On the recordMay 5, 2010
let me follow on my colleague's comments. He is my colleague and my friend and my partner for the last year. I think we've both, as former business guys, said this is not an issue that should be partisan. We need to check our ``D'' and ``R'' hats at the door and find a way to sort through a new set of financial rules so we never have to face what we faced in 2008. I think some of the original approaches that we had might have been tighter. I know we talked a little bit off the floor about the notion that actually some of the borrowing authority that now exists might be larger than what we had initially proposed. But at the end of the day, what is important is that, one, the taxpayers are protected--and that is what the Shelby-Dodd approach has; it has no recoupment from the financial industry--and two, to make sure there is money to wind these firms down in an orderly fashion. We have seen with Lehman, a year and a half after the fact, literally hundreds of millions, close to billions of dollars, that are being used to unwind. That process takes time and money. I again share the concern of the Senator from Tennessee that we ought to do this in as limited time as possible. Let me take 2 more quick minutes and say that, if we have done our job right, we are never going to have to get to resolution because bankruptcy should always be the preferred process.
