Political Quotes

“Tonight we had a vote in which 57 Members of this body said we should proceed to have a fully public debate and votes on issues related to Wall Street and Main Street; 57, far more than a majority, said it is time for us to come to this floor, now well more than a year after our bubbled economy burst, and wrestle with the right rules of the road and lane markers for our financial system. But, unfortunately, 57 votes are not enough. We need additional votes from our colleagues across the aisle in order to have that debate on this floor. We need additional votes from our colleagues across the aisle to consider what the lane markers should be and what the traffic signals should be in our financial regulatory system. Tonight we did not get those votes. Instead, tonight my colleagues across the aisle said they do not want a debate in public on how to reform Wall Street. They want a conversation behind closed doors instead. Quite frankly, I don't think the American people agree with them. There are many parts of this story, but it is a story that can be told in millions, billions, and trillions. The millions are the size of the Wall Street bonuses. A single bonus can equal what a working family can expect to earn in an entire career. Then we have the billions, the billions of dollars of quarterly profits of many Wall Street firms. Then we have the trillions. That is the trillions of dollars of damages to working families in America.”