Political Quotes

“The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) says that this is political theater, that this is a waste of time. Well, let me tell you that the Financial Services Committee has cut $35 billion of unnecessary wasteful spending. We started with bailout money, $29 billion that Dodd-Frank said, if a too- big-to-fail company goes broke, we're going to pay off their creditors and counterparties. Now, didn't the American people tell us in 2008 and 2009 what they felt about using their money to bail out creditors and counterparties? People that are making $40,000 and $50,000 a year would have to help pay $29 billion. We also do away with the HAMP program. Now, is that a waste of time, doing away with this program? The special inspector general for TARP, the Congressional Oversight Panel, and the Government Accounting Office--the Government Accounting Office, many of those employees are your constituents in Maryland--even the editorial writers of The New York Times said--now, this is New York Times. They said HAMP does more harm than good. It's a wasteful program. Even my Democratic colleagues on the Financial Services Committee said, It doesn't work, but we can make it work. Well, let's shut it down. {time} 1700 $2.8 billion. Is that a waste of our time today? Third, this legislation saves over $5 billion. Is that inconsequential? Is that theater? Because it gives real accountability to a government agency that right now has not, the CFPB. They have unlimited funds.…”