Many feel as though if you could do something on principal forgiveness, making it possible for that value, the equity to be able to increase and exceed the value.

I want to commend Senator Merkley for his leadership in his State and on this Committee.

FHA has been absolutely critical to stabilizing this market.

The cosponsorship of this bill is available to members, and Senator Isakson will welcome anyone who wants to join us in this effort.

It almost seems we have no memory on these things because it comes back over and over again and people just seem to believe these things are going to continue to escalate.

I want to particularly welcome our colleague from Georgia, Senator Johnny Isakson, whom we will get to momentarily.

But we also recognize that we have got to reform this fundamentally, and how we do that is still open to some debate.

Historically, safety and soundness, an important function, always trumps consumer protection.

I applaud the fact the Administration has now gotten some 500,000 families into trial loan modifications.

The fact of the matter is, when they had the authority, they never did anything with it.

We're talking about whether responsible homeowners will have the access to the home loans they need to realize their American dreams.

I would hope for something that is either clear about what the limit of Government support is...

I begin with the presumption that I would like to figure out how we could do it without doing that.

Ultimately, we will only succeed if Iran's leaders are persuaded to cooperate or face sustained, progressively intensifying multilateral economic and diplomatic pressure on their government--including tougher sanctions.

Our efforts to convince Iran to change course will be more effective if we act in concert with others.

I think all of us in talking about additional pressures--that we not lose the support of the average Iranian.

Today we confront a serious threat to our nation's security and global stability: the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.

If Iran were to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, it would pose a serious threat to peace and security in the Middle East, especially to our close ally Israel.

The President has also made clear that his patience is not limitless on this.

Our patience is not limitless.

We have been joined by a couple of our other colleagues here, and I want to turn to Senator Schumer.

This is a constructive beginning, but it must be followed by constructive action by the Iranian government.

I think it is important on issues like this that the world understand, particularly the Iranian government understand, that our patience has run out, that this has gone on too long and that we are running a great risk if they acquire these…

This is not something that we enjoy doing, and obviously working with you--and I appreciate your response, Mr. Secretary--is exactly the mood that we intend to engage with you on.

For too long, women have gotten the short shrift in development and foreign policy.