Senate Proceeding 10-01-08 on Oct 1st, 2008 :: 1:18:59 to 1:40:41
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1:07:24 to 1:18:59( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Bob Corker

1:18:49 to 1:18:59( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Corker: madam president, i'm going to call up an amendment at the desk and ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from connecticut, mr.

1:18:59 to 1:19:12( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: dodd, proposes an amendment numbered 5685. mr. dodd: madam president, i ask unanimous consent unthe amendment be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: madam president,

1:18:59 to 1:40:41( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Christopher Dodd

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Christopher Dodd: i'm going to take a few minutes here and describe this amendment and -- to my colleagues at this hour and i want to talk as well about some of my colleagues who have helped us goat this -- get

1:19:20 to 1:19:30( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: to this point. there's a crisis in our country. that's been sosd many times now. i -- said so many times now. i hope the impact of that statement isn't being lost because of the repetition of it.

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Christopher Dodd: we need to address it swiftly and forcefully and that is why we are here today. normally when you talk about bringing up a bill, there's a certain amount of joy involved in putting something together

1:19:42 to 1:19:53( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: that you sympathy proactively going to make a difference n. this case here, we're coming together around a proposal and a bill that is a response to a situation that is -- has angered millions of

1:19:53 to 1:20:04( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: americans, angers most of us here to be in this situation. but also heightens the sense of responsibility that requires us to act. and, therefore, we will spend the next few hours sharing with each other,

1:20:04 to 1:20:14( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: as well as with the american people, why we're in this situaon to some degree but clearly what our response is to it and our hopes that this proposal will make the difference that many americans

1:20:14 to 1:20:29( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: expect. if americans doubt we're living in perilous times in our nation's history, they need to look no further than what's happening in the financial markets in the last two days. clearly, madam president,

1:20:29 to 1:20:42( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: this is no ordinary time, no normal economic downturn. this is a day, madam president, unlike other days. this crisis and the choice it demands are unlike few we've ever seen before, even those who

1:20:42 to 1:20:56( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: have served in this chamber in several, several decades. this chamber may not be full but millions in time will hear the words that we speak and millions will feel the vote that we cast around 7:00 p.m.

1:20:56 to 1:21:07( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: this evening. and in the end, once the reputations we stake were good and ill have long since gone to dust, once this day has turned from flesh and blood to textbook page for a wild who is not yet

1:21:07 to 1:21:20( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: born, one of two things will be said about us and how we acted on this heavy day. they will say the united states senate did what was right or they will say that we washed our hands of this problem

1:21:20 to 1:21:32( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: and walked away. if this bill could be written as starkly as that, the vote would be unanimous. but bills never are. they're full of jargon and verbiage and compromise and, as necessary as they are,

1:21:32 to 1:21:46( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: they can crust over and obscure the essence of our choice. we read stories of foolish choices in our history books and from our safe distance it's so easy to shut, "why didn't they know any better?"

1:21:46 to 1:21:57( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: but up close in the flesh and blood of the moment, even on a day like today, making the wrong choice can be supremely easy. nearly eight decades ago, madam president, the men who sat in these chairs

1:21:57 to 1:22:09( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: -- and there were only men in those days -- were faced with a crisis not unlike the one we face today. they faced a recession that threatened to turn much, much worse. and they did what was easy -- they lashed

1:22:09 to 1:22:23( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: out at the world and threw up huge bear growers trade they found -- barrier to trade. atthey found someone to blame, not because it was good economics but because it felt good. president hoover

1:22:23 to 1:22:37( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: signed the 13 letters of his name with six gold pens and launched a trade war. the world retaliated, commerce shut down, and passing a bill that felt good drove us deeper and deeper and deeper into

1:22:37 to 1:22:48( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: depression. this week on both sides of the capitol, i could imagine how pleasant it would feel vote "no." in that respect, those who stand on the other side of this issue will have a much happier week

1:22:48 to 1:23:03( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: w. a rush of affirmation they will get as they stick a finger in the eye of the bankers and tycoons whose greed brought to us this crisis. believe me, committee sympathize -- believe me, i can sympathize.

1:23:03 to 1:23:12( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: but after the vote has been cast, what then? after the rush of righteousness fades, what then? it's been said, let justice be done though heavens fall. it's a nobody he will thought -- noble thought but it's much

1:23:12 to 1:23:25( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: easier to say when the heavens are in no danger of falling on you. who will they fall on? they will fall on the million or more families who could use their homes. it will fall on the mothers and fathers

1:23:25 to 1:23:39( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: telling their children that their college loan isn't coming through and struggling to explain why. it will fall on workers laid off all over this country as credit dries up, as businesses fail to

1:23:39 to 1:23:51( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: make their payrolls, and as they send their employees home with pink slips through no fault of their own. we are one nation, one economy, and one body. we can take a cut at wall street but wall

1:23:51 to 1:24:04( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: street will not feel the worst of the pain, not by a long shot. the blood won't come from them, madam president. my colleagues know who will feel the pain, who will bleed the whitest by this crisis.

