other side mentioned something the other -- a little while back about the department of defense and their role. let us go back,

mr. johnson, for yielding, and chairman conyers, chairman scott torques mr. issa, and the entire judiciary committee and the house leadership for recognizing the importance of this legislation by bringing it to the floor today. mr. speaker, while our soldiers fight in iraq and afghanistan, many citizens across our nation are facing terrorism right here at home and right in their own neighborhoods. people are being murdered in broad daylight and their kill remembers walking free. because we do not protect witnesses to crimes from threats against their safety, if they cooperate with the police f. they testify in court, or even if they are listed as witnesses to testify in court. this epidemic of witness intimidation is a menace to our civil soing and a plague on our entire justice system. in fact, it was the deaths of angela and carnel dawson and their five children, ages 9 to 14, that first motivated me to address this issue. i can remember very vividly sitting at a funeral with two adult caskets and four children. one adult casket and five children and then a

caller: good morning, mr. scott wilson, your newspaper and all the other liberal media seems to forget the were over 4000 american soldiers who died in iraq. it is right next toiran if i'm not mistaken. do you think that head anything -- that had anything to do with the change for people can see next door what is going on, other than just words from that speech that obama gave? guest: i have not forgotten that. i spent a lot of time in iraq. but the caller raises a goodpoint. yes, i think that iran -- not only is iraq on one side, but afghanistan is on the other. u.s. troops are on both side ofiran. i am sure iran feels a great deal of pressure because of that, however, -- and please, do not mistake me that i think the speech has changed the world in iran. it is one of many factors. iraq, afghanistan is another factor. the new world of electronic media is another factor. there are many factors going into this. i do believe the iran has worked very hard to influence events in iraq over the last few years precisely fo

mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. holt. we strongly support the amendment that would require the secretary of state to make recommendations to congress on the kinds of change needed to the hague convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction and where applicable to united states law. mr. speaker, the purpose of the hague convention is to ensure that in situations where a child was wrongfully removed from his or her country or habitual residence by one parent against the will of another parent, the agreed -- the aggrieved parent has an internationally recognized means of recovering his or her abducted child. unfortunately, many american families have come face to face with the very real limitations of the current hague conventions and their efforts to recover parentally kidnapped children taken to other countries. such as we case of the high profile case involving mr. david goldman of new jersey whose son sean was kidnapped by his wife in 2004. this case is largely -- has largely languished in brazil's cour

mr. scott of georgia is recognized five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to see to things because i think from various conversations during the first part of the hearing just to make clear we are all capitalists. we believe strong in the capitalist system and the reason this committee is moving in exploring this issue is because we care about the capitalist system and the capitalistic system is not manifested just with ceos. it is not structured to take care of them have first. the capitalistic system is geared with public interest. it is geared with shareholder interest. what we are concerned with particularly in the financial sector, is the health of our economy at the heart of the health of our economy is basically a our financial service industry. and so, what we have here in dealing with this issue of compensation and the role it plays in a systemic risk is that there is a valve clogging going on and we need to examine this so that this heart, the heart of the system, the financial system, does not in danger itself with a heart attack. a quad a

mr. scott: with that i support the bill and urge my colleagues to support this important bill. thank you, mr. chairman, for your work. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expire. the gentleman from texas. mr. barton: i yield myself 15 seconds before i yield to mr. pitts. we just experienced something somewhat revolutionary. we have a bill before us that has a placeholder in the bill. we are passing a bill with a placeholder to be determined later. i have never seen a final passage on a bill that had a placeholder in the bill. with that, mr. pitts a member of the committee, from pennsylvania, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. mr. pitts: like all of us, i believe we should work to decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere and be good stewards of the earth and its resources. i do not believe it will accomplish a dramatic decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. yet i do believe it will have a crippling effect on our economy for years. no matter how you doctor or tailor it, it is a na

andrews and mr. scott were talking earlier about the kind of cost shifts that take place when people don't have coverage. and we released a study that the president cited last week that showed that in 2008, the cost shift, the hidden health tax if you will, for those who have coverage to pay for the uncompensated healthcare costs of theéí uninsured in 2008 was $1,017h0ñ and i would suggest t this year it's considerably higher because more people lost their jobs and in the process Ñ÷ñ their healthcare. it's probably closer to $1100. this plan also ends insurance company discrimination. you no longer can be denied coverage due to a preexisting condition. when you get coverage you're not going to have a loophole so that everything is covered other than your preexisting condition. it means that insurance companies are not going to drop you or raise your rates due to the filing of a claim. it's going to mean thatñ post-claims underwriting that happens all too frequently -- that you get coverage and then when

