[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 7 (Thursday, January 21, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AMERICA IS TOO BIG TO FAIL

  (Ms. SPEIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, Americans' thirst for real change did not 
end with the election in 2008. Across this country, people are mad, mad 
that the rampant speculation in our financial markets which led to the 
current economic meltdown and the double-digit unemployment have not 
yet been addressed.
  I want to thank President Obama for his announcement this morning 
acknowledging what former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker has been saying for 
months: It's time to reinstate the institutional protections that 
safeguarded our country for more than half a century, the Glass-
Steagall Act, ironically repealed in 1999 at the behest of the 
financial services industry.
  The only thing in America that can ever be deemed too big to fail is 
America itself. It is time for those of us in Congress to grow a 
backbone, to have the courage of our convictions and stand up to the 
big banks. No longer can we allow the greed of a few to put the entire 
Nation at risk.
  Just as we are united in our effort to combat threats from abroad, we 
must be vigilant to those very real threats from within. We were sent 
here by the voters to take care of them, the taxpayers and the 
consumers. The banks can take care of themselves.

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