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You have been given many new responsibilities under the recently passed Dodd/Frank Act. These new responsibilities are vital to protect consumers and shareholders and to ensure that past abuses are not repeated. Unfortunately, you now have to implement your many new mandates without the necessary resources.

This is basically a current services" budget, with a 1.4 percent increase from 2010 generally permitting the agency to operate at the same level from 2010 through 2012. But Mr. Assistant Secretary, as with the rest of DHS, you have been asked to tighten your belt this year with regard to a number of your agencys programs."

I am very pleased that your budget embraces the VASH homeless veterans program by providing $75 million for an additional 10,000 vouchers. This funding is needed as veterans are over 50% more likely than the average American to become homeless and already over 11,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have found themselves on the streets.

Thirty years ago, President Reagan affirmed that international financial institutions and I quote 'have contributed enormously to the spread of hope of a better life throughout the world community. They have been inspired by the ideal of a far better world in which economic growth and development would spread to all parts of the globe. For more than three decades, they have worked toward these goals and contributed to results that are now clearly visible to all.' Those words still hold true today.