On the recordJuly 14, 2010
I rise today in strong support of the Wall Street reform conference report. The Senate will make history when we pass this legislation that finally holds Wall Street accountable and finally cleans up the schemes and abuses that nearly brought our entire economy to its knees. Most importantly, this bill ends once and for all taxpayer-funded bailouts of Wall Street banks and investment firms. It finally gets rid of any notion that any private company can somehow be 'too big to fail.' I never bought that argument. In fact, I was the only Democrat in the Senate to vote against both the bailout of Wall Street and the auto industry. I do not believe in bailouts. But I do believe in making sure folks are playing by the same rules. Our economy went belly up a year and a half ago because there were no referees on the field. With this bill, that is about to change. Big banks will be required to pay for their own liquidation should they fail, and taxpayers will never again be a part of that equation.