1:24:04 to 1:24:18( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: those whose economic world is made up of credit cards and mortgage payments, not hedge funds and credit default swaps. the men and women and families we represent will feel the pain of a "no" vote.

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Christopher Dodd: and the world will feel the pain too, i might add. men and women in families just like ours who don't speak our language, who are asleep on the other side of the world as i speak these words right

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Christopher Dodd: now but who are bound to us in a web of commerce more titlely than brefer in -- before in the world history. they are watching too, i might add. today's "washington post" quotes a banker in germany,

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Christopher Dodd: madam president, a man who did nothing to cause this crisis but will suffer from it as much as if he did. and his faith in america even now, even today ought to inspire each and every one of us in

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Christopher Dodd: this chamber. let me quote him for you. "all i can say," this german fellow said, "is that i simply cannot imagine that the americans will not come up and sort out this with some sort of a solution.

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Christopher Dodd: anything else," he said,is outside the realm of my imagination." outside the realm, madam president, of his imagination that this united states senate of ours will not solve this problem in conjunction

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Christopher Dodd: with the work of the other body. he is speak of a nation of doers, fixers, problem-solvers, of people with optimism and confidence in our future. we can be that nation again. in fact, we must be.

1:25:35 to 1:25:45( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: madam president, i love my job here in the united states senate. i sit in the seat normally right behind me here, my father's desk sit at it every day. love that desk, love this chamber of today

1:25:45 to 1:25:58( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: there is not a place i would rather be. i'm sure my colleagues, each one of them have, their own stories, 100 of them, of their love of this job and this place and what it means to be a united

1:25:58 to 1:26:11( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: states senator. but how can we possibly weigh those hundreds of jobs, if you will, against the 600,000 or more that have been lost in america just this year alone and the million more that could

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Christopher Dodd: follow? if we could save those jobs by ging up our own, how could we not? who can come to the floor and say with a clean conscience, i will save my job but put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk

1:26:25 to 1:26:38( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: all across this great country of ours? i don't believe that a single member of this body, regardless of party, would ever make that trade. they'd be willing to give up their job to save that of others as

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Christopher Dodd: edmund burke said to his constituents decades and decades ago, "the legislators unbiased opinion, his or her mature judgment, his or her enlightened conscience ought not to sacrifice to you, to any

1:26:53 to 1:27:06( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: man, or to any sentimental image, these he does not derive from your pleasure nor from the law in the constitution. they are a trust from providence for the abuse of which is deeply answerable." i

1:27:06 to 1:27:21( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: am answerable today, as all of us are in this chamber. and i intend to answer correctly. i intend to answer "yes" that we ought to do this to get our country back on its feet again. that is the job

1:27:21 to 1:27:33( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: of the united states senate. by now it's well known how we arrived at this critical moment. years of what president and secretary paulson himself have called bad lending practices went essentially unchecked

1:27:33 to 1:27:45( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: by a regulatory system that was not on the job. these bad lending practices have been primarily in the area of mortgage lending, as we all know . culpaability for these practices exist in every link

1:27:45 to 1:27:57( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: of the chain from mortgage lenders t the investment banks. certainly there are many borrowers who acted irresponsibly. they should not be excused for the consequences of their actions. but neither should

1:27:57 to 1:28:09( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: knows whose culpability was significant and catastrophic in terms of their impact on mortgage lending and on the credit markets. almost two years ago the senate banking committee held the first congressional

1:28:09 to 1:28:21( Edit History Discussion )

hearing of the new congress on predatory lending. at that hearing i and others at that committee, democrats and republicans, warned of the coming wave of foreclosures that could devastate millions

1:28:21 to 1:28:34( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: of homeowners and have a devastating impact on our economy. some, madam president, unfortunately scoffed at these predictions. well, no one is scoffing anymore. financial market turmoil that's afeeinging

1:28:34 to 1:28:50( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: families and businesses all across this country and the contagion has spread beyond the chauffeurs our own nation. a paper in my state, "the connecticut post" of bridgeport, connecticut, reported at the

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Christopher Dodd: sacred heart university -- julie sevino, the dean of the school of financi assistance. she is seeing families laid off without medical insurance, parents are slid on the hunlts for alternative means

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Christopher Dodd: to pay for their children's education. some students have had to walk away from their educations altogether, she points out. reuters news service reported that kansas city cabinetmaker anthony gallo

1:29:16 to 1:29:31( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: had no debt 18 months ago -- none. now he is being forced to borrow just to make payroll. let me quote him. "my line of credit has been cut to nothing. we're all hurting and wondering what is going to

