Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to speak about the nomination of Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to urge my colleagues to join me in voting in support of his confirmation. In July of last year, I was proud to join many of my colleagues in the Senate to pass comprehensive Wall Street reform legislation that is already working to protect middle-class families, hold Wall Street accountable, and put in place policies to make sure taxpayers will never again be left holding the bag for the big banks' mistakes. I supported this legislation because for far too long the financial rules of the road had not favored the American people. They were tilted toward big banks, credit card companies, and Wall Street, and they were twisted and abused to make sure no matter what happened, the financial industry would come out ahead. When the economy was roaring, the big banks made enormous sums of money and handed out huge bonuses to their employees. But when the products they created brought down the banks and pulled Main Street down with them, it was the taxpayers who had to foot the bill to prevent absolute calamity. Wall Street had a pretty good system going for a while: Heads they won, tails the taxpayers lost. To correct this, we fought to pass Wall Street Reform last year over Republican objections, and we took a huge step in the right direction. We strengthened the rules. We increased the oversight.…”