I think everybody in this body knows the core of this last financial crisis was because there were a lot of loans written in this country that people couldn't pay back. The Dodd bill does a lot, but it doesn't deal with that basic core…

I rise to speak about an amendment I had earlier today. It was a commonsense amendment that I think gets at the heart of this financial crisis. It didn't pass, but the amendment was to put in place underwriting standards to keep the kind…

What this amendment does is restore within the housing market a focus on the core issue that took us into this crisis--something many people in this body do not want to discuss--and that is the fact that there were a lot of loans written…

We spend a year and a half working on financial regulation in this body, and there are a lot of fancy things we are looking at that certainly need to be looked at, no question. It is amazing that after all this time, we are still not…

the Dodd bill attempts to deal with quarterly liquidation. I know there have been discussions about the pros and cons. There have been attempts to deal with the derivatives title. My sense is, before it is all said and done, there is a…

In Florida, we know this was the very problem that started this whole crisis. We called them NINJO loans--no income, no job. Underwriting standards went out the window because of the hunger of Wall Street to suck up these mortgages, to…

I rise to speak on the bill before us. I know John McCain from Arizona has filed an amendment on Fannie and Freddie, or GSEs, as we call them. I wish to speak on that amendment. I know I have worked with our Presiding Officer on big pieces…

I am here to speak about the consumer protection title in the Dodd bill. I do want to say that while I disagree with my friends from Delaware and Ohio in their approach, I appreciate the way they have conducted themselves. I think the…

I wish the length of receivership was not 5 years but that it was a much shorter period to wind these companies down more quickly. I wish we had judicial review so if a company is placed into this type of resolution, they actually have the…

I hope very soon the administration will work closely... with those who are dealing with the obvious disaster underway in our State. We have people who have lost their lives, people who have lost their homes, and people who have lost their…

Obviously, Mr. President, I was being humorous in talking about that. The Senator is right. The Senator from Virginia and I both know that in our businesses, we were the last ones to be paid. Everyone else was dealt with and our…

I hope that spirit continues. One of the things many Members have been talking about is the size of institutions. There has been some movement to arbitrarily decide what size an institution ought to be. Everybody is frustrated by what…