Bob Menendez

I am going to share some cases with both of you.

Even in a healthy economy, 300,000 people file new claims for unemployment insurance every week.

No, thank you very much for sharing your story, and I am sorry for your wife's loss.

What policy responses do you think make sense based upon those findings?

Bank of America fully supports the Making Home Affordable program.

It is very simple. All the training in the world--there is one simple statement to anyone who works for you. You do not have to be delinquent in order to be eligible for the program.

I walk away from this hearing not better informed about what that is going to be and I think that is a serious flaw in what you are doing.

But we hear this all the time.

I want to echo Senator Warner's remarks. That is not enough. There have to be consequences here.

We need a little transparency and we need some information here in order to establish what are the right benchmarks.

What about the VA and home equity loans?

Time is not on our side. More importantly, it is not on the side for families of this country.

If it was just community banks, we would not be in trouble.

But at the end of the day, if we allow millions of people based upon incentives that move individuals to try--entities to try to move individuals to products that are good for the lender and/or the broker but bad for the consumer and…

Are you saying that the proposed legislation that the Administration advocates is going to reach to those previously unregulated entities?

Regulatory policymakers for consumer protection should not be divorced from the responsibility for financial institution safety and soundness.

But one thing that troubled me about the bill, however, was that it fails to chart a course toward lowering emissions in the transportation sector.

Getting it right is important, but the possibility of existing alongside transit, taxi, subway, ferries, all exist.

I would be remiss if I ignored Mr. O'Toole's views that, in fact, we are wasting our money in transit.

It is another means of transportation, which is important, but it is not without subsidy.

Empty buses are a disaster. Empty trains are even more of a disaster.

Thank you all very much for your testimony.

I urge you to keep transit in mind.

I have been in those meetings with you and you have made some forceful arguments for a longer-term extension, a full 6-year extension--renewal, I should say, reauthorization.

Thank you for inviting me to testify today.