1:29:31 to 1:29:42( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: happen. they've got to do something," he said, "to save these banks." they can't -- "they can't kill our economy. ings "end of quote. the banking and system 178 is an -- the banking and financial system

1:29:42 to 1:29:54( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: is an essential part of our economy. the halt of the flow of money hurts not only wall street firms but the way of life for millions of americans far beyond lower manhattan. right now banks are afraid

1:29:54 to 1:30:06( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: in some cases unable to lend money, money that companies need to make payroll, money that families need to pay medical bills, money that students need to pay for college, money that small businesses

1:30:06 to 1:30:21( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: need to stock their shelves with inventory, money that a gas station needs to supply their pumps with gas, if you will, and money that investors provide to entrepreneurs to start new businesses and create

1:30:21 to 1:30:36( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: new jobs. we know that money isn't moving. that's what the credit crunch means. very few americans have ever heard of something called "the l ible." which stands for the london international business

1:30:36 to 1:30:48( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: rate. it's the rate that's used to calculate the cost of home loans, student loans, auto loans and small businesses. yesterday libor jumped over 400% in just one day. in many ways this is the canary

1:30:48 to 1:31:02( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: in the coal mine, if you will. it is a sign of the strains that are threatening the credit to the people of our country and indeed the industrial world. another canary, full, in the coal mine is

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Christopher Dodd: the rate on treasury bills. several days ago fearful investors rushed into safe treasury securities send yields on treasuries into negative territory for the first time at least in half a century. when people

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Christopher Dodd: see that the money they have placed in banks and money market funds is earning negative interest, they may feel compelled to pull their money out of such financial institutions. this could result in even

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Christopher Dodd: further erosion of the supply of money in our economy. madam president, our economy is on -- is on a precipice. that is not an exaggeration. we must do what we can to move it back from that brink. the legislation

1:31:41 to 1:31:57( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: before us and the amendment that i've offered, this comprehensive amendment, that the senate -- before the senate today represents an effort to do just that. just 10 days ago the administration,

1:31:57 to 1:32:12( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: if i may, just remind my colleagues -- this is the bill. i hold it in my hands, three pages long. a bill that was sent to us by the administration, a bill that called for $700 billion to go out

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Christopher Dodd: without any questions asked, without any oversight, any accountability, any taxpayer protections -- three pages. i might point out, as you said to sornlings a no-documentation loan to a subprime borrower

1:32:25 to 1:32:34( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: a few years ago was four pages long. here a request for $700 billion is three pages long. my colleagues on both sides here said no to that. we're not going to do that. as a result, over these last few

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Christopher Dodd: weeks, we have put together a piece of legislation that gives us much more heightened protection about how this program would work and there are a lot of people that deserve tremendous tread for

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Christopher Dodd: this. but i want to thank my completion for rejecting this offer of -- my colleagues for rejecting this offer of three pages for $700 billion in return for drafting a comprehensive bill that will

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Christopher Dodd: provide i believe the kind of security that people are looking for with a plan of this magnitude. i refuse to write a blank cck on this, not just for this administration. i would do did with any

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Christopher Dodd: administration, as my colleagues did as well. this crisis demanded that we bring together members of the house of representatives, the united states senate, republicans and democrats and hammer out

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Christopher Dodd: a better solution for the american people. our leader, senator harry reid, the majority leader, deserves incredible credit for his determination to stick with this and not walk away and demand each and every day

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Christopher Dodd: when things began to fall "part" that we stay at this and work at it and was joined by the majority leader, senator mcconnell -- deeply committed, i would point out, to the same effort, as well as a number

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Christopher Dodd: of others who played significant roles -- judd gregg i have been talking about and spending a lot of time with over the last two weeks, working out this particular bill that we brought together.

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Christopher Dodd: i thank him for his efforts. jack reed of rhode island was the principal author of the warrants in this bill to make sure that the american taxpayer comes first. if these instruments turn out to be more profitable

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Christopher Dodd: and they actually are sold, we make our money back, the people will get the benefit of that first -- the american taxpayers, and jack reed demanded that. pat leahy looked at the provision of this original

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Christopher Dodd: proposal when suggested that no court of law, no agency could ever question how this $700 billion was going to be used and the chairman of the judiciary committee said that passage will not last and struck

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it and offered new language that provides judicial protection in this bill. i mentioned bob corker already, senator corker of tennessee, who was of value over the last two weefntle mel martinez, chuck

1:34:47 to 1:34:58( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: hagel, chuck schumer is knowledge bbl this subject matter, represents the state of new york, and i can't begin to describe how valuable chuck schumer has been in this process. from the very beginning

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Christopher Dodd: there hasn't ban meeting that's occurred or a discussion that's been held on this where he hasn't played an invaluable role in seeing to it that we'd stay with this. dick durbin, the majority whip,

