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Remarks as Prepared: The Committee will please come to order.  We gather this morning at an extraordinary and perilous moment in our nation’s history. The landscape of our nation’s economy has been radically re-shaped by the United States government over the course of just a few days and in a totally ad hoc manner.  Companies that form the foundation of our financial markets are shrinking and disappearing practically overnight.  Their insatiable appetite for risk has permeated all sectors of the financial services industry, and has spread beyond our shores.  It has felled giants like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers; brought others to their knees like Merrill Lynch, A.I.G., Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac; prompted the largest thrift failure in our history – IndyMac Bank; and eliminated the final two independent investment banks – Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

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Prepared Remarks: Last month’s war between Russia and Georgia began in the small region of South Ossetia, but it cast a shadow that crosses continents.  In the aftermath of the conflict, the United States and our allies face serious new challenges. 

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Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, held a press conference today to discuss the economic crisis and recent turmoil in the markets. Click the link to the right to hear a recording of his opening statement. A transcript is below.

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Remarks as Prepared: The Committee will please come to order.  We gather here this morning to examine once again the condition of our nation’s infrastructure and proposals for needed improvements to it.

When the Committee last gathered to examine this critical issue, we considered the perspectives from individuals who held expertise in public and private financing, civil engineering, labor, and business.  They were unanimous in voicing compelling support for increased investment in our nation’s infrastructure and for the need to develop and implement alternative ways to finance this critically important investment in our nation’s future.

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Remarks as Prepared: Good morning.  Today, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs is meeting to hold a hearing entitled “Turmoil in the U.S. Credit Markets: Examining Proposals to Mitigate Foreclosures and Restore Liquidity to the Mortgage Markets.”  Last week, we had an excellent hearing to look at one result of the turmoil we are experiencing in the capital markets – the decision of the federal government to commit $29 billion in taxpayer money to rescue Bear Stearns.  Today, we are focusing more on the other end of the spectrum – the impact of the crisis on homeowners.

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Remarks as Prepared: Today, this Committee will carefully consider recent actions taken by our federal financial regulators in response to the ongoing turmoil in our markets and our economy.  Much of our focus today will center on a period of 96 hours—mostly over the weekend of March 15^th and 16^th.  During this momentous 4-day period, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Treasury Department took dramatic and unprecedented action to stabilize our markets, to infuse them with liquidity and to prevent additional financial firms from being swept under the riptide of panic that threatened to have taken hold of our markets.

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Remarks as Prepared: The Committee will please come to order. We gather here this morning to examine an issue of paramount importance: the condition of our nation’s infrastructure, and proposals for needed improvements to it.

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I’m proud to be here with the National Peace Corps Association, to honor a cause that has done so much to shape my life—and the lives of so many people in this room.

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Remarks as prepared: I’d like to thank you all for coming to this important hearing on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. For 27 winters, since 1981, LIHEAP has helped millions of people pay their heating bills and keep their families warm.

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Remarks as prepared: I am pleased to call the Committee to order. Today the Committee will hear testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the outlook for the nation’s economy, the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy and the status of important consumer protection regulations that are under the Fed’s jurisdiction. This is Chairman Bernanke’s second appearance before the Committee this year. Mr. Chairman, it is good to have you.