Political Quotes

“Not to get off the subject, Mr. Chairman, but this is a perfect example of an argument that should be brought up later when we take up the term limitation question. Mr. Chairman, we have sitting on the floor today probably 170 Members of this Congress who were not here in the 1980's, and who never saw the abuse of the financial industry of this country when they were able to wield extraordinary power and avoid proper regulation on the State level. I remember sitting on the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs when the regulators, under the administrations of President Reagan and President Bush, would come before the committee and tell us that the total exposure of regulatory problems in the S&L industry was less than $10 billion, and this was in 1988, the beginning of 1988. Then in the summer of 1988 they modified their estimate and said that the cost may be as high as $12 billion, and we come to the rescue with $12 billion. In November of 1988, the individuals we are talking about in the regulatory agencies came up here and said no, and now this is before November, before the election of the new President, they said it may go as high as $15 billion. Immediately after the election and the inauguration of the new President in January of 1989, with great fortitude, President Bush had the guts to face the reality of the disaster in this country. When his regulators came up here they told us the truth.…”