[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12402]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THE WALL STREET REFORM BILL

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, 8 million jobs gone; $17 trillion in savings 
gone; Americans' faith in their system gone. Why? Because mortgages 
that came in 31 flavors of insanity got bought by Americans who 
couldn't afford them. Banks tied them in a bow and put AAA ratings on 
them, and then the billion dollar betting really started. The Wall 
Street reform bill that we have crafted addresses every one of the 
links in that chain of madness.
  Yesterday, the minority leader called the reform killing an ant with 
a nuclear weapon. Mr. Speaker, I'm a human being, so I know that 8 
million jobs lost and $17 trillion in savings gone is not an ant.
  Mr. Speaker, I worked years in the financial services industry, so I 
know that this reform is not a nuclear weapon. It is a critical and 
essential mechanism to restore the faith of the American people in 
their system and the prosperity that will follow.

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