[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13615-13616]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WALL STREET REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, some believe that if you say something long 
enough, even if it is without any factual basis, people will start 
believing it.

[[Page 13616]]

  To think that banks--Wall Street--liked Wall Street reform is a 
stretch beyond our ability to comprehend. We needed to do something 
because Wall Street hurt America. They had a pretty good deal going 
there. They could use our money and gamble it--different than Las 
Vegas. They could gamble our money, and if they won, they kept it; if 
they lost, they came back to us for help. That is a good deal, and we 
have stopped that.
  Does anyone think we should leave things the way they are? That was a 
crisis waiting to happen again. George Bush's Secretary of the Treasury 
Hank Paulson, when this bill passed, said it was a fine piece of 
legislation. I am paraphrasing what he said. Knowing Hank, that is 
about what he said. He liked the legislation, and he should know. He 
was President Bush's Secretary of the Treasury when this collapse took 
place.
  This is all so quite interesting. My friend says that the stimulus 
has caused job loss. Again, that is without any factual basis. In fact, 
it is just the opposite. It saved or created 3 million jobs. Remember, 
we still have low unemployment because that started during the Bush 
years back in 2006 when the economy started faltering. As an example, 
in the last 6 months of the Bush administration, 3 million jobs were 
lost.
  Health insurance: Always they talk about health insurance. But 
remember, any poll we see today, the majority of the American people 
support what we did with health care. My friend was at a meeting we had 
yesterday, and we saw those numbers spread across the film we were 
shown.
  Also, the reasoning is quite unique. My friend says we bailed out the 
auto industry. Isn't that a good thing we did? Isn't it a good thing 
today in America we have an automobile manufacturing sector? If it had 
been up to them, General Motors would be gone. If it were up to them, 
Ford Motor Company would probably be gone. Chrysler would definitely be 
gone. We decided they needed help, just as New York City needed help 25 
years ago or so. They came out very strong. We are making money on what 
we did in investing in Detroit's automobile industry.
  It is also interesting--I have seen this at home--some of my 
Republican friends criticized me for the bailout, the stimulus. Then I 
was criticized because I did not get more money.
  In a little bit, I am going to go down to one of the Federal 
buildings for a signing of the Wall Street reform bill. What an 
important day for this country. After this financial collapse, we have 
reined in Wall Street. That is a day for celebration.
  Think how much better this bill could have been had we had a little 
cooperation from our friends on the other side of the aisle. But we did 
plenty and, as has been said and written, it is the most significant 
change in the financial world since the Great Depression.
  The mere fact that one says something that is without foundation a 
lot of times and simply is untrue does not make it truthful the more 
times one says it.
  Will the Chair announce the business for the day?

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