Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to take 60 or 90 seconds to discuss the subject that the Senator from Iowa discussed; that is, the appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Protection Bureau. I checked with the Senator's story earlier during this move through the Banking Committee on which the Presiding Officer sits. Never in history has anybody in one party blocked even a vote of a Presidential nominee who is admittedly qualified only because they don't like the agency. That would be a little like, as Senator Reed from Rhode Island said, refusing to confirm an appointee to run the FDA until the Congress weakens food safety laws. It runs counter to everything we believe. I wasn't insisting that my Senate colleagues all support Richard Cordray, former attorney general from Ohio, who is eminently qualified for this job. We were saying to just let it come to an up-or-down vote. Instead, the minority party filibustered, stopped that, and the President had no choice but to act because the agency simply could not do its job. Only 2 years ago, this agency was created, this consumer bureau, to have a consumer cop on the beat to keep Wall Street banks and payday lenders and everybody in between honest. It took 60 votes in the Senate, including the Presiding Officer and me, and 58 others, to say this agency should be created and the consumer bureau should be in effect. That is the history of that. ____________________”