[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 59 (Monday, April 26, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2606-S2607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FINANCIAL REGULATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, later today, the Senate will cast its 
first vote in the debate over financial regulation.
  And let me just say this at the outset: Republicans are united in our 
desire to protect the taxpayer from those who would put them and our 
Nation's financial system at risk through recklessness, stupidity, 
greed, or some combination of the three.
  But as we consider this legislation today, Republicans are also 
acutely aware of the fact that government solutions to big, complex 
problems like this one are rarely as effective as they are made out to 
be, especially when they are rushed.
  And Republicans are conscious of something else this afternoon too: 
when it comes to fixing the problems that we see in the economy or in 
our healthcare system or anywhere else, the days of taking the 
Democrats' word for it are over.
  There is a reason public confidence in government has slipped to one 
of its lowest levels in half a century, and it is not because Congress 
takes its time to get legislation right. The reason Americans are so 
mistrustful of government at the moment is because on issue after 
issue, they feel as though they are being sold a bill of goods. The 
reason there is such a serious trust deficit out there is because what 
Americans see is so rarely what they get from Washington these days.
  Just consider the national debt, for example. The International 
Monetary Fund is right now warning us that mounting government debt is 
perhaps the greatest single threat to the global financial system. As a 
Senator, the President seemed to understand that. He said America's 
debts and deficits were spinning out of control and that it was a 
failure of leadership not to address them. Yet under his 
administration, the debt has increased over $2 trillion. In February, 
we ran the largest monthly deficit ever. And this year alone, we are 
expected to run a deficit of $1.4 trillion.
  What about the stimulus? Congress passed this trillion dollar bill 
about 18 hours after the legislative text was available, because 
Democrats said they needed it right away to keep unemployment from 
rising above 8 percent. A year later, unemployment is hovering around 
10 percent. It is even higher in Kentucky and other States. We have 
lost some 4 million jobs since the President took office, and every 
day, it seems, we hear about some new wasteful project funded by this 
bill.
  Then there is health care. The White House and its allies in Congress 
told the American people again and again and again that this 
legislation was absolutely necessary in order to cut the cost of care 
and to ensure our Nation's economic security. Americans were skeptical. 
They wanted us to take our time. But Democrats said they could not 
wait. They cut their deals and jammed it through.
  Now we are beginning to see who was right in that debate.
  Last Thursday, a report out of the Department of Health and Human 
Services concluded that the health care bill falls short of the 
President's goals. Rather than cutting costs, it is expected to 
increase them.
  The White House also said the bill would not raise taxes on the 
middle class. Yet now we are finding out that nearly 15 million middle 
class Americans, as defined by the White House, will get hit with a tax 
increase. The White House said premiums would come down too. Yet now we 
are learning that premiums will keep going up.
  Pick the issue. Whether it is the stimulus, the debt, health care, 
bailouts, you name it, the concerns Republicans raised are being 
validated. And Democrats have the nerve, in this debate, to say that we 
are the ones who are being dishonest.
  As I said, all of us want to deliver a reform that will tighten the 
screws on Wall Street. But we are not going to be rushed on another 
massive bill based on the assurances of our friends on the other side. 
It is just this kind of rush that gets us a $13 trillion debt, a 
trillion dollars for turtle tunnels and sidewalks to nowhere, and a so-
called health care reform bill, the primary effect of which, so far as 
I can tell, is higher taxes, higher premiums, and higher costs. 
Americans have been rushed by this Congress before. They have seen the 
results. They are not going to be rushed again.
  Now when it comes to financial regulations, my constituents have a 
fairly short list of demands. They do not want to be on the hook for 
recklessness on Wall Street. And they do not think any financial 
institution should be considered too big to fail. But if the Senate 
votes to get onto the Dodd bill tonight, there is good reason to 
believe we

[[Page S2607]]

will never truly solve these core problems.
  Some on the other side may deny this. But the fact is, the bill that 
the majority leader wants to bring to the floor tonight still contains 
a number of loopholes that enable future bailouts.
  This is not just me talking. A finance reporter on National Public 
Radio last week said he could not find a single expert who was willing 
to agree with the administration's claim that this bill puts a stop to 
taxpayer funded bailouts, not a single expert who was willing to say 
this bill really solves the problem we were asked by our constituents 
to solve. Is not that reason enough to slow down?
  If we can not look our constituents in the eyes and tell them with 
absolute certainty that we have addressed their core concerns, then 
tell me: Why are we voting on this bill?
  The Democrats want us to trust them on this one. With all respect, 
Americans aren't in a trusting mood at this point. The burden is now on 
the Democrats to prove it when they say their legislation will or will 
not do something. To a lot of Americans that is what this debate has 
become. It is about proving to our constituents and to the rest of the 
country that Congress can actually deliver on its assurances.
  Americans aren't inclined to take our word for it when we say this 
bill doesn't allow for bailouts, that it won't kill jobs, or that it 
won't enable the administration to pick winners or losers, like it did 
with the auto bailout. They have heard all that before. This time, they 
want us to prove it.
  They want us to prove that this bill doesn't allow for bailouts or 
the kind of regulatory overreach that ends up punishing Main Street 
under the guise of reforming Wall Street. They want us to show them 
where it says in the text that the next time there is a crisis, the 
government will have to seek permission from he taxpayer if it is 
thinking about creating a new bank debt guarantee program. At the 
moment, we can't say this. That is unacceptable to my constituents. And 
it is unacceptable to the rest of the country.
  We can solve this problem. But we won't solve the problem if we vote 
for cloture tonight. A vote for cloture is a vote that says we are done 
listening to the American people on this issue. And a vote against 
ending this debate is a vote for bipartisanship, for working out an 
iron-clad solution to the problem of too big to fail. A vote against 
ending this debate tonight is a vote that says it is no longer enough 
to tell our constituents to trust us. It is a vote that says this time, 
we will prove it.
  I yield the floor.

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