mr. stevens while i have you here. it is a question related to your tenure as the commissioner of the federal housing administration. as i understand fhfa is required to have a capital reserve ratio of 2% and for the past two years the fha's capital reserve has been below that figure, so given that number and fha's critical role in the housing market are you confident that it can continue to be a source of funding for low and moderate income borrowers? >> well, as you said senator other members of the panel have said there is a critical -- particularly first-time homebuyers and most data shows that in the first-time homebuyer market fha is making up the vast majority of those -- of the funding because because the loan-to-value requirement. the other variable that would highlight his fha is one of the few entities in the housing finance system that has operated entirely on its own ability within its own capital. ever that capital did drop below the threshold of 2% on the capital reserve ratio, and the actuarial studies

mr. stevens and i'm pleased to welcome him back to the committee one more time. marcia griffin is the president founder of palm pre-usa which is a nonprofit homeownership development foreclosure intervention and financial empowerment organization. ms. griffin was moved to found home for usa after working at a loan servicing center and witnessing first-hand the abuses that many families were subjected to. her experience will be informative for the committee and i thank her for her presence today. mark is the chief economist at moody channel is where he conducts research and analytics. his recent show researchers look at the cause of mortgage foreclosure personal bankruptcy as well as appropriate policy response to bubbles in asset markets. he has been quoted widely by major media outlets and has appeared for many of the senate committees as well as this one and we are thankful to have his expertise with us again. dr. anthony sanchez is a professor at george mason university in this briefly taught at the university of chicago university of texas ohio state universi

mrs. noleten and daughter ann and son steven.se] we are proud to recognize general petraeus' devotion to our country and we wish him happiness and prosperity in his well-earned retirement. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, deputy secretary william lind. [applause] >> thank you and welcome. admiral mullin, distinguished colleagues, civilian and military side of the department of defense, members of congress, the diplomat corps. of course general petraeus, holly and steven, mrs. noten. it's a true honor and pleasure to be here to celebrate the historic career of one of america's finest soldiers, general david petraeus. general petraeus and i have a lot in common. we both hold graduate degrees from the woodrow wilson school of princeton. each of us worked in the pentagon in the 1990s. general petraeus follows five mile runs with rounds of pushups and pullups. i too am known for my athletic endurance. i follow hours of watching football with repeated rounds at the sports center. general petraeus began his career in the shadow of vi

mr. steven clemons, partner, k. and l., and former deputy chief of litigation counsel, division of enforcement with the sec. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> glad to have you. i've read all your testimony and i believe all of it is of value as we try to determine with the sec what's the best approach, and a collaborative effort. former secretary, u.s. securities and exchange commission on behalf of the u.s. chamber of commerce. >> good afternoon mr. chairman. thank you for inviting me. >> thank you. welcome. we have assembled this panel because we believe all of you have valuable insight into what direction both the commission should go in and the congress and addressing it. the honorable harvey pitt, chief executive officer, and former chairman of the u.s., securities and exchange commission. it's great to have you back. always enjoy your testimony, your insight. mr. j. w. -- assistant professor of law at george mason university who of law. and this is your first time to testify as a witness for the majority? >> as a

mr. stevens, while i have you here it's a question related to your tenure as a commission of the federal housing administration today as i understand, fha is required to have a capital reserve ratio of 2%, and for the past two years the fha capital reserve has been below. so given that number in the critical role in the housing market are you confident it can continue to be a source of funding for the low and moderate income borrowers. >> as you said, senator and other members, that is a critical resource for providing financing particularly to the first-time home buyers and most of the data shows in the first-time home buyer market they are making of the vast majority of those of the funding because of the loan to dalia requirement. another variable i would highlight is fha is one of the few entities in the housing finance system that has operated entirely on its own ability with its own capital. however that was stressed a good job below the threshold of 2% on the capitol reserve ratio and the actual real studies of the last couple of years have expected that the capitol ratio would gr

