Congress questions Lehman Brothers CEO

Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings Richard Fuld Jr. said that his company's fall could have happened to anyone because "nobody expected such decline" in the housing market. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) said that while Fuld claimed this could have happened to any company, "it didn't happen" to other companies.

Fuld said that Lehman Brothers's capital was in good shape on September 10, five days before the company filed for bankruptcy. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) called Fuld's account of the fall of the company "implausible."

Fuld said closing the mortgage business of Lehman Brothers down would have been a good idea in retrospect, but others would have considered that "irrational" at the time. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said that companies had taken the business of mortgage lending, and "put it on steroids."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said that the previous compensation packages Fuld had accumulated (Fuld said he received about $350 million in compensation while at Lehman Brothers) should be given to the shareholders of the company. Fuld said he suffered financially from his company's bankruptcy considering he was "the single largest shareholder."

Fuld said that while he gave the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) high marks, "the overall regulatory system has to be redone." Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) said that the SEC was either "unable or unwilling" to regulate companies such as Lehman Brothers.

The future of health care

"How could McCain get a Democratic Congress to pass his plan with an unregulated insurance plan?" and "How could Obama pass his plan with the current financial crisis?" Joanne Silberner the Health Policy Correspondent for National Public Radio, began a panel by outlining each of the presidential candidates individual health care reform plans.

According to last week's poll by the Los Angeles Times asking readers which candidate was best fit to take care of health care, Obama received 54 percent approval, while McCain passed with 25 percent. Obama's plan would mandate employers to cover their employees and mandatory for children. McCain's plan would cause employers to lose their tax exclusion and would leave the current tax and insurance system intact.

Dr. Uwe Reinhardt, a professor of economics and public policy at the Woodrow Wilson school, showed GDP charts that spanned the past four president's terms and estimated the expenditures to reform not only health care, but the whole insurance market approximately $298.7 billion. Reinhardt said that America cannot afford the changes necessary for universal health care, "We can no longer afford to be our brother or sister's keeper."

Dr. Robert Moffit, senior fellow of the Heritage Foundation, said that America is "doing many things right" as far as health care goes. He said that the U.S. is a leader in medical science and technology, as well as pharmaceuticals and vaccines. He said the real problem with America's health system is really its financing and tax policy. His conclusion was that health insurance must become accessible for individuals regardless of employment.

John Rother, the AARP's Executive Vice President for Policy, outlined five necessary elements for the health care reform discussion. He advocated a federal regulatory agency to oversee health care with congressional oversight. He also had a warned for the next president, "Unless health care reform is luanched in the first year of the President's term, it is not likely to succeed."

Republicans counting down to American energy independence

"This is America, we know how to do this job ourselves," said former Congressman Bob Schaffer today at a Republican energy independence rally, counting down the days to Americas energy independence. All agreed that Congress' legislation last night was a mistake and will only bring America further away from being energy independent. The Republicans agreed on this issue is being created by Congress through energy limitation bills.

According to the Republican America should stop seeking foreign sources of energy and instead use natural resources on American grounds, saying Americans should use more of their own fuels. They also said that even if the Democrats agrees on drilling on American soil it's still not on the 85% where American reserves are located. "We're giving jobs to Saudi Arabians and Russians and Venezuelans, and those ought to be here," said Sen. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.)

Homeland Security's $15 billion dollar problem

"A casual look at some of the Department's efforts lead to disturbing findings," said Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-MI) during a house committee meeting on the mismanagement of the Department of Homeland Security.

"Five-million-dollar- a-mile for a fence...cards that can't be read; ships that don't fit into ports; formaldehyde laced trailers that make occupants sick, and an information sharing program that law enforcement personnel do not want to use."

Thompson explained that the combined total of these, and other, failed projects reached almost $15 billon.


Deputy Chief of Procurement Officer Richard K. Gunderson and Deputy Inspector General James L. Taylor appeared before the committee to defend DHS, explaining that the department had gone through one of the largest reorganizations in government history and was still evolving and dealing with problems as they came up.

In regards to the claims of wasteful spending, Gunderson countered, "A lot of times these contracts have dealt with what I call pre-production environments, where we're dealing with a lot of design and development, and testing. And we're qualifying things before we move out into production. I think it's the same thing you would find at DoD."

However there has been doubts whether or not DHS have been fixing the mistakes they've encountered.

"There haven't been changes in our recommendations in the areas that we have discussed to date," said Directory of Acquisition and Sourcing Management for the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

"I think that the fact that process has been in revision since 2005 raises questions about if there are serious impediments that are keeping us from making this process a little healthier than not... I guess I'm hoping we start seeing a little more closure on some of these activities."

Culture Warriors

“As Marines we must be able to navigate the human terrain as well as we navigate the physical terrain of the battlefield,” said Brigadier General Richard M. Lake, during a House Armed Services committee hearing on transforming the U.S. Military’s foreign language skills, cultural awareness, and regional expertise capabilities.
The military representatives described a series of new programs aimed towards making U.S. forces more effective in dealing with different cultures, including financial incentives for Reserve Officers Training Corps students willing to study new languages, actively recruiting those who already have skills in foreign languages, and the creation of a personnel database that includes active members, retirees and separatees.
The Department of Defense contends that these steps have been successful. In 2001 there were 1,400 students studying Arabic, Persian, and Chinese at the Defense Foreign Language Center. Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel for the Air Force Joseph M. McDade, Jr. says that over the past seven years those numbers have doubled. There has been a similar increase in Foreign Area Officers (FAO).
“In 2001 there were 1000 army FAOs, and 149 Marine FAOs. In 2008 those numbers were 1,600 in the Army, Marines, and Air Force,’ said McDade”.