Senate Proceeding 10-01-08 on Oct 1st, 2008 :: 0:17:35 to 0:30:20
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0:17:20 to 0:17:35( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: want to get into a situation where limitation is without some consideration to make sure there's balance to it. mr. gregg: let's go forward with the senator from new york. the presiding officer: the senator

0:17:35 to 0:17:51( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: from new york.k. mrs. clinton: thank you, mr. president. thank you very much. and i appreciate the extraordinary work that has been done with respect to the rescue package, led in a bipartisan fashion

0:17:35 to 0:30:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Hillary Clinton

0:17:51 to 0:18:06( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: which has certainly produced significant changes in the original request that came to the congress from the treasury department. and tonight we will vote on legislation none of us wish we were

0:18:06 to 0:18:19( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: considering andone of cuss afford to see fail. the costs of inaction are far too great. we are already seeing the consequences of a freezing credit market that will only worsen. i hear across my state of new

0:18:19 to 0:18:37( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: york small businesses are struggling to find affordable loans to keep their doors open and their inventories stocked. even larger businesses are being pushed to the breaking point. throughout the

0:18:37 to 0:18:56( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: country, the impact of this credit crisis is beginning to be felt, with students who are seeing the sources of student loans drying up, interest rates on car payments rising, families who had saved

0:18:56 to 0:19:11( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: up and acted responsibly seeing higher mortgage rates, shrinking their dream of homeoership. our economy runs on credit, and underlying that credit is trust. both the credit and the trust is running out.

0:19:11 to 0:19:25( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: essentially what we are doing here in an intangible way is restoring trust and confidence and in a very tangible way helping to restore credit. banks will refuse to throand businesses -- to lend to businesses

0:19:25 to 0:19:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and even to one another. investors continue to withdraw into the safest of investments -- treasury bills, even cash -- tens of thousands of jobs in new york have been lott -- have been lost, and a study

0:19:40 to 0:19:56( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: this morning projected that new york alone would lose at least 120,000 jobs. now, i think we are here in some respects because we failed to tackle a home mortgage crisis and now we are facing a market

0:19:56 to 0:20:12( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: crisis. if we fail to tackle the market crisis, we risk an even deeper economic crisis. i don't think any of us to want see irresponsibility on wall street compounded by ineffectiveness in washington. that's

0:20:12 to 0:20:28( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: why we must act, even as we do so with regret and reservations, because we have little choice. the proposal we are considering is far from perfect but it is a far cry from the original plan sent

0:20:28 to 0:20:42( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: over by the treasury department that installed virtually unlimited powers in the hands of the treasury secretary. as i said when we first examined that original three-page proposal, we needed a plan

0:20:42 to 0:20:58( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: that included checks and balances, not a blank check. and thanks to the leadership here in the senate and in the house, we have negotiated through the congress on a bipartisan basis a better alternative

0:20:58 to 0:21:13( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: that installs taxpayer protections, asserts oversight and maintains greater accountability. as is the case very often in effective compromises, no one is happy. but we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the

0:21:13 to 0:21:28( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: good or, in this case, the enemy of what's necessary. but as we vote for this proposal tonight, we must do so considering what steps we will take next. on the floor at this moment are three of the

0:21:28 to 0:21:44( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: leaders who shaped this, under the very able leadership of chairman dodd and the chief republican negotiator, senator gregg, and of course the chairman of the finance committee, chairman baucus. but

0:21:44 to 0:22:01( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: i think we all recognize that this is not the end but the beginning of what we must do. and i believe there are three big goals that we will have to address even after we pass the rescue package tonight

0:22:01 to 0:22:13( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: here in the senate and send it over to the house. first, we must address the home mortgage crisis. for two years, i and others have called for action as wave after wave of defaults and closures --

0:22:13 to 0:22:26( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: foreclosures crashed against the community and the broader economy. we are not yet through the woods. millions of mortgages are underwater around the specter of adjustable rates set to rise. i am proposing

0:22:26 to 0:22:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: what we're calling the homeowners mortgage enterprise, an acronym obviously spelling "home." to rewrite mortgages and reset terms so that creditworthy, responsible families can keep their homes

0:22:40 to 0:22:55( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and keep making affordable payments. through such a home program, we'd also be able to consider freezing adjustable mortgage rates and even placing short-term moratoriums on foreclosures. when our

0:22:55 to 0:23:08( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: country enacted a similar program in the great depression, we saved one million homes without costing the taxpayers a dime. in fact, the program ended up with a surplus. and only by rewriting the terms

0:23:08 to 0:23:20( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: of the debt held by families whose mortgages can be salvaged will we recoup a great deal of the value of the debt we are purchasing from wall street firms. i also believe we need to consider a real

0:23:20 to 0:23:32( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: tax credit for home buyer's to -- home buyer's to jump start the housing market. this has been an effective tool in the past and it can be an effective tool again. we have too much supply and too

0:23:32 to 0:23:45( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: little demand, and getting the liquidity that will be injected into the credit markets to work its way through the entire economy will take time. i think we need not only a supply of liquidity but an

