Bob Menendez: “I rise this morning to echo some of the comments of my colleague and others who have lamented what the Senate did…”

“I rise this morning to echo some of the comments of my colleague and others who have lamented what the Senate did yesterday. We have a situation across the landscape of this country in which our economy is headed onto the shoals of a recession, with some economists believing that we are there already, and the very essence of that recession, which hurts American families in real terms, stems from the housing crisis that exists in this country. Instead of having responded to the storm clouds of the crisis that were on the horizon a year ago-- in the Banking Committee, of which I am privileged to be a member, I said we are going to face a tsunami of foreclosures--the administration said, oh, no, no, no, that is an overexaggeration. Well, unfortunately, we haven't even seen the crest of that tsunami. The reality is that as the administration hit the snooze button then, instead of responding to the oncoming crisis and limiting its scope, yesterday our colleagues on the other side of the aisle did exactly the same thing, opposing the majority leader's opportunity to make sure we address the housing crisis that exists in this country in a way that not only saves American families from having the American dream become an American nightmare, but also, at the same time, in dealing with the very core underpinnings of where this economy is headed--in a negative direction--and turning it around.”