I thank Mel Martinez, our colleague and former HUD Secretary for his efforts in that record.

In the rush to address concerns facing the institutions that are too big to fail in this crisis, we must not forget about the threat posed by those that many may well prove to be too small to survive.

I think unlike other times, this moment requires that we have more of an ongoing public conversation about these issues.

The Center for Responsible Lending projects that some 17,000 homes in my home State will go into foreclosure in 2009.

A major source of employment in this country comes, obviously, from small business, and they are struggling.

Perhaps the biggest step the Secretary has taken is the Public-Private Investment Program the Treasury Department rolled out in March.

In my opinion the programs laid out thus far by you, Mr. Secretary, go well beyond what is appropriate and necessary.

The failure to devise... a clear and credible plan for employing TARP has also resulted in a massive waste, some people believe, of taxpayer dollars.

Another thing that the TARP has accomplished is covering up the egregious failures of our banking regulators over the past decade.

I believe that had the Treasury... exercised different judgment and proceeded in a more deliberative and measured manner, the most severe aspects of this financial crisis could very well likely have been avoided.

I fear this situation sets the stage for the creation of the American version of the zombie banks that were a principal cause of Japan's so-called lost decade.