[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 57 (Wednesday, April 21, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FINANCIAL REGULATORY REFORM
(Mr. BUTTERFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute.)
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, when I recently visited a restaurant in
my rural district, a gentleman approached me to say that he was a
Republican and had never voted for a Democrat, but he voted for
President Obama. He stated his appreciation that the President was
standing up to greed, that he was standing up to Wall Street and
corporate America. He felt that corporate greed is among the greatest
challenges facing our Nation, and he is absolutely correct.
The first day President Obama took office, the country was at the
brink of economic ruin triggered by financial deregulation and banks
that pursued reckless investments to produce quick profits. Wall Street
was acting more like casinos than banks, taking big gambles, and when
they lost, forcing the taxpayers to pay. They got rich, everyone else
got squeezed.
Democrats have a solution. Wall Street doesn't like it, but we have a
solution. We want transparency, we want accountability, and we will not
stop until that happens.
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