Political Quotes

“I wish to take a few minutes to lay out where we are on this effort to do reform of the financial structures of our economy. It has been a long undertaking and I will not take a lot of time and I will not go into great detail. But I thought it might be helpful for my colleagues and others to get some sense or a feel of how things are progressing. So I wish to share some thoughts on some major issues we are grappling with. I wish to begin by thanking the 22 other members of the Banking Committee. About one-quarter of the Senate is seated at that table in our Banking Committee hearing room. I wish to thank every member for their work. We have been deeply involved now for well over a year--more than a year; a year and a half--on the issue of how we should shape the regulatory structure of reform. This year we have had somewhere around 80 hearings, listening to a broad range of experts and others who have brought their thoughts and ideas, not to mention the informal meetings that occur outside of the normal hearing process. It has been a very long undertaking, and worthwhile. We have been trying to examine the causes of this problem that has been so devastating to our country and to others outside of our country--the economic near collapse--and then, from that experience, trying to shape and set up policies that will fill in those gaps that led us to this problem.”