[applause] >> secretary lynn, general petraeus, holly, steven, anne, mrs.d guard. this is a place that both sanctifies our past and he recalleds our future, -- heralds our future, and i cannot think of a better location to pay tribute to two national treasures, dave and holly petraeus. i know dave and holly are pleased to have their children, anne and steven, here to share on this occasion. anne, an accomplished graduate like hermon is attending graduate school at unc, and first lieutenant steven petraeus, mit class of 2009, recently returned from a highly successful employment in afghanistan as secretary lynn shared. when steven called his father in baghdad to tell him he wanted to go into the army, dave's first reaction was a smart one. he said, you better call your mother. [laughter] then steven told him, dad, i did. she told me to call you. [laughter] i'm glad my house is not the only one that works that way. [laughter] steven, well done, and welcome back, but after hearing a little about the year you've had, i have to wonder if your big sister's planne

mr. potato head come off like steven hawking at this point. >> i have to agree with you miller why anybodyn the middle of this intense debate would talk about prom granite plants anz he wand to get back there when the country that is a $14 trillion debt i think we should go to his house and rip up the prom gr granites. >> half of the pomegranates think he is whacky. they want a balanced budget anything but that. we want balanced not that balanced. >> i don't know. if somebody were coming here from mars they would say riley you and miller made that up. he didn't really say that. no, it's true. president obama turning 50 tomorrow. going off to chicago for a big fundraiser. top ticket 35,800 to hang with the president in a birthday celebration. you say miller? >> i say thae very definition of leading a political life when you end up on your nearest and dearest moments the most personal evenings with donors. >> that should tell you all you need to know about the ramble that is politics. you take your 50th birthday and you start hanging out with donors. i am hoping somebody gives him a tea cake

mr. president, is the conversations that i've had with steven and other parents who said, you don't knowally know what this does, not just for our kids but for us whether we can invest a little time in other siblings or in each other. and how important that is to having a productive healthy family. we are determined to figure out how to grow this program. president buell: i was going to say, stating the obvious but i think we ought to put in our goals a way to fill that camp with everybody that would like to go. commissioner harrison. commissioner harrison: what's the age? range you can accommodate now? >> up to 12 years old. 8 to 12. commissioner harrison: so you're looking forward to -- >> sorry, 6 to 12. as steven said, the goal would to go older. i'd leave that up to vicky and the other staff to determine how best to do that, whether they want to expand both older and the numbers or just expand the numbers and the age range that we have now. president buell: thank you. barring any further questions, could we get a motion? >> so moved. president buell: seconded. all those in favor. ay

mr. potato head come off like steven hocking at this point. >> bill: i have to agree with you miller, whyle of this intense debate talking about pomegranate at his home and he has to get back there when the country has a 14 trillion-dollar debt. i think we should go to his house and rip up the pomegranates. no, that wouldn't be fun. >> at this point half the palm grant that thes think he is an idiot. they asked for a balanced thing and the republicans say okay we want a balanced budget amendment and they say anything balanced except that anything but that we want balance, not that balanced. >> bill: i don't know. the stuff looks -- if somebody were coming here from mars they would say oh, o'reilly he didn't say that miller made that up. no, it's true. president obama turning 50 tomorrow and going up to chicago for a big fundraiser. top ticket $35,800 to hang out with the president on birthday celebration. you say, miller? >> i say that's the very deaf nation of hollowness of leading a political life when you end up on nearest and dearest moment on your most personal evenings with donors.

