[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2433-S2434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FINANCIAL REGULATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, with regard to financial 
regulation, from the beginning of this debate, I have called for a 
bipartisan approach. And for several months, I was encouraged to see 
bipartisan talks approaching agreement on a bipartisan bill.

  Somewhere along the line, those talks got off course, leading to 
Democrats pulling away from bipartisan efforts, a party-line vote in 
committee and the Democrat leadership's stated

[[Page S2434]]

desire to bring a bill to the floor that had, in effect, bipartisan 
opposition. So last week I raised concerns with the Dodd bill, but I 
also told the President and our friends across the aisle that this bill 
is not unfixable.
  It is important for the country and taxpayer that we get this right, 
that we put them before politics. That is why I was disappointed to 
read that Senate Democrats are refusing to drop the $50 billion bailout 
fund--a fund that the Treasury Secretary himself opposes--unless 
Republicans pay a price for taking it out. This is exactly what 
Americans don't like about Washington: when one side tries to ``get'' 
something for doing what they should have done in the first place. If 
everyone agrees it should be dropped, then it should be dropped. And if 
Senate Democrats think it should stay, then they should explain why 
they think the Treasury Secretary was wrong when he said that this 
bailout fund ``would create expectations that the government would step 
in to protect shareholders and creditors from losses.''
  Both sides have expressed a willingness to make the changes needed to 
ensure without any doubt that this bill won't put taxpayers on the hook 
for future bailouts of Wall Street banks. So why don't we just do that?
  I am heartened to hear that bipartisan talks have resumed in earnest, 
and in my view, the progress we have seen over the past few days is 
proof that I was right to raise concerns about this bill when I did. As 
I said, the best way to get a bill with the credibility of bipartisan 
support is to allow bipartisan talks to continue. Let us fix the bill 
and have a bipartisan reform.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________