[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3051-S3052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FINANCIAL REGULATORY REFORM

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I applaud and commend my friend, the 
distinguished chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Chris Dodd, 
for the bill we have on the floor. I also express my appreciation for 
the work done by the chair of the Agriculture Committee, Senator 
Blanche Lincoln. The work of these committees is the bill on which we 
are working, offering amendments to this most important piece of 
legislation. The bill that is now before the Senate is a strong bill. I 
again express my appreciation to the two chairs for the good work they 
have done.
  This bill will hold Wall Street accountable and put consumers in 
control. It ends taxpayer bailouts and guarantees taxpayers will never 
again be forced to bail out reckless Wall Street firms by creating a 
way to liquidate failed firms without taxpayer money. That is going to 
be underlined and underscored with an amendment that is first up, the 
Boxer amendment, which indicates that is, in fact, the case. It ends 
too big to fail with strict new capital and leverage requirements to 
prevent firms from growing too big to fail. It brings sunlight and 
transparency to shadowy markets.
  It was really a revelation to me to read a book entitled ``The Big 
Short'' by Michael Lewis, who wrote the book that was made into a movie 
and received an Academy Award, ``The Blind Side.'' This book is good. 
It indicates to anyone who reads it the shadowy markets which are now 
in existence and which we are trying to stop. This legislation will 
stop them by bringing in sunlight and transparency, where Wall Street 
executives make gambles that threaten the entire economy.
  The legislation reins in CEO pay by giving shareholders a nonbinding 
vote on excessive compensation. It, again, brings this into the light. 
It protects community banks and streamlines bank supervision to create 
clarity and accountability. It protects a dual banking system that 
supports community banks and protects consumers in many different ways. 
It puts a new cop on the beat, creates an independent agency with broad 
authority to monitor firms for abusive practices, and we allow 
intervention to protect consumers.
  An important provision the American public will easily identify with: 
it guarantees clear information in plain English and ensures consumers 
get the information they need to shop for mortgages, credit cards, and 
other financial products, that it will be in English they can 
understand. There are no more abusive practices. It protects consumers 
from hidden fees, abusive terms, and deceptive practices. It also 
protects against Bernie Madoff-type scams. It is a strong piece of 
legislation.

[[Page S3052]]

  There will be efforts made to make it even stronger with amendments 
on our side. We hope Republicans will join with us in passing this 
legislation. There are some who have said that by the time this bill 
gets off the floor, a significant majority of Senators will vote for 
it. I hope that is the case.
  I also hope we don't get locked into something that appears to be the 
order of the Congress around here; that is, everything has to have 60 
votes. I can't speak for everyone, but I will certainly do everything 
within my power to tell my Senators, let's just have 50-vote margins. 
Why do we need to have 60 votes on everything we do around here? It 
makes it so much more difficult. I believe it is unnecessary.
  I hope we can move forward and get this legislation done. We have to 
finish it by next week. We will finish it one way or the other by next 
week. We have to do that. We have so much more to do. We have the 
expiring provisions of the tax extenders. Unemployment benefits will 
expire at the end of this month. We have the doctors, and we have to 
take care of them. That is a commitment we made, all of us, Democrats 
and Republicans--that we would take care of the doctors with the SGR. 
We were able to pass, with pay-go, a 5-year fix. They have a 10-year 
fix on the House side. But we have to take care of these doctors. They 
deserve that. We have to do that before the end of this month. There 
are other important issues we would like to deal with. We have small 
business we would like to deal with. There are many good things we can 
do there that have partisan agreement, and we can move forward.
  I hope we can move quickly on this legislation. I hope there can be 
some work with the two managers to move this legislation along, the two 
initial managers, Senators Dodd and Shelby, who will manage most of 
this bill. When we get into the derivative section, Senators Lincoln 
and Chambliss will be managing that part.

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