We have established an early warning system so that we never again find out that a financial product or practice is unsafe only after it has already undermined the stability of our economy.

It is a great question to ask, Mike, on this, because for years, in fact, it was the independence...

It is at risk in my view until we get someone in, running the place and demonstrating what it can do.

But like the Glass-Steagall Act and the Securities and Exchange Act, it will require very good, competent, energetic regulators.

What we have done with this legislation is to eliminate the gaps, the overlaps, and the shortfalls that allowed some financial actors to game the regulatory structure.

Getting people familiar with just basic math techniques and balancing a checkbook... can contribute significantly to this.

it is essential that the liquidation rules make clear to equity shareholders and unsecured creditors that they, not taxpayers, are at risk when their company fails.

I express my gratitude to my friend and colleague from Iowa and his terrific work. He, along with so many others, brought us to the point that has defied administrations and Congresses for more than half a century. Together, we were…

We cannot legislate morality, and goodness knows we cannot legislate wisdom.

Thank you very much, Chairman Bair, and thank you again for your tremendous involvement over these many, many months.

Thank you as well for your insistence over the years on financial literacy.

The work is not done at all. Hardly a mission accomplished.

we are well on our way to putting this, 'badly needed' Dodd-Frank Act into effect.

It was never my intention to have the U.S. Senate, the House of representatives, or the Congress as a whole do the job of regulators.

Today Senator Ensign and I have submitted a resolution designating October 21, 2010, Lights On Afterschool Day. Lights On Afterschool brings students, parents, educators, lawmakers, and community and business leaders together to celebrate…

Today Senator Grassley and I resubmitted a resolution designating the third week of October as National Character Counts Week. Last year, Senator Grassley and I worked together on the issue of character education, and I am pleased to…

the absence of capital and the needed availability of liquidity that this Administration does support an extension for another year.

I believe 5 percent is what we were debating at the time.

I would hope my colleagues would take a look at this in the next 2 weeks.

It seems to me again it is not our business here to hire and fire people at the SEC, but in light of what went on it seems to me that people may have left.

I guarantee you in my absence Senator Shelby will want to be informed, Senator Johnson will be, and other Members of this Committee.

Those three hearings contributed to reforms we included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The findings of the SEC's gross negligence in the IG's report are not the only troubling aspect of the SEC's conduct in the Stanford case.

The Dodd-Frank bill was one step in a long journey to righting this ship, giving the SEC more power, doubling its funding over 5 years, and having periodic GAO reviews.

The Committee will review the Inspector General's Report on the Commission's failure to stop the Stanford financial fraud in a timely manner.