Chris Dodd: “I defer in some ways because my distinguished friend and colleague from Florida served as an insurance commissioner for…”

“I defer in some ways because my distinguished friend and colleague from Florida served as an insurance commissioner for the State of Florida. We asked the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to respond to the proposal. All I can tell you is that in this letter from the NAIC, the last line of their letter to me says: At this time-- Again, they are working on the issue. My colleague has conceded that point-- the State regulators already have the ability to address this issue, making additional Federal oversight unnecessary. I don't know what else you do. I do not always agree with them on every point. But it seems to me if the State insurance commissioners are satisfied that they are in a strong enough position to deal with this, whether or not they do in each State, I don't know what else you do. I know my colleague knows there may be some who are less strong than others on this point. But the choice is either relying on the existing structure to set rates or set up a new operation of the Department of the Treasury, for maybe 12 months--and we all know how long that could take--even if you wanted to defer to the Department of the Treasury. We could spend months with them putting together an apparatus to do so. Again, if the intention here is perfection, I am not the guy. This is not the right bill. If you are asking those of us who sat down to try to work and fashion something that we think would be the right step forward, then I think we have done it here.”