Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to speak for a few minutes about the upcoming confirmation vote on Chairman Bernanke of the Federal Reserve Board. I should begin by stating very clearly that there is no way to overestimate the severity of the economic downturn that began in this country in 2007. To date, our Nation has lost 7.2 million jobs. In my home State of New Mexico, unemployment is now 7.8 percent. That is more than twice the rate it was 2 years ago. But even at that it is considerably lower than the unemployment rate in many States--in fact, in a majority of States. American households have lost $12.6 trillion in wealth; more than 5 million American families have seen their homes foreclosed, many have lost their businesses, and many have lost their farms. In short, there are millions of families across our country who are and have been experiencing severe economic pain and dislocation. While indicators suggest the recession has officially ended, our economy is hardly out of the woods. In the face of such pain, it is tempting to grasp for ways to demonstrate disapproval of the economic downturn or to put distance between ourselves as elected officials and the policies involved with the economic downturn. It is tempting, particularly in this political climate, to want to seize on a particular individual to take the brunt of the criticism. I rise today to urge my colleagues not to use Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's renomination for any such exercise.…”