Senate Proceeding on Jun 17th, 2009 :: 5:42:30 to 5:52:05
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5:42:26 to 5:42:46( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: congress fails to act, i will lift my hold. and i yield. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. a senator: when the founding fathers wrote the constitution and gave us our government, they did sout of a deep distrust of the

5:42:30 to 5:52:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Robert Bennett

5:42:47 to 5:43:07( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: out of their experience with king george. and they created a government that limits the use deliberately setting up a system of checks and doctrine of separation of powers and so on with which we're all familiar. mr. bennett: out of that americans have become used to

5:43:08 to 5:43:30( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: the idea that there are limits on governmental power. and one of the concerns that i hear when i visit with my constituents in utah is that they are afraid there are now no limits on government power. or at least not enough limits on government power. i'm asked: where does it stop?

5:43:31 to 5:43:52( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: the government can take over insurance companies. the government can take over financial institutions. the government can take over an automobile company. the government can dictate who gets to be chief how much he or she will be paid. aren't there supposed to be

5:43:53 to 5:44:13( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: limits on government power? now today we have a proposal brought forward by the how the regulatory pattern for our financial institutions should be changed and as i look at that proposal, i ask the same questions my constituents are asking: shouldn't there be some

5:44:14 to 5:44:34( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: limits on government power? isn't this going a bit far? indeed, i think it's a legitimate question to address it here for a moment. now, first let's understand a fundamental truth about the economy and that is that all

5:44:35 to 5:44:55( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: we farmers take risks when the plant seeds not knowing what the weather is going to do. business men and women take risks when they open businesses not knowing what the market is going to do. new wealth comes o have a bumper crop. new wealth comes out when a business started in a garage

5:44:56 to 5:45:16( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: turns into hewlett packard. but in risks. now the second element that has to be added to risk taking is the access to accumulated wealth. sometimes it comes by a wealth you've accumulated yourself. sometimes it comes from loans

5:45:17 to 5:45:38( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: from your brother-in-law. sometimes it comes from running up your credit card. sometimes it comes from venture capitalists. in many itances it comes from banks. but you take a risk and you have to have access to some kind of accumulated capital or you cannot create new wealth. all right.

5:45:39 to 5:46:00( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: why do people take risks? because they expect their -- there will be a reward in the form of a return on the taptal that they have taken. whether it comes from a bank loan it comes from invesr capital that will then receive dividends, there will be a reward.

5:46:01 to 5:46:21( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: the risk-reward relationship is at the base of the growth an power of the american economy. now, in had people saying y are some entity that's are simply too big it fail. we must not allow them to fail. and particularly in the

5:46:22 to 5:46:42( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: financial services industry and so that's why we have this proposal today from the obama administration. they want to deal with systemic risk or those which they describe which comes down bas they're too big to fail and

5:46:43 to 5:47:04( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: we're not going to allow them to fail. and this is the regulatory regime we will setup. mr. president, if there are companies or entities that are too bigo sale, this regime is too big to function. it is so focused on preventing failure that it is stacked in

5:47:05 to 5:47:26( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: such a way that it will penalize the risk risk taker from taking a risk and, therefore, from reaping any kind of a reward. there's a heavy emphasis on consumer protection. i'm all for consumer protection. i think we should have all of the kinds of regulations that

5:47:27 to 5:47:47( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: say you need labels on things that might not be safe. that protects the consumer. you need nutritional information on things that too fat. that protects the consumer. but let's not protect the consumer to the point where the consumer cannot buy anything. or in

5:47:48 to 5:48:09( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: system from any possible risk and, therefore, ultimately no reward. by giving the federal reserve the kind of powers that this proposal does, we are moving down that road and once again raising the question: are there no limits on the amount of power

5:48:10 to 5:48:31( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: that government can have -- government can accumulate? i am convinced that i massive, new expansion of power in the hands of the government goes forward unimped, we will see the shutting off of sources of credit and, therefore, the

5:48:32 to 5:48:52( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: contraction of the economy and ultimately the need for more bailout, more expenditures of federal funds to try to keep funds -- to keep entities alive. they can stay alive if they can attract capital from the private market but that's risky.

5:48:53 to 5:49:16( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: so if we say no, we're not going to allow the risk, we shut off the incentive of the private market to invest in some of these enties or to loan money to some of these entities and then we say, but the entity is so important to our economy, we can't allow it to fail and so we turn to the taxpayer and say, let's put more taxpayer money into the entity because it's too

5:49:17 to 5:49:37( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: big to down the road nor proposal. -- down proposal. now, i may be wrong. but i would point out, mr. president, that we in the congress have, by law, created a commission to study what got in -- what caused the present mess we're in and report back to the congress.

5:49:38 to 5:49:58( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: and we wrote into that law a specific date, the 15th of december, 2010, to make sure the commission had enough time to examine all of the po enough into the issue to fully understand it, and then to

5:49:59 to 5:50:20( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: report back to us their findings. now we are being told, forget the commission, forget the analysis of what happened. we think we know of the let's put this regulatory we think we know. let's put this regulatory in place, one that is too big to function, now. let's do it quickly. let's have it done by august recess. ?# all ght, we can't get it done

5:50:21 to 5:50:43( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: by august we're going to have health care down by august recess, so we'll do it before whatever artificial date some may choose to put on it. the reality is, the huge, the issue needs t be examined carefully, and we need to do it within the parameters

5:50:44 to 5:51:07( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: of the basis suspicion the founding fathers had government. we should do it with an understanding that there are limits to government power and that government power has capacity to damage the economy every bit as much as it has the power to help it?i move forward.

5:51:10 to 5:51:31( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: so, mr. preside, under the circumstances not move with the speed and let us not move with the speed and the haste with which we are moving forward. let's exfoes to the most careful of examination that we can throughout the processes of congress. and make sure that when we do make regulator respect to the financial institutions, we do them in a

5:51:32 to 5:51:50( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: way that will not fail and that can i yield the floor. i suggest the absenc quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will