We need a systemic regulator--I don't like the word 'regulator,' because I think that implies overactivity--at least a systemic monitor, maybe a regulator, to review what's going on.

I want to thank you for being generous and granting me more time.

But I think we have done it nationally and impacting 80 percent of the marketplace in a very, I think, negative way at the worst time.

I would just ask you to please revisit with earnestness what we have done here because I think we are going at the wrong people, trying to resolve a legitimate problem.

The situation needs to be addressed today. If we're going to make an impact on the economy, it has to be literally trying to put the enhancement, the liquidity, the sorts of things we're talking about today, put those in place today.

If you had the audacity or any of my mayors, any of your mayors had the audacity to leave that kind of money sitting on the table, if you had something to do about it, first of all, I think people would know about it, second of all, I…

I think the time is right to treat cities and towns and States and county governments the same as all corporations.

Nobody that I know in a local government wants to waste it. We may have different views as to what to do with it, but we want to be able to use it to the benefit of our taxpayers and our constituents to the best of our ability.

I want to give the SEC real authority to oversee the municipal securities market.

the situation needs to be addressed today.

Congress does not need to put the American taxpayer on the hook for more losses.

I consider myself a major defender of the First Amendment, and I would do whatever I can to maintain the freedom of speech.

Your ratings matter.

What happened to the credit rating agencies that rated Enron's financial status?

I hate it. I hate it for lots of different reasons.

I absolutely agree that there is a role for them in the free market world.

You have every right to say anything you want. Go right ahead. You don't have a right to sell it.

I can't believe any of you really believe that credit rating agencies' judgments, right now, is trusted by anybody in their right mind.

Where's the problem if that's all we're asking? Simply base your credit rating on that.

We need independent, thoughtful, credit rating agencies who are not beholden to the people that they're working for.

I want a strong, independent voice to help make--allow the market to make thoughtful judgments on investments.

I have been one of the leading critics of the way credit rating agencies work.

Either let us do it and not have any input, or help us do it the right way.

If that's the case, I have a proposal, at least when it comes to municipal bonds, to simply require agencies to base their opinion on the ability to repay that debt.

I don't understand why I have to accept the fact that issuer-paid business will continue to go on forever.