. >> and in response to a question from mr. scott, you indicated that you thought direct government spending was the most effective means by which we would either stabilize jobs or create jobs? >> well, i think it is foreign ha important to have a mix. but upon the immediate impact on the economy, government spending doesn't have the issue that tax cuts do, which is part of it may be saved. but that being said, i think a good mix is useful. >> the stimulus package that was passed had round numbers, $500 billion worth of spending, $300 billion worth of tax cuts, those are round numbers. when that legislation was on the floor, the republican alternative offered was a package of essentially $500 billion worth of tax cuts. can you estimate what the impact would have been had we passed simply a $500 billion package worth of tax cuts as opposed to some stimulus spending? >> no, i really am not able to do that on the fly. in any case, i'm sure part of the motivation for the tax cuts was the incentive effects of tax cuts as well as the direc

and mr. scott cleland is the president of the precursor, llc. again we want to thank the witnesses for their patience and for their appearance before the subcommittee this morning. it is the practice of this subcommittee now that we will swear in all the witnesses. so will you please stand and raise your right hand? >> do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> let the record reflect that all the witnesses have in the affirmative. -- have responded in the affirmative. and now we ask the witnesses to enter into opening statements. and mr. felten, you are recognized for five minutes or thereabouts, ok? so hold the mic in front of you, turn it on and let her rip. thank you. >> thank you, chairman rush, chairman boucher for the opportunity to testify today. my name is edward felten. i'm a professor of computer science and public affairs at princeton university. i'm here as the technologist. i'm a computer science professor and i'd like to explain some of the technology behind behave yearal advertising. the

mr. chairman, to scott alvarez. had a good conversation with lewis just now, he confirms his willingness to drop the m.a.c., opposition to the deal going forward. and to work with the government to develop whatever support package might be needed for earnings announcements dates around january 20. we discussed his common equity issue, we agreed that having a significant amount of t.a.r.p. capital in the form of common equity was not an ideal solution given the ownership implications. but we agreed both to think about possible solutions, a government-backed capital raise or government common with limited control rights, now, it sounds to me liken lewis was concerned about his job and for the american taxpayer to get voting rights in return for their tarp money, mr. lewis would be gone. i believe. is that the concern that you believed mr. lewis expressed regarding the tarp being presented with rights, voting rights, for the american taxpayer in that deal? >> i don't know exactly what his concern was. it may have also

mr. chairman, to scott alvarez. "i had a good conversation with louis. he confirms his willingness to drop their opposition to the deal going forward and to work with the government to develop whatever support package might be needed for a january 20. we discussed the common equity issue. we agreed that having a significant amount of top capital in the form of common equity was not an ideal solution, given the ownership duplications, but we agreed both to about possible solutions, a government backstop of capital raised, with limited control rights." it sounds to me like ken lewis is concerned about his job. for the american taxpayer to get the voting rights in return for their top moarp money, mr. lewis would be gone. is that the concern mr. lewis expressed about the tarp being presented with voting rights to taxpayers in that deal? >> i don't know what his concern was. it may have been concerned about government intervention in the management and operations of the company. >> this discussion. it is what it is. it indicates that mr. lewis was concerned

