Political Quotes

“Mr. President, yesterday I came to the floor to call on House Democrats to withhold their support from the omnibus spending bill until one provision is removed. The provision was slipped in at the last minute to benefit Wall Street. In fact, it was written by lobbyists for Citicorp. That provision means big money for a few big banks. It would let derivatives traders on Wall Street gamble with taxpayer money--and when it all blows up, require the government to bail them out. Just to be clear, I want to read the title of the part of the law that will be repealed if this provision is not stripped out of the omnibus. The title is ``Prohibition Against Federal Government Bailouts of Swaps Entities.'' That is what is on the table to be taken out of the law. Now, I am here today to ask my Republican colleagues who don't want to see another Wall Street bailout to join in our effort to strip this Wall Street giveaway from the bill. This is not about partisanship. This is about fairness. This is about accountability and responsibility. This is about preventing another financial collapse that could again wipe out millions of jobs and take down our whole economy. If big Wall Street banks want to gamble with their own money, so be it. Let them take their risks with their own money, and let them live with the consequences of those risks. That is how markets are supposed to work.…”