Chairman Bernanke, would you agree that the municipal credit market is still in distress?

The Social Darwinism espoused there would basically throw municipalities and States in the United States into the ditch.

If we do not want to see this economy contract further, we need to help municipalities and States access credit.

I would hope that this committee would act to intervene to help municipalities in a time of need.

We have to create a business model for the Post Office that is viable.

The future is not going to look like the past with respect to postal services.

The future of the Post Office is at stake.

Well, that is good to know, Mr. Chairman. And I am sure it will come as a relief to the work force.

We must seize this opportunity to explore steps that we can take to protect the Nation from this or future pandemics.

If I may interrupt you there, that is contradictory to the evidence presented to this committee.

I applaud this legislation. I particularly applaud the leadership of our colleague Mr. Van Hollen from Maryland.

I think they need to be put on an exchange. I think they need to be standardized, and there needs to be a lot more transparency.

If it's possible to get us data for the record in terms of that list of people who qualified for bonuses and/or got bonuses, and how many of them left the company or stayed with the company?

Those instruments are more appropriate for large commercial banks and investment banks that have the skill sets.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

My time is probably running out. But let me ask a final question.

How much did AIG get pumped into the company directly from appropriated dollars from this body?

I look forward to working with the Committee to provide these additional protections to our men and women in uniform.

By my estimation, these are simple requests for us to fulfill given the tremendous sacrifices we ask of these individuals.

It is scandalous that the Federal Government provides a pittance for transit service to the national capital region.

With a new administration and a pending transportation authorization bill, I believe that we can jump start extensions to transit service here in the national capital region.

We also need to understand how we can move to extend Metrorail service in our region.

Though many may not be familiar with the acronym WMATA, it is absolutely essential to the operations of the Federal Government.

For the past 8 years, we have had to work with an administration that appeared to be ideologically opposed to funding extensions to transit systems.

I know my time is up, Mr. Chairman, but I can't help but observe on the tragedy of 9/11...