Senate Proceeding on Sep 26th, 2008 :: 0:15:57 to 0:22:19
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0:09:11 to 0:15:57( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Charles Schumer

0:15:41 to 0:15:57( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: pass this bill. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader is recognized. mr. durbin: i know there is an order for senator harkin to speak

0:15:57 to 0:16:10( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: next, and he's in the cloakroom. i told him i would speak for a moment until he's prepared to come to the floor. so i ask consent to speak next in the democratic order. the presiding officer: without

0:15:57 to 0:22:19( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Richard Durbin

0:16:10 to 0:16:27( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, i thank the senator from new york for his comments. of course, being from the state of new york, he feels intensely and personally what's happening

0:16:27 to 0:16:46( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: with many of these economic decisions on wall street. this involves not only the savings of millions of americans, but the jobs and careers of many people who are working hard in the financial sector.

0:16:46 to 0:17:01( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: i'm sorry we've reached this point, and i'm also sorry that of all the things that have been proposed so far, there are two glaring omissions. i understand that time is a constraint on our activities

0:17:01 to 0:17:15( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: here, but we really have to come to grips with the fundamental issue that's at stake. what we have done on wall street over the years is create a shadow credit industry with no oversight and little

0:17:15 to 0:17:26( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: regulation. as a result, this has been anything goes capitalism on wall street which, sadly, has led to the demise of major investment banks and brokerage houses. it isn't just their misfortune. it's

0:17:26 to 0:17:40( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: the misfortune. employees and investors, savers and retirees who counted on them for their future. the idea that we would step aside and let the magic of capitalism work its will has shown us that

0:17:40 to 0:17:56( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: we should have thought more of this. it wasn't that many years ago on the senate floor that i was debating senator phil gramm of texas. he was the high priest of this theory of fundamentalism, free-market

0:17:56 to 0:18:09( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: fundamentalism. and he would come to the floor and argue get the government out of the way. all you can do is get in the way, create red tape, slow things down and diminish profit taking and wealth

0:18:09 to 0:18:25( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: creation. well, he carried the day for a long period of time. he had this svengali influence on many senators, including the republican nominee for president, john mccain, and look what we've reaped from

0:18:25 to 0:18:39( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: this. we have now a crisis, an economic crisis, just to quote the secretary of the treasury and the chairman of the federal reserve, that has been generated by this market philosophy. so at the end

0:18:39 to 0:18:56( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: of the day we need to put in place sensible regulation so that the taxpayers are protected and the people who count on these investment houses can have some assurance that their money will be returned.

0:18:56 to 0:19:14( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: that, i think, is the bottom line, and we won't have time to do that before the end of this year. it will take time to do it carefully. it must be part of it. the second point i'll make -- and i see senator

0:19:14 to 0:19:25( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: harkin has come to the floor. the second point i'll make is this: there is a great tkaoefl empathy and concern for those on wall street whose -- deal of empathy and concern for those on wall street whose

0:19:25 to 0:19:36( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: businesses are facing failure. i have concern too, but i have more concern for homeowners across america who are losing literally thousands of homes to foreclosure because of the tricks and traps which these

0:19:36 to 0:19:45( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: same entities put in their mortgage instruments. i think of people that i have met in chicago, retirees, living on social security, lured into these rotten mortgage arrangements, about to lose their

0:19:45 to 0:19:59( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: homes because of someone who brought them into a room and had them sign a stack of papers with a reset that took the home away when the monthly cost went beyond their social security check. that's

0:19:59 to 0:20:10( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: an outrage. how many tears have been shed on the floor of the senate or in washington for these people? none. what we hear from this administration is it's their misfortune. they made a bad decision.

0:20:10 to 0:20:23( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: we have to honor the sanctity of the contract. sanctity is a word that in my religion connotes holiness, a sacred quality. what in the world is holy or sacred about these subprime mortgages which

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

Richard Durbin: were brokered for the purposes of making a fast buck and getting out of town, leaving victims behind who were about to see their homes foreclosed. i would like to see a modicum of sympathy for

0:20:32 to 0:20:43( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: people facing foreclosure. but when we bring this up in the negotiations over this bailout plan, we are told absolutely no. we can do nothing for the homeowners at the end of the day. well, i tell you, it isn't

0:20:43 to 0:20:54( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: just a matter of sympathy or a matter of taking a moral position. it's good economics. if we don't stem the tide of foreclosures among homeowners at the base of our economy, then these mortgage instruments

0:20:54 to 0:21:08( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: will continue to decline in value and there will be further instability in the credit markets. it is not just a matter of doing the right thing. it is the proper thing economically, to get us back on track.

0:21:08 to 0:21:21( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: well, i can't sell that. you know why? because the banks and the mortgage lenders, the same people who authored this mess, oppose it. the the sanctity of the contract. well, i want to tell you something.

0:21:21 to 0:21:35( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: if we were dealing with the sanctity of the contract, we wouldn't be talking about a bailout. we wouldn't be talking about $700 billion from hard-working taxpayers in iowa and illinois coming to the rescue

0:21:35 to 0:21:46( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: of a lot of people who have been reaping multimillion-dollar annual bow tphruss from this -- bonus s from this mess they created on wall street. sanctity of the contract, give me a break. let us have

0:21:46 to 0:21:58( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: some respect for the people across america, the families that are the strength of this nation. those middle-income and hard-working americans who get up and go to work every day and struggle with

0:21:58 to 0:22:09( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: this economy, who may have been lured into a bad mortgage and now face the greatest economic catastrophe of their lives. how much help are they going to get from this bailout? exactly nothing. nothing.

0:22:09 to 0:22:19( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: there's nothing on the tableo help them. and that, to me, is unconscionable and unacceptable. take this economic crisis seriously at the top but don't forget at the bottom of the pyramid are the people of

0:22:19 to 0:22:32( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: america who have been sphroeuded by people on -- who have been exploited by people on wall street. the final point, i'm glad john mccain is back on the presidential trail. his visit to washington yesterday

0:22:19 to 0:53:59( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Tom Harkin