John A. Boccieri: “Thank you. It's an honor to join my colleagues here on the House floor to talk about how we got here, where we're going…”

“Thank you. It's an honor to join my colleagues here on the House floor to talk about how we got here, where we're going, and what we're doing to put our country back on track. You know, you bring up a great point. We hear from the other side that the greatest tools that the government has is to largely unregulate big business, big corporations, and provide tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Virtually every problem that America is facing, that's the solution that's put on the table. Now I argue that, look, our philosophy, our broad political philosophy in this political body--at least I know from our side of the aisle--is that the government needs to set the out-of-bounds markers, we need to set the goal posts, let the free market operate in between, but be a good referee. Be a good referee. Throw the flag when you have big corporations that want to bet on the price of oil going up on Wall Street. Throw the flag when you want to bet against people failing to pay their mortgage. Failing to pay their mortgage--that's what was happening on Wall Street. That's like betting against America. I think we can do better. We don't want to take the stripes off the referee. We want to make sure that the playing field is even and fair for all Americans, and that's why we're being charged with action. Because I think all of us here tonight believe that leadership is not just about position, a political position, but it's about action. Leadership is about action.”