Jeb Hensarling: “Again, what we are talking about here is fundamental due process: due process for every American, due process for every…”

“Again, what we are talking about here is fundamental due process: due process for every American, due process for every institution regardless of its size, regardless of its geography. This is about due process. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: ``Whatever disagreement there may be as to the scope of the phrase `due process of law,' there can be no doubt that it embraces the fundamental conception of a fair trial, with opportunity to be heard.'' He is one of the most famous jurists in all of American history. We are trying to ensure, again, that a bank examiner or a credit union examiner is not tantamount to judge, jury, prosecutor, cop on the beat, and executioner all rolled into one. There is no due process if your only practical appeal is to the person who rendered the judgment in the first place. So, number one, it is important that all Americans, all institutions receive due process, which is perhaps why even over half of the Democrats on the Financial Services Committee chose to support H.R. 4545. The ranking member's amendment would set a threshold here, but her threshold, as she talks about these so-called megabanks, at $10 billion, that is one-half of 1 percent of the size of J.P. Morgan. So, Mr. Speaker, I don't believe in too-big-to-fail banks. I know my friends on the other side of the aisle do. That is why they voted for the bailout fund to support these too-big-to-fail financial institutions with taxpayer funds.…”