scott wolf. >> thank you, mr. president. north korea says it should be recognized as a nuclear power. it says that as a precondition for relations with the u.s. and other nations. given its bulletin and response to the recent sanctions and the nature of its nuclear program, is your administration coming to the realization that recognise in north korea as a country that will have nuclear weapons for a long time is one way to go? if so, what influence does that have on your policy options? and to president lee, do you believe your country is currently under threat of attack from the north given its recent rhetoric? >> we have continually insisted that north korea denuclearize. the republic of korea agrees with this position. other allies like japan agree with this position. china and russia agree with this position. the u.n. security council reflects this view. we will pursue the globdenuclearization on the korean peninsula vigorously. we have not come to a conclusion that north korea will or should be a nuclear power. given their past behavior, given the belligerent manner in which the

now we will hear from scott mauer, a representative of the families of continental flight 37. mr. mauer, your daughter, lauren, was a passenger on that flight and it is likely difficult for you to speak publicly on these issues. on behalf of the families, you want an opportunity to do that and i am pleased to give you that opportunity. >> i like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. my name is scott mauer. my daughter, lori mauer was a passenger on continental flight 3407. tomorrow night at 10:17, it will be 18 weeks since our lives were changed forever. the minutes, hours, days and weeks that have passed since this tragedy have been an unbelievable nightmare for all of us. is a pain that you will never know, and one that we hope no one else will face. we believe very strongly the crash did not have to happen, and was preventable. as such, we are here today and we will be here tomorrow and beyond to ask for your help and push for change so that other families can be scared this pain. when my 3-year-old daughter, lori maurer, purchased hurt ticket from continental

scott on the line for republicans. you are on with nelson smith. caller: good morning. mr.th, i think you hit on two things that i see as really important. one is accountability and there is none in the public schools. and then importantly, setting the expectations. i mean the schools -- my son graduated this year, my daughter graduated two years ago from public schools. there is more rules, more rules and more people to enforce the rules. these are high school students, lined painted on the floor, stay on the line, keep their mouth shut. eat in the cafeteria, nobody allowed to talk. that kind of a thing. how are you preparing anybody for anything except prison with those kind of rules? the expectations are set so low, what do you expect? people will perform to where you expect them to. on the accountability side, that is the big problem. that is the difference between charter schools, i think. school boards are not there to represent the parents. school boards are there to protect the administration nowadays, unfortunately. host: mr. smith? guest: school boards are typical

i am scott pattison, executive director with the national association of state budget officers and with is mr. scheppach the, of the national governors association and today we are releasing our fiscal report which we do twice a year. we have been doing this report for well over 30 years now and unfortunately i have to report that these are some of the worst numbers we have ever seen. for example, the first time ever actual spending for the states is going to decline. this fiscal year 09 and fiscal year 102 years in a row. the last time this occurred and the only other time the state's actually had an actual outright decline in expenditures was in 1983 and ousted so little below the line of 7%, let me give you some numbers. state spending is estimated to decline 2.2% in this fiscal year 09 which i think everyone knows and for at most dates of the end of this month on june 30th. ratan we have projected the state expenditures will have and i'll write decline of 2.5% and again that a significant both because this is two years in a row for the first time and also because the numbers are much more

scott was another guy that really hit the ball. rice was so adept at doing that. >> gary: hef field went around. he's gone. >> jim: mr.splitter. get ahead, and we saw what happened. there you go. there's the tumble. it comes out like a fastball, except you split your fingers. and it shows that. the good ones you don't really discern the spin. >> gary: here's daniel murphy. murphy with a potential tying run on at second base. trying to pick up the rbi here. murphy had an 0 for 3 in the ballgame last night. this is the bottom part of the order that because of the injuries is one that pitchers have to after. u't to get murphy, schneider. murphy and schneider are a couple in the line-up you really want to get out of there and not let hurt you. reimold over, he's not going to get it. he hu him. this is a tie ballgame as murphy delivers an rbi single, and church scores. >> jim: last year he came up, out of the minor leagues, he goes 10 for 20, and this is what he did well. you can see matt wieters move up and in and the ball runs out over the plate. so they don't get the ball where they wanted to. >> gary: good job of hit

mr. kasten grew up in new jersey and graduated from new york university and columbia law school. that law degree probably comes in handy when he has to negotiate contracts with agent scott boras, who is representing strawsberg. let's welcome stan kasten to the national press club. [applause] >> thank you, donna. it is always great. >> i see so many friendly faces here in the audience. i also see plenty of media. [laughter] when i do speeches, i often start by asking do we have any media in the room today? and the reason i do, a couple of reasons. first of all, when there's no media in the room i can tell people things that i might not otherwise. but the main reason is you often see people getting in trouble for their quotes, for their stories and the routine, the knee-jerk defense is i was misquoted. let me tell you something. i have been in this business 30 years. that has never happened to me. every time i have gotten into trouble, it is because they have quoted me exactly correctly. [laughter] so i always have to be careful when i am in a group like this. i am heartened that today we have jonathan here. he will be helping decide the questions later, and as theers whi

