I do wish we had taken more time to do the work we needed to do to understand the issues instead of just, as Congress typically does, acting like we did something great.

I look at Dodd-Frank as an incredible exercise of laziness by Congress where basically Congress punted all the tough decisions to regulators.

Dodd-Frank was basically put in place and rushed the way that it was to create clarity in the markets, and anything but that has happened.

I also believe this system will help us hold insurance companies accountable for covered losses rather than forcing taxpayers to foot more of the bill through the deeply indebted National Flood Insurance Program.

I believe this proposal will provide more structure in the marketplace, which should increase the availability of insurance and competition, thus driving down premiums over time.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Grassley. Let me thank each of you and Senator Leahy, as well, for the courtesies you have extended to me as we have gone through this process.

I see today's hearing as an important milestone in making real progress in this direction.

I just wanted to note how pleased I am to be here alongside my colleague, Senator Casey.

In fact, Senator Johanns and I have introduced legislation that would deal with this which would really specify and make it clear that this requirement would not apply to end users.

I think it is very important that we do this in a very cautious fashion.

I do think it is--and I know this does not directly affect you gentlemen. My understanding, though, is that the promulgation of the regulations does create the possibility that end users will have margin requirements in some cases, but not…

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for deciding to do this hearing.