Chris Dodd

Well, do you talk to the regulator about this?

Time is our enemy and now it is a function of getting the resources in place so the solution can be fixed.

We have to have a robust private market, and the only way to have that happen is to fix the servicer problem and now is the time.

I have raised it several times here, but the question of why we have not been able to come up with some answers

So you encourage them to do it. But again, I come back to the first question I asked you. Why do you not demand it of them?

Well, let me urge you to keep at that.

Well, who is standing up? I think Professor Eggert said it. You have got the investor and the homeowner that are here, and the two entities here that are being taken to the cleaners in the process.

That is not a great answer here.

I mean, the confusion, this seems like a fairly simple one we might resolve.

Every person represented on this table here today is a member of the Financial Services Oversight Commission

I will miss you as well. I want you to know that.

We have not always agreed on every issue, but he has been a gentleman.

I think it is more related to economic factors like unemployment or housing price declines as to the States that are experiencing the greatest level of foreclosures.

We are in a crisis with this.

We want to figure out a way that it leaves the whole situation much better than when the mess started.

Well, I was going to say, I am going to turn to Tim Johnson, then Senator Tester, and I am going to forgo any questions I have.

I will also, at the appropriate time when we have a quorum, ask the Committee to fulfill its obligation of voting on the Diamond nomination to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

The fact that it is at 14 percent speaks of another larger--coming down to the point where whether or not someone is in default or not, that is the end of the process.

We need to examine the activities of the law firms that work for the servicers.

We need to examine the role of the regulators here.

We need to determine the extent of the problem.

We created the Financial Stability Oversight Council to examine exactly this kind of issue.

The Committee will come to order. Let me first of all thank my colleagues and our witnesses for their patience and indulgence.

The legislation does not authorize the regulators to impose margin on end-users, those exempt entities that use swaps to hedge or mitigate commercial risk.

It is at risk in my view until we get someone in, running the place and demonstrating what it can do.