, beth, juliet, melissa, greg scott on the majority staff with david and daron been gentleman min on the minority staff, pete, ryan on my staff and melissa and megan from mr. simpson's staff have worked hard and have been a great help to the subcommittee staff. in closing, i want to remind members that although the increases i have outlined are substantial, their impact will be even greater. our subcommitt funds programs that span a bod spectrum of issues, from our cultral and natural heritage. our agencies fight fires, protect great water bodies and tend to the needs of the first americans. these programs are vital to every american. they will improve the environment for everyone and work to fulfill our nation's trust responsibilities. i'm proud of this bill and i ask that you support it. and i reserve the balance of my time. . the chair: the chair recognizes the gentleman from idaho for 30 minutes. mr. simpson: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. simpson: madam chairwoman, let me begin my remarks by expressing my thanks to chairman dicks for the reasonable and evenhanded manner in whi

mr. burgess: it's not what i came to washington, d.c. to do. what i wanted to share with the house tonight, "the dallas morning news" runs a column every sunday by dave scott burns. he was quoting an economist in austin economist, laci hunt. er ving fisher saw it first. the man who may have been the greatest american economist wote the theory about the great depression in 1933. excess debt controls all of the economic variables. he went on to say, think about it for a minute. it's a very powerful statement. excess debt controls all of the economic variables. what does that mean? that means we cannot control the unemployment rate. that means we cannot control almost everything is out of our grasp because of the massive amount of debt that we have accumulated. a and on monday the president said he wanted to accelerate the price of spending because we weren't getting the money out the door fast enough. let me reiterate, excess debt controls every other economic variable. it was true in 1933 and i suspect the true is today. i think every member on the floor here tonight has recognized that at one time or another. and the time point, the only thing that will al

mr. paulson kept the sec out of the loop about efforts to push the bank of america merger with merrill lynch it seems to be backed up by the following exchange between your general counsel, scott alvernia as, and a new york federal official. the new york fed official is asked have we conveyed anything to the sec regarding the bank of america situation? the know something's up. how much if anything has been shared with the sec? mr. alvarez said i did discuss with sec. bank of america can plant someone did talk to the sec with a result the sec called late last week to say that they heard the bank of america was negotiating a deal with the u.s. government and to ask bank of america to explain the unexpectedly high losses at merrill lynch. you didn't direct any of those? >> i did not. >> does mr. elder is work for you? >> he does. >> he did this on his own? >> again, i would emphasize the issues at hand didn't directly involve the sec. the involved -- >> are you his boss? >> i'm sorry? >> are you his boss, mr. alvarez? >> ibm. >> what he do something like this, make this kind of statement that could cause these kind of problems without your authority? >> i didn't have any knowledg

mr. scott: thank you very much. i want to thank chairman skeleton for giving me this opportunity to speak on behalf of this important and timely bill. i want to commend president obama and speaker pelosi for the leadership we have provided. madam speaker, i've been in congress, this is my eighth year. for each of these eight years, i've worked hard on this bill of concurrent receipts. i can't think of a more important bill that we could offer at this time as we approach the fourth o-- of july, when the nation sell blates its independence and freedom. at the forefront of that the reason we're able to celebrate this independence and freedom is because of the soldier and our veterans. and we have long felt that it is not fair nor right if our soldiers are injured and disabled and if they have to leave the service, why should they have to choose between a retirement pay and disability? what we're saying with this measure is the right thing to do is to make sure our soldiers have both. i urge a unanimous vote for this. e