[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 160 (Thursday, October 2, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H10647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BAD BETS MADE BY WALL STREET

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. The legislation the House will take up tomorrow that was 
jammed through the Senate last night will do nothing for the weakening 
fundamentals in the United States. It isn't going to help with 
declining housing prices, foreclosures, job loss, income disparity, or 
lack of health care. None of those things will be addressed. It doesn't 
address the crumbling infrastructure. It is not aimed at the real 
economy. It is aimed at the fraud, the speculative activity and the bad 
bets made by Wall Street executives.
  Now they purport this is necessary to free up credit, and some are 
going to say I am voting for the bill because it lifts the FDIC limit. 
The administration can do that without spending $700 billion. They are 
going to say I'm doing it because it changed the mark-to-market rules. 
Those two things are critical to my banks at home in Oregon, but you 
can do that without spending $700 billion with a stroke of the pen.
  It leaves out one other critical measure, the certificate's net worth 
that it would use for the savings and loan. That would take 
legislation, and that is not in here.
  We are going to spend $700 billion to solve a problem that could 
perhaps be resolved for no cost to the American taxpayer. If we are 
going to borrow money, borrow it to invest in America's Main Street, 
not Wall Street.

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