Political Quotes

“I come to the Senate floor to debate and oppose the two Federal Reserve nominees President Obama has sent to the Senate. First, let me say I think it is very important, very good, very healthy that we are having this debate and we are having these votes. That is how the Senate should operate, particularly on very important Presidential nominations, and these certainly fit into that category. The Federal Reserve is an extremely important body for all sorts of reasons, but I will mention three in particular. First of all, it sets monetary policy, and that is a very important economic tool and set of economic policies. Right now this Federal Reserve, under Chairman Bernanke, has an unprecedented policy of zero-interest rates--easy money for an extended period of time--which is historically unprecedented. Secondly, the Federal Reserve is the primary regulator of our Nation's biggest banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and another that has been in the news quite a bit in the last few weeks, JPMorgan Chase. Obviously, all of these entities were involved in the recent economic crisis, so, again, the Federal Reserve is extremely important as those megabanks' primary regulator. We should be talking about that. Finally, the Federal Reserve has other important authority and responsibilities, including in situations where they have taken action to bail out these megabanks. They have that authority.…”