Lamar Smith: “Mr. Speaker, as Congress weighs the question of Wall Street reform, the answer the American people want us to give is…”

“Mr. Speaker, as Congress weighs the question of Wall Street reform, the answer the American people want us to give is clear: "No more bailouts." We should give that answer by passing legislation that sends any failing financial institution to bankruptcy, not to a Federal agency that might bail it out. The Democratic Senator who guided this legislation through the Senate agrees that bankruptcy must be our primary response to failing institutions. Bankruptcy is fair. Its rules are clear. It is administered transparently by impartial courts. It has existed for generations because of one unmistakable truth: Free enterprise without the possibility of failure is free enterprise without the possibility of success. The Senate improved the House bill by recognizing a role for bankruptcy, but it failed to give the bankruptcy courts what they need to make that role meaningful. As a result, the legislation's escape hatch from bankruptcy, one that allows agency takeovers of firms, threatens to become the first option under the bill. When agencies take over firms, we all know that they will bail them out. Let's finish our work. Let's close every loophole that invites a bailout.”