Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this job-killing conference report. At a time when Congress should be focused on economic expansion, the majority brings us this conference report, which will kill jobs and make financial transactions more expensive. Last December, this Chamber supported a bipartisan effort to bring transparency and regulation to the over-the-counter derivatives market while allowing for the management of legitimate risk. It recognized that mom-and-pop shops on Main Street were not the villains behind the economic collapse. They did not cause the financial crisis and should not be treated as if they did. The derivatives title this Chamber passed reflected the need for commercial end users to lay off risk so they could offer their products at reasonable and stable prices. Unfortunately, the Senate decided that only some industries, only some, were worthy of inexpensive risk mitigation. Despite the overwhelming bipartisan support our derivatives language enjoyed, during a meeting in the dark of night our bipartisan language was stripped out. A title that we passed by voice vote was only going to survive if offered as an amendment. So that is what my good friend from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett) and I did. As the conferees from this Chamber, we defended the House position. Unfortunately, at dawn last Friday, our amendment was defeated on a party-line vote, stripping away the only remaining protection for end users.…”