mr. president what are you going to do ♪ >> you heard it here first. stevensis latest song "mr. president" not even available on you tube yet. >> he's great and he's a big supporter and lover of the fox newschannel and we know he's watching right now. ray stevens got it right when he asked mr. president, what are you going to do? he's emphasizing the importance of doing something like setting a goal and time management, something personal finance expert dave ramsey who has been sitting right there very patiently in the box knows a lot about and joins us right now. he's the author of "entree leadership" and joins us live from nashville. good morning to you, sir. >> well, thanks, good morning, guys. >> great to have you. >> thank you. >> let's talk a little bit about this. you are talking about, you know, taking control of the situation and setting goals, right? >> absolutely. you know, goal setting is an old fashioned thing. most of us that have been to a sales seminar or been to a self-improvement seminar somewhere have learned how to do that, the very basics

the department of defense, members of congress, the diplomatic corps, general petraeus, holly and steven, mrsral petraeus and i have a lot in common. we both hold graduate degrees from princeton. each of us worked at the pentagon in the 1990's. general petraeus avalos 5 mile runs with rounds of pushups and pulps. i too am known for my affleck endurance. i follow hours of watching football with repeated rounds of "sports center." general petraeus began his career in the shadow of vietnam. he will be remembered for his leadership in the decades following 9/11. in over a week, will mark the 10th anniversary of that decisive moment in american history. we will remember those we have lost and we will salute the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen who emerge from this crucible to stand among the generous -- the greatest generation in our nation's history. this has been defined by that date in these wars. 5 million of them that served in uniform, 2 million in combat. their service has changed the course of world events. no one has played a more important role leading this new gen

mr. baucus: they include jane beard, sarah babcock, madeleine forbes, steven simpson, jonathan goldman. mr. president, in 1934, president franklin delano roosevelt said, and i quote -- quote -- "no country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance." end quote. president roosevelt said these words at a fireside chat nearly 80 years ago. our economy was slowly on the path to recovery after suffering the worst national crash in american history. and roosevelt had turned his focus to helping the permanent army of unemployed. those are americans that didn't have jobs. his resulting investment in america's human resources put millions of people back to work. today we face a similar situation. after a significant financial crisis, our economy is in tough shape, our economic recovery is fragile but improving. housing foreclosures have slowed. investors are looking for new opportunities. we have a long way to go. 14 million americans are still looking for work. 14 million. that's just unemployed. if you add

mr. president. colleagues, i am welcoming home and outstanding san francisco educator who has made strides to cover the gap before under privilege stevens students. peter left gateway to become the chief of staff of the california charter schools association. after retiring in 2009, he realized he had more to do. he has traveled overseas, traveling to rwanda to found a girls' academy boarding school in an area that suffered from the hostility between the hutus and the tutsis in the 1994 genocide. he developed a curriculum and programs that have resulted in great progress for the school population. due to his hard work, the academy opened with 90 girls. within three years, the school was fully enrolled. the mission of the academy is to prepare students for college while reducing impediments for young women to complete higher education. students are provided nutrition as meals, mental and emotional support, and an adequate learning environment. the services are there to help address the reality that currently only 13% of young rwandan women make it to secondary school, and the mission of the academy is to create long-term systemic change

mr. monk, i am looking right at you, and they are even. he did a perfect job. you're even steven.

mr. speaker. just as john paul stevens warned that the supreme court's ruling in citizens united threatened to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation. how right he was. since the court's decision last january corporate special interests have had unprecedented freedom to spend on our elections. in fact, campaign spending by outside groups surged to more than $300 million in the 2010 election cycle and are already off the charts for this cycle. likewise state laws that limited corporate bank rolling of candidates have been struck down. look, mr. speaker, we have unprecedented challenges in front of us, but how do we make the tough choices on the economy, on taxes, on protecting the vulnerable and investing in the future and creating jobs? we can't stand idly by while deeply flawed interpretations of the constitution are used to obstruct our democracy rather than guiding it. putting lobbyists and piles of cash into policy and elections. it's time for the people's house to stop the madness and so this week i join with house judiciary committee ranking member conyers to reintroduce

