Political Quotes

“Mr. President, 2 weeks ago, we considered the Wall Street reform bill, and the occupant of the chair was a key player in the activities of the Banking Committee that led up to the floor consideration. I offered an amendment during the course of that debate on the Wall Street reform bill. I knew that the basic reason for Wall Street reform was twofold: holding big banks accountable for how they operate and empowering consumers to make good financial choices. The bill Senator Dodd and the committee brought to the floor was a strong one. In the process of taking up and voting on amendments, in many ways the Senate made the bill even stronger. Now a conference with the House is underway, and I look forward to seeing the best Wall Street reform bill possible signed into law by President Obama. During the course of that debate, I offered an amendment to the bill that attracted a lot of attention--more than I anticipated. My amendment sought to give small businesses and merchants and their customers across America a real chance in the fight against the outrageously high swipe fees charged by Visa and MasterCard credit card companies. Nearly $50 billion in credit and debit card interchange fees are collected each year, and this interchange system is entirely unregulated.…”