On the recordJune 30, 2010
I stood before this body in 1999 and gave full-throated opposition to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. My opposition had the merit of being correct a decade ago and, at the very least, prophetic today. Indeed, Graham-Leach-Bliley gave rise to the creation of financial juggernauts, whose underhanded actions, gone unregulated by design of that Act and subsequent deregulation, have driven this great country over an economic precipice of proportions not seen since the Great Depression. I will vote in favor of the conference report today because it is, at its core, a good bill. In so doing, however, I admonish legislators and regulators alike never again to permit another economic calamity for want of vigilance. While history judges us for what we do, it will also condemn us for what we do not.