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Christopher Dodd: bob bennett of utah -- again, the ranking republican on the banking committee, historically has played a very important role on so many issues during his tenure here and he again was tremendously helpful

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Christopher Dodd: in this. max baucus, the chairman of the finance committee, played a critical role as we fashioned this together. my dear friend and colleague kent conrad, the chairman of the budget committee, just

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Christopher Dodd: was incredible in his determination that this package be fiscally sound, that we have provisions in here that would guarantee that our debt would be retired as part of the effort here when resources

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Christopher Dodd: are sold and the profits are gained. and so i thank my friend. he is a he here in fact on the floor, my colleague who was a tremendous help in all of this, madam president. i want to also mention the

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Christopher Dodd: other body -- barney frank of massachusetts, my counterpart in the house financial services committee, was again -- has been tireless over the last couple of weeks in this effort. congressman roy blunt,

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Christopher Dodd: speaker pelosi, representative john boehner as well, rahm emanuel. this was an effort -- i wish in many ways that the american people could have been a witness to these gatherings that went on day after

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Christopher Dodd: day. i think they would have been proud of their congress. at a time when congress's reputation is not great. but i think they would have been proud to see the effort that was being made, not where

1:36:36 to 1:36:49( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher Dodd: people were running from a political corner wearing a republican or democratic hat but coming together as senators and congressmen along with those from the treasury department to make a difference.

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Christopher Dodd: all of these members of congress, madam president, undertook the enormous and vital task of crafting this proposal which we offer to our colleagues this afternoon, the emergency economic stablization

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Christopher Dodd: act of 2008. this legislation will address, we hope, our nation's economic emergency in three key ways: economic stablization, taxpayer protection, and homeownership preservation. this bill gives the

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Christopher Dodd: treasury secretary the authority to respond quickly, forcibly, but responsibly to the current crisis. it authorizes him to buy a total of $700 billion in troubled assets, broken down into three separate

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Christopher Dodd: tranches with the final tranche subject to congressional review and approval. $700 billion is staggering. it is staggering, a staggering amount of money. we paul understand and share the anger of the --

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Christopher Dodd: we all understand and share the anger of the american people that they're being asked to commit that sum but in a $14 trillion economy, this is the kind of financial firepower that must be brought to

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Christopher Dodd: bear to containt financial crisis. secondly, in consideration of the extraordinary burden that this bill potentially places on the taxpayer, we maximize to the extent possible protections of that

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Christopher Dodd: taxpayer. the bill establishes an oversight board to review and shape the policies of the treasury department in carrying out this program. and unlike the original treasury proposal, this bill subjects

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Christopher Dodd: the actions of the treasury secretary to strong judicial review that will prohibit actions that are arbitrary, capricious or otherwise unlawful. it places firm limits on executive compensation to help

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Christopher Dodd: ensure that corporate executives whose companies receive taxpayer benefits do not walk away with golden parachutes and are not otherwise rewarded for wrongdoing. it will require taxpayers to receive warrants

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Christopher Dodd: so that they can benefit when the company benefits from taxpayer assistance. and in addition we require that any profits generated from the sale of these assets, purchase of public funds go to reduce

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Christopher Dodd: our national debt. and we provide for extensive reports so that members of congress and the public at large will know how every dime of this program is being useed. within 48 hours of any transaction,

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Christopher Dodd: madam president, the treasury secretary will have to report the amount, the terms, and the participants associated with that transaction. the general accounting organization will have immediate and ongoing

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Christopher Dodd: credit -- audit authority, rather, and report to congress every 60 days. a special inspector general will be established to monitor and police the program's activities and its participants. the third

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Christopher Dodd: priority, madam president, advanced by this legislation is homeownership. this is not an ancillary objective. it is inherent in my view to our efforts to resolve this economic crisis. chairman bernanke himself

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Christopher Dodd: has spoken forcefully on this point. our economy will recover only when we put an end to this spiral of foreclosures that is pulling down our entire financial stem. to that end, madam president, the

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Christopher Dodd: legislation requires that all federal agencies that own or control mortgages or mortgage-backed securities to preserve homeownership. in addition to legislation expands eligibility for the hope for

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Christopher Dodd: homeowners program which allows lenders and borrowers to access -- and brothers to access federal mortgage insurance in order to put homeowners on a path to security, not financial ruin. this is

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Christopher Dodd: not an easy vote. there will be no balloons or parades for members at the end of this process. the knowledge that one much our nation's moments massive economic peril, we acted, not for the benefit of

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Christopher Dodd: a particular few, but all americans, so they and those that come after it may enjoy the blessings of life in this great nation of ours. americans deserve to have the confidence restored and our

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job tonight will be to give them a chance to do just that. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the