Mike Johanns

I have joined with Senator Bennet in introducing S. 1216. We call it the Improving Job Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2013.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Is there a conflict waiting to happen between NASAA and what we are trying to do with the JOBS Act?

It has broad bipartisan support, it has Presidential support, and these days in Washington that is a bit of an unusual creature.

The JOBS Act, which is the topic today, is a law that truly had bipartisan support.

It was supported by 73 percent of the U.S. Senate, and it was endorsed by the President of the United States.

I would like to challenge you, as you are seeing this implementing and as you are working with those who are taking advantage of the JOBS Act, to keep us in the loop on what might be next, what is working, what is not working.

It was supported by roughly 90 percent of the House. These days that is remarkable.

Ordinary Americans will bear the brunt of the damage if our leaders do not prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt.

Let me be very clear: We need to meet our obligations and not create any uncertainty that we will do so--on time, every time.

Default would also put the United States in the category of reckless debtor nations that have broken their word in the markets.

We must pay our bills on time and in full; then we must carefully manage our future spending and bring down our debt to a sustainable level.

I hope the legislation passes; I am one of the cosponsors.

I want to make certain that in any GSE legislation we are not committing the mistakes that have been made in the past.

Housing is the first item on the list every meeting I have ever had with them.

I do not think anyone on the panel is looking to this area of the real estate economy or industry and trying to make the claim that you were the problem.

There needs to be a different fashion than forcing the lenders to allocate resources where the loans have a higher potential of going bad.

I think we have a window of opportunity here, but I think that window closes for a whole variety of reasons.

I want more market forces involved in this.

I would suggest in a pretty bipartisan way members listed the 30-year mortgage as one of the things that they would like to preserve at the end of GSE reform.

It needs to be means-tested so that we are really only helping those that need the help.

It should be money that comes in on the side of that.

I think that is going to be one of the ways to go forward on affordability.

We have tried with S. 1217 to make sure that their interests are protected.

I think that would be a mistake regardless of which number we pick.