mr. prime minister, honorable members of the senate, and members of the house of commons, thank you for that incredibly warm welcome. as you said, steven, this does remind me of home. it's just a little bit bigger. [laughter] and a lot better behaved. [laughter] >> translator: i thank you for the great honor that you have just bestowed upon me by inviting me to address this historic parliament. >> should have proceeded that with the warning churchill gave in a wartime broadcasts when he said, "take care, be careful, i'm going to speak french." [applause] [laughter] let me begin in this place by paying tribute to jack laton, o live ya, his family, his energy and optimism were above politics, and i know he'll be missed by all those who serve here. [applause] [applause] one of the things i'm finding about this job is whenever country i visit, members of the royal family have got there first. [laughter] i think that the duke and duchess of cam bridge, or will and kate as you call them here -- [laughter] have set the bar high this time. it is a symbol of the importance of the relationship between our two countries and long standing affectio

steven bradbury memo. they claimed it's waterboarding that produced information that led us to it. waterboarding did not start until august of 2002. a couple weeks before. still, july/august of 2002. mr. padilla was in custody after an international manhunt in may of 2002. so unless you have a time machine, you're having a problem, you know, with keeping the timeline straight. >> and when the enhanced interrogation techniques and waterboarding for happening to zubaydah, you called fbi headquarters in washington to say -- >> yes. >> to say either i leave or i'll arrest him. are you talking about arresting the guy who was doing the enhanced interrogation technique? >> i was angry i guess. >> but the fbi told you to leave? >> yeah. >> saying that we don't do those kinds of tactics? >> we don't do these kinds of things. the order came from director muller. and the fbi since then as an agency did not get involved in any of the so-called special techniques that were applied on some of the high valued detainees. >> we'll be right back with more from ali soufan, his landmark new book "black banner" is just out today. >>> my hand started shaking. i didn't know what to think. this is september

mr. kim dennever is the deputy assistant for the army for procurement, and steven pressfield is -- stephen townsend is part of the pakistan and coordination cell. pursuant to hearing, all witnesses will be sworn in before they testify. please rise and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth? let the record reflect the witnesses answered in the affirmative. thank you. in order to allow time for discussion, if you would please limit verbal testimony to five minutes and whatever materials and statements that you have for the record will be submitted in its entirety. we'll start with mr. motzek. you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, good morning, mr. chairman, ranking member, congressman lynch, i wish i wrote what you just wrote. i'd like to tie myself to your remarks as well. thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today and discuss the efforts of the defense department to reduce and control contracting corruption in afghanistan. this is an update to our testimon

steven mcgraw and claire green. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, what i'd like to do now is take a couple of minutes to talk about the amendment offered by the distinguished republican leader, senator mcconnell, to extend trade promotion authority, what is known as t.p.a., for two years. i am certainly interested in working with the leader on this, certainly chairman baucus has made it very clear that he wants to continue to work on this issue. but i would oppose the mcconnell amendment this afternoon. i want to outline specifically why. the last time the congress passed trade promotion authority was in 2002. essentially almost a decade ago. the mcconnell amendment would simply continue the congress' instructions that were formulated back then. as i said, almost a decade ago. but the fact of the matter is, the american economy has changed dramatically since t.p.a. was adopted last. and the overseas trade barriers have changed dramatically. and yet the mcconnell amendment simply hasn't kept up with the times. and what i want to do is just

steven guerrero is the oldest student in the household. >> the family that goes to school together -- >> oh, perfect. >> the headlines usually mention the poor economy, one that hit mr hard. after more than 20 years in the real estate business, he was laid off in 2008. this year, he decided to go back to school to get an executive mba, hoping to improve future job prospects. >> what has been the most challenging part about coming back to school? >> well, certainly been getting acclimated to the classroom and to the workload. it's pretty intimidated coming back to school after so many years. >> with an intimidating price tag to match. it will cost him $87,000 after two years. >> one may say it's risky. i don't see it as risky. i think it's calculated action. what it does garn me is that it positions me for the future, opportunities that will come about or an opportunity for me to do my own thing. >> the math has to make sense, especially for older workers considering returning to school. the calculation is simple. does a new degree, student debt and future earnings all add up? >> you got all the knowledge in your head. >> it's an equation that made sense for 49-year-