I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I don't know if I am going to use the whole thing, but this must be Bizarro Congress because I'm about to agree with the Chamber of Commerce. I've been listening to my colleagues on the other…

The problem that I have is that the American people do not understand this.

As the richest country in the history of the world, we should not have undrinkable water in any corner of this country, and yet we do.

At the end of the day, I just don't see the logic of arbitrarily closing budget holes on the backs of the most vulnerable families in our community.

The whole reason I supported the creation of this agency is that there were too many agencies doing their own little work in their own little silo.

I will tell you unequivocally that I think the creation of the CFPB is a good thing for America.

I believe it is a severe abuse of a confirmation process. The confirmation process should center on the qualifications of an individual, not on attempting to change the underlying bill.

Honestly, I was listening to the chairman's questions, and paper work for a justification is all well and good, but the truth is I don't judge most agencies by what they say they want to do. I judge them by what they do, the EPA included.

I have actually voted to cut some EPA funding in the past because I don't like some of the things they have done.

But up until now, you have--the last I heard, you are about $150 million below the cap which is, give or take, 20 percent, maybe more?

But as you are getting started, remember that Congress wrote this law kind of going forward, too.

We can always go back tomorrow, change that statutory authorization, and make it any number we choose.

I would certainly like to know about it.

the gentleman from Kentucky, has stated that his goal is to make Barack Obama a one-term President

I am not afraid of regulation, but that can't possibly work.

This proposal today is a good proposal. It is something that is long overdue and I congratulate the chairwoman for submitting it.

Regulation is important, and if we are going to get a bipartisan deal done here, I think we need to be factual and we need to understand that some regulation is very important.

I know where you were, and I know you were coming down, but you were still in the 30 to 1 ratio when you left the firm as well.

I guess my question is--which I know you won't be able to answer--who else was doing this?

One of the reasons why the money would be moved offshore because those rules are different there.

I am not suggesting that you were doing anything other than what everybody else was doing.

The regulators didn't find a serious problem with it, just a little bit of a problem.

I think it's--I personally think that's where it's going to end up.

If you want to look at facts, let's look at the compliance costs, which are now 30 times what I was told they would be on this committee when that bill passed.

But for the sake of discussion, I also presume that as a bankruptcy trustee, you were collecting information on all creditors, not just customers, is that a fair assumption?