0:23:45 to 0:23:59( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: creation demand, particularly in the housing market. second, we must be vigilant on behalf of taxpayers. putting in place safeguards so the treasury is maximizing the value of the assets purchased

0:23:59 to 0:24:09( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: with taxpayer dollars. we need to have the flexibility to ensure we're not just subsidizing investigators and executives, but we should tie this debt relief to strong recapitalization requirements

0:24:09 to 0:24:24( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and greater accountability. i also want to be sure that companies do not take undue advantage of this program and sell securities to the treasury with one stroke of the pen and claim a deduction

0:24:24 to 0:24:41( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: for the losses on those assets with the other. in essence, double dipping, dumping their bad assets on taxpayers and getting a tax break as well. i'm proposing we build on a very creative provision

0:24:41 to 0:24:55( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: in the bill before us and establish an e-trust program. that would stand for transparent rules used to safeguard taxpayers. in the bill, there's a provision that transactions be put on the internet.

0:24:55 to 0:25:07( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: i want to ensure that the assets brought -- bought and sold by the treasury department are reported on-line in realtime so any american can log on and see how their tax dollars are being spent. all assets

0:25:07 to 0:25:25( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: bought and sold must be available on a publicly accessible web site that discloses the buyers, sellers and values of these assets. the american people are buying these securities and so the american

0:25:25 to 0:25:43( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: people must have easy access to their ptfolio. it's also important for the american people to understand that lying behind these complex transactions with all kinds of long names that you read in the newspaper,

0:25:43 to 0:25:55( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: collateralized debt obligations and credit default schweppes and all the other -- default swaps and all the other words that are used to in some way explain the complex financial transactions that

0:25:55 to 0:26:11( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: brought to us this place, standing behind are real assets, there are real homes owned by real people in real land in real communities across america. so we want to know how those securities that stand

0:26:11 to 0:26:26( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: in for these real assets are being traded, bought, and sold and we want to be sure that we realize for the taxpayer the benefit of these transactions. and, third, i think there is general agreement

0:26:26 to 0:26:47( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: we must pursue broader reforms. that is one of the lessons of this turmoil. i know that chairman dodd and others will be holding hearings to try to untangle how we got to where we are. we know that we have

0:26:47 to 0:27:01( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: to rein in executive compensation by giving shareholders an executive role. we've got to end a quarter by quarter mentality where long-term prosperity is subverted by short-term stock valuations and we have

0:27:01 to 0:27:15( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: to end the culture of recklessness in our financial markets endorsed byhe ideology of indifference in washington. as american people invest in these companies, i think we should ask the companies to

0:27:15 to 0:27:30( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: invest in the american people. i think that we should consider financial institutions participating in this treasury plan to create an american priorities fund to be part of their portfolios to invest in clean

0:27:30 to 0:27:46( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: energy, infrastructure, mass transit, manufacturing, education, and other public goods and goals that would be well served by private investment. along with the rescue package will be a number of tax

0:27:46 to 0:28:01( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: credits that will be passed by the senate tonight. again, chairman baucus has done yeoman's work getting these tax credits put together. the senate support them before in it as a fix for the alternative

0:28:01 to 0:28:16( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: minimum tax. energy production tax credits. in fact, we will be stimulating the economy for main street while we pass this rescue package for our credit markets. i think that's the right combination,

0:28:16 to 0:28:30( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: but we need to do more. instead of toxic securities tha nobodyan understand, are so complex and lack all transparency an accountability, banks should invest in clean energy facilities in buffalo or new

0:28:30 to 0:28:47( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: auto manufacturing plants in detroit to build more fuel-efficient cars. we should repair our bridges, roads, our tunnels. we should invest in high-speed rail and making sure that amtrak is just not

0:28:47 to 0:29:05( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: a second-class railroad, but competes with the best anywhere in the world. i think, mr. president, that the agenda before the congress is a very important one for our couny. we cannot continue to shuttle

0:29:05 to 0:29:19( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: from crisis to crisis. this is a sink or swim moment for our country and we cannot merely catch our breath. we must swim for the shores. and we must do so together. not only as a united congress, but as

0:29:19 to 0:29:33( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: a united country. there's so much work to be done in america. so many investments that will make us richer and stronger and safer and smarter, that will enable us to look into the eyes of our children

0:29:33 to 0:29:48( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and grandchildren and tell them that we're leaving our country and as good, in fact, better shape than when we found it. at this moment we can't say that. but i am absolutely sure, based on the bipartisan

0:29:48 to 0:29:58( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: cooperation that we saw on this bill in responding to a real crisis, that we will see more of that in the months ahead. our new president will certainly demand it of us, but we should be demanding it of

0:29:58 to 0:30:08( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: ourselves and demonstrate to the american people that the united states congress will lead the way into a much more confident and optimistic future for america. thank you, mr. president, and i yield

0:30:08 to 0:30:25( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. dodd: i just want to thank my colleague from new york. eloquent and hit on the exact theme. i think that