We got involved in them, frankly, because there is no clear resolution authority, in the United States for dealing with systemically critical failing institutions except for banks.

We are going to be very tough on them to make sure... they take whatever drastic steps are necessary to restore themselves to profitability.

It seems more appropriate, given the close relationship between the Federal and State governments, for that to be the locus of addressing those issues.

We would be delighted if the Congress would pass a substantial resolution regime that would create a set of rules and expectations for how you deal with a firm of this type that is failing and leave the central bank out of it entirely.

Honestly, Senator, I think it is not up to me to make that judgment.

The Congress needs, in my opinion, to set forward a much more elaborate version of FDICIA.

I think we want to get as much certainty about the policy going forward so people understand the rules.

If we hadn't had the TARP money in October, we would have had a global banking crisis.

I do believe that once the economy begins to recover, we will see improvements in financial markets.

we want to keep the option open to buy Treasury securities if we think that is the best way to improve the functioning or reduce interest rates in private markets.

I think 'zombie' was not an appropriate description for any of the banks.

I think a complete recovery would require a global recovery and that would require----

Well, if they were all tied to the stock market, that would certainly be a problem, right.

There is no commitment by any means to never shut down a big bank. Absolutely not.

We need to think hard going forward how we are going to address that problem, but right now, we are in the middle of the crisis.

I do want to join with my other colleagues and commend the crew.

I'm here today to point out the fact that this is not bipartisanship. This process that is -- we're engaging in is not smart, we're not working together.

It should have an independent judiciary involved in making that decision beyond the executive branch.