Financial Regulatory Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I rise to talk a little bit about the Wall Street reform bill that the Senate Banking Committee has been working on for the last 6 months. It is my hope we can get this bill through this body and off the floor very soon.

In the past 48 hours, I have been very encouraged by what I have heard as far as the progress of negotiations between Chairman Dodd and Senator Shelby. I urge my colleagues to keep up the good work but remind them that actions speak louder than words and that now is the time for action.

So my message is clear. Let's get this done. I hope we are now at a point beyond creating rhetoric, where we can get down to resolving outstanding issues in a constructive way. We need to end the era of too big to fail once and for all and end taxpayer-funded bailouts that came with that too big to fail.

I voted against both bailouts of Wall Street and the U.S. auto industry because I thought taxpayers were getting a raw deal. I do not believe in bailouts. But I do believe in making sure there are referees on Wall Street to make sure the big banks and the investment firms play by the rules to make sure taxpayers and Main Street small businesses do not pay the price of the sins of Wall Street.

The strong resolution authority and prefunding mechanism included in this bill will strengthen taxpayer protections. Requiring big Wall Street companies to pay into this fund and forcing failing firms into bankruptcy is not going to lead to more bailouts; it, in fact, will have the opposite effect.

But if my Republican colleagues have other ideas about how to provide strong resolution authority to protect taxpayers, I look forward to working with them. So let's stop the rhetoric and get down to the business our constituents sent us to do. We need to address the worst financial calamity since the Great Depression.

Let me also say how much I appreciate the work of my colleagues who have been willing to talk in a thoughtful way about these issues. I wish to say thank you to Senator Corker for speaking the truth, for rightly noting that some of the concerns that have been raised in this bill could have been resolved in 5 minutes.

After listening to some of my colleagues on the floor yesterday, I think our concerns may be more alike than unalike. I am hopeful we can work together to address common concerns.

Everyone knows we have a pretty good bill. My good friend, Senator Shelby, says he agrees with 80 to 90 percent of what is in this bill. I am heartened by the newspapers yesterday that we may be close to an agreement. I hope that means we now have the political will to address substantive concerns and move forward with this bill.

When I was elected to the Senate, I vowed to make Washington look a little bit more like Montana. I hope we can show the people of Montana we have the can-do attitude they expect in addressing problems of this magnitude and in moving America out of this financial crisis.

The American people are watching. Montanans are still steaming mad about the $700 billion bailout. I, similar to them, have a hard time understanding why we have not set the rules yet, rules to prevent the risky behavior that got us into this mess nearly 2 years ago.

Let me say to all my friends in this Chamber: We have waited long enough. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer to reform Wall Street. Doing nothing is not an option. Passing a watered-down version of this bill is also not an option. To do either of those would leave us in a vulnerable position, vulnerable to another collapse.

I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source