On the recordMay 13, 2010
I rise in strong support of the Franken amendment. First, I wish to praise my colleague from Minnesota for the great job he has done on this amendment. This is going to make a huge difference. It strengthens the section that is already in Senator Dodd's fine bill, on which Senator Jack Reed did great work, and now it goes a little further. In particular, I thank my colleague from Minnesota for really getting at the heart of the conflicts of interest. We can vote around the conflict of interest, we can shine a mirror of light on the conflict of interest, but unless we get to the heart of it, we are not going to undo the problem. The Senator from Minnesota does that, and I praise him for his fine work. I think that if this amendment passes, it is going to be one of the lasting contributions and one of the most significant contributions to prevent a future crisis from happening. Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz said: I view the rating agencies as one of the key culprits . . . They were the party that performed the alchemy that converted the securities from F-rated to A-rated. The banks could not have done what they did without the complicity of the rating agencies. Credit rating agencies played an important role--an unfortunate and important role--in what led up to the financial crisis.
