Kent Conrad: “Let me say, in this whole crisis, the Government official who shines the brightest and the best has been Sheila Bair.…”

“Let me say, in this whole crisis, the Government official who shines the brightest and the best has been Sheila Bair. She is the person who has warned us that this tsunami of foreclosures was coming. She is the one who warned us of the financial crisis. She is the one who had the most consistent track record about dealing with it and dealing with it effectively. Institution after institution she has taken over, under the rules and the law, have been dealt with in the most economically rational way. Now she has come forward with a plan that observers and economists of every stripe have said is outstanding. It has the best prospects for success at preventing people from losing their homes. This is much more than numbers on a page. When we talk about 1.5 million people not going through foreclosure if our amendment is adopted, according to Sheila Bair and her professional staff, 1.5 million people, this is much more than that number. Think of what is happening in those families, when they have the sense they are going to lose their homes and start through a legal process that sucks them down.”