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Good Morning.  Chairman Peterson and Ranking Member Lucas.

Today, we are holding a hearing to review the Financial Stability Improvement Act discussion draft.  I would like to welcome the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Farm Credit Administration.  I look forward to all three of your testimony and insight today into this legislation.  

I have heard the concerns of my constituents and from the vast amount of agriculture groups on this issue.  Unfortunately, this proposed plan furthers government regulation into our private citizen’s lives by giving the Federal Reserve the authority on systemic risk and financial stability, and gives the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) the authority to help “systematically significant” institutions rather than allow them to go into bankruptcy which is more efficient and does not expose our taxpayers to such financial loss.  This legislation will be detrimental to our national debt and to the taxpayers as it creates further government bureaucracy by creating a permanent “bailout fund” to be controlled by the FDIC and gives tremendous authority to unelected government bureaucrats with the creation of a Financial Services Oversight Council. Companies and corporations who are deemed “too big to fail” will not be allowed to do so and will be able to access the “bailout fund,” which will be funded at the taxpayers’ expense.  In a July 20, 2009 Bloomberg article, Neil Barofsky the Special Inspector General for TARP stated, “U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies…”   American International Group (AIG) is a prime example of this.  The taxpayers through the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have spent over $135 billion to keep AIG intact.
 
In addition, the language under this legislation reaches into the Agriculture Committee’s jurisdiction and assesses Farm Credit Institutions to cover the cost of troubled financial institutions under their jurisdiction.  I believe Farm Credit Institutions were not the cause of the current financial crisis and should not be penalized for the bad practices of the ones who were.  Furthermore, the language under this legislation puts the Farm Credit System in the hands of the rules written by the Securities and Exchange Commission as opposed to the Farm Credit Administration.  This provision will remove this committee’s jurisdiction on oversight of the underwriting and risk retention requirements for agricultural loans that are securitized by the Farm Credit System and Farmer Mac.

House Republicans, meanwhile, have come up with strong solutions to help our troubled financial sector.  We have found a way to bring fiscal responsibility to our federal government and to the men and women on Wall Street.  The solutions we have brought forth will bring an end to the reckless bailouts; it will look to restore fiscal responsibility and all the while protecting the taxpayers.  One of our Founding Father’s Thomas Jefferson once said “A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.”

Thank you and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the House Committee on Agriculture to make certain that this committee takes jurisdiction on these issues under this legislation to ensure it protects our American farmers and the lending systems they use.  Our financial crisis and economic woes should not be resolved by further government intervention and bureaucracy, especially on our American farmers who produce the safest, most economically viable food in the world.