I do want to say that Tennessee has lost a great human being in Dr. Benjamin Hooks, and I want to join with my friend and colleague from Tennessee, Senator Alexander, in being part of a resolution to talk about his wonderful life. I know…

I thank my friend from North Dakota, because I, too, for what it is worth, have been very distressed about the conversations around financial reform. I don't think either side of the aisle deserves a badge of honor as it relates to the way…

I will respond respectfully that I think the course of action that is trying to get underway is to finish the bipartisan-- let's face it. You and I went a long way. Then we stopped. On March 10 it ended. I understood that, look, you were…

I come to the floor today to talk about financial reform. I know we have a number of issues before the body right now, and it will be a couple of weeks, maybe 3, before this body takes up what I think is a very important piece of…

I have repeatedly publicly thanked the good Senator from Connecticut for going through that process, and there is no question it is a much better bill. As a matter of fact, I think it is a very amendable bill. Here is what I would say. I…

There is a lot of rhetoric that has gone on around this financial reform bill. I appreciate so much the chairman of the committee engaging me for 30 days to try to reach a bipartisan agreement. We voted a 1,336-page bill out of committee…

You had one, and that is all you asked for when you started. I do not want to reiterate that. I never said I could speak for anybody but myself. And I did not leave the table. I never left the table. So the fact is, the bill took a…

I think what is happening on this financial regulation bill is a lot like what happened during the health care debate in many ways. There is something that is being focused on. Some of it is sort of being blown out of proportion. I did…

I want to be clear and say we have had a great partnership, numbers of us have. Some of the claims in this bill about preserving too big to fail are legitimate because of some changes that occurred about 10 days before the bill came to…

I don't know when you are coming to see me, but my understanding is Chairman Dodd is getting ready to introduce a bill on the floor.

I think you are one of those folks that we are lucky to have in Committee and I thank you for your service.

I wish to thank the Senator from New Hampshire who I think has offered extraordinary leadership on this issue and on the issues regarding our country's huge amount of indebtedness. As does Senator Gregg, I find it hard to believe that we…