[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 28026-28027]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SYSTEMIC REGULATORY EXPANSION BILL

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1

[[Page 28027]]

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, you know, last year without a single vote 
from anyone in Congress, the Federal Reserve spent $29 billion bailing 
out Bear Stearns and then $85 billion to bail out AIG, which has now 
gone to about $140 billion.
  Now, if that is not bad enough, the House Banking Committee wants to 
codify that authority. That's right: they want to give the Federal 
Reserve and the FDIC permanent bailout authority so that anyone who 
comes around that they call a systemic risk can now get permanent TARP 
money without having to come back to Congress for our scrutiny.
  What does this lead to? Well, number one, the Federal Reserve is in 
charge of monetary policy, not bailouts. It will take the eye off the 
monetary policy, and if you think the economy is going great now, think 
what happens when the Federal Reserve is even more distracted.
  It will also lead to unfair competitive advantage because if you're 
too big to fail, that means you can do anything you want to and compete 
against regular banks who won't get the bailout money. So it is an 
unfair competitive advantage.
  And, finally, it will increase the moral risk, that is to say, you 
can make crazy loans because you know good old Uncle Sugar is going to 
stand behind you and bail you out time and time again after your fiscal 
irresponsibility.
  This is a bad bill. This is a bad idea. We need to vote ``no'' on 
this systemic regulatory expansion bill.

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