mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator texas. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to have 15 minutes to speak. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quor mrs. hutchison: i ask first to lift the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: and i ask unanimous consent to have up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: madam president, i rise today to speak in support of the thune amendment, which i cosponsored and would put the brakes on the tarp train wreck. tarp was originally conceived to purchase toxic assets from banks in order to clean up their balance sheets and provide them the capability and liquidity to begin lending again. at the time, federal reserve bank chairman ben bernanke said that we were facing the most severe financial crisis in the post-world war 2 era. president bush stated that the unprecedented challenges of such a financial crisis required unprecedented response. without, a the american people would face massive job losses, signif

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? pr recognized. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i rise today to speak in opposition to the nomination of the honorable ben bernanke to be chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. mr. president, i am somewhat conflicted about dr. bernanke's nomination for a second term as chairman of the federal reserve. our nation's economy is still realing from a -- is still reeling from a significant downturn in which foreclosures rapidly increased wreaking havoc on our financial system. markets tumbled, banks and businesses failed, millions of jobs were lost. er ultimately, the american people have borne the brunt of this recession, watching jobs, homes, and life's savings vanish while seeing their hard-earned trasm dollars bail out the bad actors that caused it. that being said, the financial crisis could have been worse t could have turned into a depression and so far we are not there. i believe some of what dr. bernanke did was good. he is an expert on the great depression. he unlieshed an -- he unleashed a

mr. eckels, please. >> it has been a joy working with senator hutchison over the years. our current process. before you buy your stuff for missing mr. boardman. i want to them as a party person for their help on airplanes and their support and assistance. i also want to thank ranking member -- there we go -- ranking member thune and all the senators for being here today and entries that you have in this project and our states and these projects across the country. i believe that this technology will transform transportation and mobility in the united states and i know that i'm by no means disbelief and the comments were hearing today. governor rendell made a good point about high-speed inter- rail service to find a 195 miles an hour and higher. it is we think the most important thing to remember as we talk about high-speed rails as evidenced by the examples around the world. the projects that actually work to provide rail and significant to reduce potential congestion in our crowded skies and highways for reducing carbon emissions and demand for foreign oil. it will creat

hutchison. >> thank you, mr. chairman.m very pleased to be at this hearing and also to have the opportunity to have a texas presence at the hearing because you and i, mr. chairman, have worked for a long time on amtrak. i would say that we have had a very productive partnership in keeping the national part of amtrak also viable. i think that is essential. now that we are beginning to a see the possibilities for high-speed rail i think that it becomes even more important to have the national part of the system also have the opportunity for high-speed rail to connect into amtrak and therefore provide really better synergism and ridership and service to both amtrak and the high-speed rail that i do think will help ease the traffic congestion in many parts of our country. i was very pleased you mentioned the amtrak reauthorization bill last year. the first amtrak authorization bill before this last one was in 1997, and i sponsored that one as chairman of the surface transportation subcommittee. i think we did some great reform

mr. chairman. >> and thank you, senator boxer. senator hutchison? >> thank you, mr. chairman.let me start with judge eckels and just a ask that -- well, let me first state that i hope there will be funding for projects other than those that may be further along than the texas t-bone. and if you could apply right now for federal funding and part of the stimulus, what would you ask for it to do? >> today our biggest need is the market and route and environmental and engineering studies before we go on the ground with a system, we want to make sure it's a system that will be viable, will have the market that will support the system. unlike the east coast we don't have regular service between houston and dallas today. and so to develop one, we need to make sure that we are building the system which could be priced so that we could compete with the automobiles, with the aircraft and also to keep an operational system. i do think bringing the discipline of the marketplace to the system can help set a fair schedule and a construction --w you know, of the technology that will make sen

senator hutchison's, my apologies? >> thank you, mr. chairman.and senator gregg, i appreciate that no. thank you, mr. bernanke, for coming to be with us and what is obvious a been a long hearing, and i appreciate that you're here. during your appearance before the committee in july, we spoke about the effect of the proposed health care reform that it would have on our fiscal policy and the economy as a whole. at that time, you said that when considering health care reform, cost must be an issue. must be the issue. the democrats proposal has now come to the floor. and we see that it has a $2.5 trillion price tag over the 10 years from when it starts, 2014 to 2023. yet, according to cbo, the huge government takeover of health care is not going to lower health care costs. and in fact, insurance premiums for every individual and family will go up. and i think if we're going to look at how we can change that cost curve, we need to have the ability to determine, not only have to do it, but what is going to be the long-term effect of the $2.5 trillion p