Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I stand in support of the Merkley amendment. This is an effort by Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Carl Levin of Michigan to try to strengthen the bill that is before us on Wall Street reform; to try to minimize the types of investments made by banks which could, in fact, jeopardize those government institutions that guarantee the deposits at banks because some bankers make bad decisions and bad investments. What Senator Merkley is trying to do is to reduce that likelihood, which means banks are less likely to fail and taxpayers are less likely to be holding the bag. Senator Levin of Michigan, you will remember, 3 or 4 weeks ago held a historic hearing with Goldman Sachs representatives, including Mr. Lloyd Blankfein, their CEO, to discuss some of their practices. Those of us who know Senator Levin know he is a very studious and thoughtful individual and he doesn't take on complex issues lightly. He spent months in preparation for that hearing, and coincidentally it came up just as we began the debate here on Wall Street reform. It was quite a hearing. It went on for many hours because there was an effort by the witnesses to avoid answering questions, so the committee decided they would keep the witnesses there until the questions were answered. As a result, they stayed into the night. At the end of the day, I think people had a better understanding of some of the practices at Goldman Sachs, one of the largest financial institutions on Wall Street.…”