This financial State partnership was riven and destroyed by excessive resort to Federal preemption.

I think a point of accountability somewhere that your constituents can call when they have a question or a problem... is tremendously important.

This proposal would create a new agency, a very strong financial products watchdog and guardian.

Creating a new agency to fight consumer cons and abuse in alliance with the States, the Federal Government can muster more potent and proactive policing and prosecution.

Stronger consumer protection could have stopped this crisis before it started.

That is why I called for the creation of an independent consumer protection agency whose sole focus is the financial well-being of consumers.

These moments are the reason that I and many of my colleagues were enraged by the spectacular failure of consumer protection that destroyed economic security for so many of our American families.

We know now that for 14 years, despite a clear directive from the U.S. Congress, the Federal Reserve Board took no action to ban abusive home mortgages.

Unfortunately, some opponents of this agency have misrepresented its purpose. The Financial Consumer Protection Agency will not 'regulate credit.' It will not make choices for consumers or deny them access to products and services.

As a former United States Attorney, I can tell you that organized crime would offer a better deal.

To those who helped create this mess and now plan to flood the airwaves with misleading propaganda, I have just two words for you: Get real.

Since the very first hearings before this Committee on modernizing our financial regulatory structure, I have said that consumer protection should be a top priority in our deliberations.