[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12002]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WALL STREET REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Speaker, it would be unconscionable 
for this Congress to fail to enact legislative protections for the 
Nation's consumers after the worst economic collapse in 80 years. We 
must pass Wall Street reform when it comes before the House hopefully 
later this week.
  We know what happened without adequate oversight. Under the Bush 
administration and previous Republican Congresses, the large financial 
institutions were granted free rein to undertake abusive, risky 
behavior, ultimately at great public expense. In the absence of well-
enforced regulation, their reckless actions triggered the great 
recession, plunging millions of American families into economic chaos.
  Starting in 2007 when the mortgage and credit crises hit, the 
recession accelerated in 2008 as the financial sector came perilously 
close to a complete collapse. Millions of Americans acutely felt that 
collapse through lost jobs, foreclosed homes, and the destruction of 
their personal savings. Collectively, Americans lost $17.5 trillion 
worth of aggregate household wealth during that recession: college 
funds, retirement accounts, 401(k)s, and emergency nest eggs like that.
  In the midst of this economic carnage, many of the financial 
institutions that precipitated the collapse had the chutzpah to turn to 
those same American families and ask for a bailout. For example, AIG 
received $170 billion through 2008's TARP bill and the Federal Reserve, 
despite having engaged in a number of risky actions that led to its own 
predicament. AIG's unbridled pursuit of profit became America's pain. 
We must not allow that to happen again.
  I support the visionary Wall Street reform that protects consumers 
from the abuses and deceptive practices that led to this crisis. It 
will create a consumer financial protection bureau that will 
consolidate consumer protections currently spread out inefficiently and 
ineffectively over seven different Federal agencies. The bureau will 
ensure transparency in financial products and transactions, providing 
consumers with greater information and protections on mortgages, credit 
cards, and other financial products.
  Unscrupulous mortgage lenders no longer will be able to hoodwink 
prospective home buyers into home loans that the home buyer cannot 
afford. Not only did that practice lead to individual homeowners 
suffering eventual foreclosures, but it drove down the equity in all 
homes as prices sunk and mortgage failures exacerbated the financial 
collapse.
  I support Wall Street financial reform that properly regulates the 
risky aspects of the financial sector, finally bringing transparency to 
the shadowy world of derivatives. In 2006, the derivative markets 
bought and sold, and often repackaged, was worth $668 trillion, that's 
with a T, an astonishingly high amount, and yet all traded virtually 
without oversight or regulation. The financial institutions that traded 
these derivatives did so in secret, and when the underlying assets 
failed, such as mortgage-backed securities, the financial sector was 
unprepared for the repercussions, and American families paid the price.
  I support Wall Street reform that provides an orderly liquidation for 
financial institutions that fail at the institution's expense, not the 
taxpayers. That means never again will big banks receive taxpayer-
funded bailouts. In the event of failure, large financial institutions 
must be prepared for an orderly wind down that does not cause 
additional strain to the overall economy and does not require taxpayer 
assistance. This reform ensures that the firms prepare liquidation 
plans ahead of time in case they are ever needed, and most importantly, 
Wall Street reform clearly states that taxpayers will never again have 
to fund a failing firm's bailout or liquidation costs.
  Madam Speaker, the Wall Street reform before us accomplishes the 
goals of protecting consumers, providing transparency to previously 
unregulated markets, and ending too-big-to-fail taxpayer-funded 
bailouts. It finally provides the financial protections for consumers 
and homeowners that have been lacking for far too long. Wall Street 
reform will help ensure that never again will American families be 
unprotected and left footing the bill for someone else's big mistake.
  I strongly support Wall Street reform and encourage my colleagues to 
do so. Never again should private risk become public responsibility.

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