[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31844]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           REGULATORY REFORM

  (Mr. ALTMIRE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ALTMIRE. Mr. Speaker, it was not long ago that our economy 
bottomed out and we were on the brink of an economic catastrophe. We 
avoided a complete collapse, but that is little consolation to the 
Americans who lost trillions of dollars in retirement savings due to 
the years of reckless behavior on Wall Street.
  As we continue to show positive signs in our economy, this House last 
week passed legislation to make sure that we never again find ourselves 
in such a dire situation. The regulatory reform bill we passed creates 
an orderly process through which large, failing financial institutions 
can effectively be dismantled. No more ``too big too fail.'' We end 
taxpayer bailouts by ensuring that in the future, Wall Street, not the 
taxpayers, will pay to dismantle endangered firms. And we end the 
predatory lending practices that helped cause the crisis by requiring 
banks to ensure that they only lend to borrowers who can actually repay 
the loans.
  These changes are long overdue but come just in time for the American 
taxpayer.

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