[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23377]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             CONGRESS DID WHAT WAS RIGHT, NOT WHAT WAS FAST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, in thanking my colleague, Congressman 
Gohmert, for all of his efforts to make this institution function in 
the manner that it was duly constituted to function, I was reminded 
today, as I was walking through the halls--not expecting the result 
that was just yielded on that important vote relating to Wall Street--
there is a fresco downstairs, and above the door it has this quote, 
that ``Here there are no temples but the Capitol, and no oracle but the 
Constitution.''
  No matter how powerful any group is or any set of individuals, our 
duty is a different one, and that is, to work together across this 
aisle for the best legislation, the best law making that is humanly 
possible to serve the people that sent us here, through regular order. 
And that means hearing from the membership, especially on a matter of 
such extraordinary magnitude as we were just asked to vote upon.
  This is the Congress of the United States, and we are a deliberative 
body. We are not a military order. There are no generals, and they are 
not able to command down the ranks. We operate through consensus. And 
when that process breaks down, we don't produce good legislation and, 
in turn, do not serve the American people.
  On the matter that was before us, I think it's fair to say that most 
committees that should have met did not. They were discharged of their 
duties in a strange process that I hope I never see again.
  The bill came to the floor with a closed rule. A few Members said to 
us after the vote, ``Well, where is your alternative? If you don't like 
this, where is your alternative?'' And our answer was, we had 
alternatives, but we were summarily denied the ability to present them 
through regular order. There was no reason to go to the Rules 
Committee, as it was a closed rule. We were not allowed to invite 
witnesses--and many of us asked, it's not like we didn't try. But let 
the record be very clear, Members were not able to testify, and 
therefore, we were not able to glean the best intelligence from our 
country as this bill moved forward.
  ``There is no temple but the Capitol, and no oracle but the 
Constitution.'' I really believe this Congress met its duty, its sworn 
obligation today in this truly historic vote. We have a lot of work to 
do. And I think one thing happened today that is actually very good for 
the Republic, and that is, whatever artificial line may exist down that 
middle aisle, I think it crumbled, and there is a new working energy 
inside this institution to do what should have been done in the first 
place.
  Now, we have respect for our leadership, and we have respect for the 
President of the United States. And whatever was presented a few weeks 
ago that had to be acted upon with such urgency, we are willing to 
remain and to reconstitute ourselves and to exercise the duties of the 
office to which we have been elected as our constitution demands.
  People don't have to be fearful, Wall Street doesn't have to be 
worried, we can take care of this. If we look to some of the 
institutions that have run up into a little trouble these last few 
weeks, we've seen what the FDIC has done. The insurance programs are 
working. Savings deposits are safe in our institutions. One can argue 
whether we should increase the FDIC-insured rate over $100,000 per 
depositor, but if we do this right, we can really give strength back to 
our credit markets because this is not a liquidity crisis, this is a 
credit crisis related to accounting standards.
  We can hear from the best accountants in America. That should have 
been done. They could have helped us work through this; they were not 
given voice. We can take a look at the housing crisis, its foreclosure 
crisis--which is at the heart of the credit seize-up--because we have 
markets that aren't working there, we have a lot of empty properties, 
people being foreclosed. There was nothing in this legislation that 
would do workouts at the local level. Why didn't the Federal Reserve, 
you know, and the administration, they wanted all this money, but they 
didn't want money to help Main Street bankers and mortgage holders and 
families try to work out loans at the local level where we can save 
people in their homes. My goodness.
  These are issues America has dealt with before. There should be calm 
across the country. The Congress has made a decision, and I believe 
that we will present a better bill in a very short period of time.
  I thank you, Madam Speaker. And what a joy it was to work with 
Members on both sides of the aisle to do what was right, not what was 
fast.

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