Jon Tester

Their action--the action by ConocoPhillips--is further evidence of the consensus that withdrawal of these Federal lands is the only path forward.

It is important to make sure that there is a level playing field for all filmmakers and producers to access to these lands where they can practice their profession.

It's all about assuring our kids and grandkids to be able to get to catch a bull trout on the confluence of the North and Middle Fork.

I very, very much appreciate his vision and his commonsense approach to the area.

ConocoPhillips should be commended, commended for their decision and their stewardship of this very unique special place.

First of all, I want to thank Senator Inhofe for his leadership on this commonsense piece of legislation. It simply makes sense to do this.

Today, ConocoPhillips, the primary leaseholder to the North Fork Watershed, has elected to voluntarily relinquish its interest in 108 Federal oil and gas leases covering approximately 169,000 acres.

One of the things that doesn't make a lot of sense to me is why these synthetic--and I know you have got an answer for it--but why these synthetic instruments came about when there is nothing in them.

We are like we are speaking a different language here, and that is not being critical of you...

I have been sitting here trying to really figure out a good analogy of how this happened...

Clearly, the world needs more regulation.

Are you in any way embarrassed that the U.S. taxpayer had to bail out Goldman?

I think this country is in dire need of Wall Street reform and I think that you could add some to the equation.

It is just like betting on a sports event. It is like betting on whether it is going to rain.

It really sounds like there was a failure to disclose information relevant to the parties in the transaction.

I want to echo Senator Pryor's remarks, and Mr. Blankfein, I appreciate you being here.

It was ironic to me that they wouldn't say they worked for the clients.

Even when the markets were going down--Senator Ensign talked about it.

Do you feel confident that the information about each one of these that was about these was given to the investors, all the information that was out there, and the credit rating agencies, too?

Given that knowledge, were you surprised by Mr. Tourre's statement that the Abacus deal was similar to others in terms of quality?

I appreciate that answer. I am just asking Mr. Sparks, after the fact we saw things happening, and every one of these were--it looks like a wreck waiting to happen because they were all downgraded to junk in very short order.

I think there was a credit rating agency that testified--correct me if I am wrong, Mr. Chairman. I know you are busy so you might not be able to--but that said that in the Abacus deal they did not know anything about Paulson; it would have…

Did this change your view of mortgage-backed securities?

I want to know when--look, a lot of these vehicles that were developed were based on housing.

So the housing decline was based on housing prices around the middle to end of 2006.