Jon Tester

I think this is, by far, a very pro-consumer piece of legislation.

I want to call to order this hearing of the Securities, Insurance, and Investment Subcommittee.

I certainly look forward to working with Senator Johanns and many of our witnesses today and others in getting this legislation across the finish line.

Yes. From NARAB, the first one.

Have you been able to quantify in terms of time or money the cost which the current system ends up costing consumers?

I thank the Subcommittee for its efforts on agency licensing reform and look forward to working with you all on S. 534.

Absolutely. Well, thank you, Senator Johanns.

This legislation, S. 534, has once again been introduced in this Congress by Subcommittee Chairman Jon Tester and Ranking Member Mike Johanns.

I think it is doing it in spite of us.

We really need to tackle this problem, and I think the time is right.

I think many of us agree that we need to bring back more private capital to mortgage markets and to bear additional risk to better protect taxpayers.

Anything that would put them at a disadvantage would be a death knell for rural America.

I certainly believe there are some areas of bipartisan agreement on this issue with housing finance reform.

At the end of the day, nothing was done, and the folks who could have been arrested and sent back to their country because of being unpapered were not.

What I hope we can do is work toward a system.

I would just say that this really is an issue, from my perspective, that deals with leadership.

I hope that there are opportunities to expand this, whether it is done through cooperative agreements with the Canadian Government or whether it is done by ourselves.

I have long thought that deployment of military-grade radar would be very positive along the Northern border.

The Ruth Moore Act already has bi-partisan support. It can and must be passed in 2013.

I think it is very, very important to get access to those records ASAP.

We may want to visit about that.

There should be an independent panel to take a peek at what is going on.

That is not your problem. That is our problem, to make sure that the DOD steps up to the plate.

It seems like every time I go to a Committee meeting and look across the way to Senator Heller sitting there. We have very similar Committee assignments.

The problem was not with the DOD, it was with the VA.