Thank you to our panel of witnesses. You are just excellent witnesses and are providing a tremendously valuable service.

I appreciate your emphasis on Brazil, and talking about Brazil. And obviously they've done some remarkable things.

I appreciate that very much.

I think that President Obama's leadership, which has already been manifested in his statement, just 2 days ago, can, itself, be an important new element in firming support for what needs to be done.

We're going to have to make a choice, in a sense. Maybe the political equivalency or the economic equivalency of wearing a hair shirt if we give up this economic path or dependence on fossil fuels that we've been on for so long.

First of all, Mr. Vice President, let me thank you for your 30 years of effort in this regard.

Opening statement of Chairman Dodd

So merely someone saying to you, creating this fiction, in a sense, that FINRA all of a sudden has to stop everything, you cannot--do you believe the--I have read the statutory language, and it seems to me quite clear that the ability to…

We want some action very quickly in this area.

If we missed Madoff, it seems to me we have got to go back and revisit that whole model, don't you agree?

I support all efforts to put road blocks in the way, and speed bumps.

We are terribly disappointed in this particular case for the reasons you have heard this morning.

In effect, then, you become worthless, in a sense. What is the purpose at this point? Creating that kind of a fiction merely then avoids any kind of real supervision.

I would like the SEC and FINRA to report every 3 months to this Committee on actions that you are taking to improve the effectiveness of examinations and the handling of credible tips in order to reduce the amount of investor fraud.

There is a great deal of respect for the work done by people at the SEC.

There seems to have been a glaring missed obligation regarding this matter that went on so long with so many flags being raised.

We must work together to address the challenges we face.

In my view, in the end it all comes down to personnel--good people who are willing to reach out and listen.

The idea that the United States cannot send people abroad to serve our interests, and can become familiar with a language, has just got to stop.

I think there is a sense that there are potential partners here...

I think it's incumbent upon us to find imaginative ways to do that...

I hope, finally, we're really going to do something about it, because it's just--it's stunning, really, the--almost--it's a kind of arrogance, maybe, or something, on our part, that we don't think we have to--but, we just don't know…

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I have a very strong view that the investment in aid programs and development programs, in the long run, is the way that we leave a mark on the world about what America's values are.

Obviously, Mexico is terribly important. But Brazil is as important.