Bill Pascrell: “We are on a roll here. Mr. Speaker, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission made recommendations to the Department of…”

“We are on a roll here. Mr. Speaker, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission made recommendations to the Department of Justice to criminally prosecute top executives at several large financial institutions, but we have yet to see a major Wall Street executive be criminally charged. That is criminal. You want to know what ``criminal'' is? That is criminal. So we come here today, and I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. I don't question the motivations of the sponsor, by the way. That is not my motive. We learned in March that the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission--I will repeat--recommended that the Department of Justice criminally prosecute. Nothing has been done. I have also written a letter to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. By the way, this is not partisan. Our own Justice Department hasn't done anything either. I am being fair about this, but they have to look into this. They can't come before us and tell us they are trying to save the little guy or the victims when they allow this and permit this to go on day in and day out when the banks never were held accountable. No one has ever been brought before a court. Eight years later, and we are here. Rather than wasting time on this fishing expedition, if the House really wants to ensure punishment is carried out and that the actual victims receive compensation, we need to actually address the root cause of the problem. Mr. Ranking Member, my friend from Georgia, we have to address the root problem.…”