Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am one of those three people who voted ``no.'' I do not expect to win here today on the floor. And I want to be real clear: I do not oppose consolidated loan obligations. I support them. They are an important financial tool. But that is not what this bill does. This bill allows risky CLOs. Most CLOs would be permitted pursuant to the Volcker Rule. If they only contained loans, they are okay. Any bank can own them to any degree. So let's not think that somehow the Volcker Rule has killed CLOs. They have simply said they have to be what they say they are, collateralized loan obligations, not collateralized loan obligations put together with all kinds of other junk. Simple. Straightforward. There is not going to be any fire sale. The regulators have already listened to the congressional comments, of which I was one, asking for a delay to allow the existing CLOs that do not meet the regulation to be held for 2 more years. There will be no fire sale. There has been no fire sale. As we speak, the sale of CLOs is at a historic high. The Volcker Rule has not killed the market. They are back to almost the same levels they were at in 2007 before the crash. Let me be clear. I agree that CLOs did not, on their own, participate in the '08 problems and that they do have a record of success. But prior to 2008, most people would have said the same thing about collateralized debt obligations.…”