Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, for the perhaps two dozen people who are watching us on C-SPAN at the moment, I think it is important to add a little bit of clarity to what we are debating here. What we are debating is: What is the proper capital level for a federally insured financial institution? We know that if that capital level is set too low, then perhaps the financial institution could fail. If it is set too high, then they will not have the capital to help fund the American Dream--car loans, home loans, and small business loans. So we have heard a lot about a very simple bill that helps clarify one of perhaps two dozen different capital levels that are already applicable to our banking institutions, the total loss-absorbing capacity, the supplementary leverage ratio, the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio, the liquidity coverage ratio, the G-SIB surcharge, and the list goes on and on and on. We are talking, about, Mr. Speaker, one capital level, the operational capital--operational risk capital. So, number one, there are a multitude of different capital levels and liquidity levels that are already applied to our financial institutions. What we are saying is, if we are measuring operational risk, we should focus on current risks. Then, if in doubt, Mr. Speaker, I always recommend that Members actually read the bills that are being debated. It is an always helpful exercise.…”