Al Franken: “I rise today to discuss an amendment that I have just filed. But before I begin, I would like to thank Chairman Dodd for…”

“I rise today to discuss an amendment that I have just filed. But before I begin, I would like to thank Chairman Dodd for his exemplary work on this Wall Street reform bill. It is the result of months of tireless work and many hours of negotiation by Chairman Dodd and his staff. This Wall Street reform bill will vastly improve the regulatory structure currently on the books. It creates a strong consumer watchdog within the Fed--a bureau that will put consumers first, ahead of Wall Street profits. This bill also brings derivatives out of the shadows and onto exchanges so that Wall Street's bets upon bets never again threaten to bring down our entire economy. This bill accomplishes many things and brings us a long way toward robust reform. But there is one area we need to make stronger. We need to go further in addressing the rampant problems plaguing the credit rating industry. That is why I intend to introduce an amendment to change the way the initial credit ratings are assigned and encourage competition within the credit rating industry.”