Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in deference to the chairman, I will be brief. But I come because I feel compelled today because of the two amendments this body will be dealing with: one is the McCain amendment and another amendment later in the day dealing with underwriting. So I will save the remarks on that for when those amendments are pending. I agree with Senator Chambliss, and I commend Senator McCain. I come from a lifetime in the real estate business. So what I talk about, I do understand its cause and effect in the marketplace. We cannot have responsible reform of financial services and leave out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. One of the reasons that, along with Senator Conrad, I created the Financial Markets Crisis Commission--which is now meeting, by the way, and will report back at the end of December--is I knew there were pervasive and redundant failures in the system that brought about what became a cataclysmic collapse. I understand the chairman has been under great pressure to bring this legislation forward, and I have great respect for the chairman and appreciate his work. I wish we had waited until the Financial Markets Crisis Commission reported, but we have not. So let me just for a second address Freddie and Fannie and the McCain amendment. Freddie and Fannie filled the void the savings and loans created when they failed in the late 1980s. There are a lot of people who will hear this speech who will remember savings and loan days.…”