Political Quotes

“Mr. President, let me basically set the stage on what we are doing in the Senate today and why it is so important. This bill, which Senator Dodd of Connecticut has worked on for months with his staff--1,407 pages--is basically a bill that has been designed to create financial stability in the United States. Even with this great economy we have and all of the financial institutions and businesses notwithstanding, this recession has brought us economic pain that many of us have never seen in our lifetimes and only remember vaguely from our parents and grandparents describing the Great Depression. What Senator Dodd and the Banking Committee set out to do was to basically change the law to establish more oversight of financial institutions to make sure we never get into this mess again. It took quite a few pages to do it. This week, we start considering amendments to the bill, efforts to improve it, change it, and delete sections. It is the Senate in its historic role as a deliberative body. Today, there are no votes and that is why there are few Members on the floor. Amendments will be offered and the votes will start maybe as soon as tomorrow if Senator Dodd and Senator Shelby can reach an agreement. It is worth a moment's reflection to understand why we are here with a bill of this importance and magnitude, which may take a week or more--probably more--before it is completed. The Pew Financial Reform Project recently summarized what we have been through in this recession.…”