Dusty Johnson: “I thank the Senator. It would seem to me at this point there is no constitutional mandate that for some reason we must…”

“I thank the Senator. It would seem to me at this point there is no constitutional mandate that for some reason we must go down the road of mixing banking and commerce, that that is some of an irretrievable decision that is made and we are unable now to change that policy. This is an opportunity, I believe, to do what needs to be done in this legislation. One, to strike the provision of the bill which would, as it stands, permit commercial firms to acquire any of the 500 existing unitary thrift holding companies. And our amendment inserts a provision to allow existing unitary thrift holding companies to be transferred only to financial firms. There are thousands of financial firms. The marketability of these unitary thrifts will remain high; there is no question about that. So I believe this is an amendment that is badly needed if this bill is going to ultimately be signed by the President. But it is also an amendment that is necessary for us to embark on what I think is a sensible and prudent fiscal policy, financial policy for this country. I ask support for the Johnson-Thomas amendment.”