Mike Johanns

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

If you can be very quick, because I am out of time, Ms. Wilson.

In every possible way you can think of, we have asked the Fed if they have this authority. Very consistently, the Fed has passed. They have said, 'No, we do not.'

I know you feel very passionately about getting this right. That is what we want to do.

I do want to make a very important point today. First of all, I want to say thank you to the Chairman for his efforts.

Congratulations on the Farm Bill. It was a remarkable achievement.

Do you know of any breach notification requirements in the health care law?

That is kind of a bad deal, no matter how secure you are, because at the end of the day, if those folks are not facing the possibility of prosecution, they are just going to keep going.

Would the majority of attacks then be coming out of Eastern Europe that are foreign attacks?

It looks to me like Eastern Europe or substantial parts of Eastern Europe are a sanctuary if you are a hacker, because the chances of being sent over here to face prosecution and conviction and jail time are probably nonexistent.

I think it is really important from my perspective, being part of the legislative branch in this business, that we have the debate before you enact the policy.

We are very proud of that.

I appreciate your comments today about it.

I think the economy has gotten used to the sugar you have put out there and I just worry that we are on a sugar high.

I see asset bubbles. And I think if you were to announce today that over the next 24 months you are going to bring that balance sheet down from $4 trillion to zero, or $1 trillion, I think if you even said over the next 4 years we are…

I think if I were to say to you, Why do you not announce today that you are going to draw this down over the next 24 months from $4 trillion to zero?

The flip side of your policies that you are advocating for are very, very hard on certain segments of our society.

I think there is real urgency here. Yes, the market is improving and maybe some would think that takes the pressure off. It should not take the pressure off.

I would argue that it is a gigantic step in the right direction in a whole bunch of areas.

The only way this bill is going to pass is it has to be bipartisan.

We applaud the supporters of S.1217 for including this key element, especially Senators Jon Tester and Mike Johanns for their leadership in this area.

I always said to Congress, give me flexibility. I do not like one-size-fits-all.

I think the problem I alluded to in my statement was the credibility of that no backstop, and my suspicion is it would not be credible, so we would be back to an implicit guarantee.

I do not think they are up to standard. They are 1940-1950s style hospitals.

I would go as far as to say that not only is it quality today, it continues to improve and in some areas it is trendsetting.