On the recordJune 9, 2010
I rise in support of the motion to instruct. Madam Speaker, taxpayers are tired of paying for the mistakes of others and fed up with bailouts. It's time for Congress to recognize that financial managers that drive their firms into insolvency should be met with bankruptcy and not bailouts. Unfortunately, both the House and Senate financial regulatory reform bills allow the government to take over any financial business Washington bureaucrats deem as 'too big to fail.' In other words, if Federal regulators like Treasury Secretary Geithner fail to do their job, then these same regulators can simply take over, dismantle, or prop up any financial institution that they choose at taxpayers' expense, and that's what I would call a bailout. That's the government picking winners and losers in the marketplace. That's the same reckless approach that caused the markets to undervalue risk, inflated the bubble, and left taxpayers to clean up the mess when it burst. And it must end. House Republicans say 'never again,' and we have developed a responsible alternative--bankruptcy.
