I think those funds were being used for public purposes. And they have now been diverted to essentially private purposes by building up the capital of the banks.

I think the Home Loan Banks do an excellent job overall. And I just want to say thank you on behalf of my constituents and myself for what you have done.

I believe the government has a role to play in drawing lines, saying, 'You can't cross this line,' for a lot of people.

Recognize that the success of dedicated funding, financing methodologies, and partnerships are all dependent on the identification and stability of long-term supporting revenue streams.

I happen to think that, no matter what the number is, I think our infrastructure system is crumbling, and we are turning into a Third World country over time.

Is there anybody on the panel that disagrees with the statement that we need to put more money into our national infrastructure needs?

I am very proud that we restrained the kind of credit default swaps that AIG engaged in with no ability to repay.

Nothing in that bill tightens them.

The fact is that I never said there was nothing in the bill that would restrain businesses.

I want to be clear that simply providing more funding is not the entire solution to successful NextGen implementation.

I think we ought to stop and think, who is creating the uncertainty, and be honest about it.

And I commend the FAA under the leadership of Randy Babbitt and others for making progress in several key areas of NextGen.

I certainly agree with those. It seems like we ought to move off center and get to going.

the future is too important for us to play partisan politics here and for us to talk about how much we have to save and not spend.

Going forward, I believe that it is important for us to have an open dialogue with labor and industry stakeholders as well as the FAA and other Federal agencies.

However, because many of the NextGen programs are dependent on one or more systems, delays in one program mean delays in other programs.

If we are committed to our shared goal of spending taxpayer dollars wisely and efficiently, I am concerned that significantly cutting funding levels for NextGen will move implementation dates back even further.

I would just like to welcome the people who are going to give testimony today, the members of the panel.

I appreciate your opinion, but I would respectfully disagree, based on--and there is no perfect process...

It strikes me that the process of ethical review within the SEC at the time was the shortcoming.

I actually commend you, Madam Chairwoman, for accepting the fact that you made mistakes.

I read the report and I actually think it is pretty clear.

The victims of the Madoff scheme deserve to know that the SEC's decision in this case was not tainted by conflicts of interest.

I would say having Ethics report to the Chairman is not a good idea.

Everybody make mistakes. Even I have made an occasional mistake or have interpreted something wrong.