Senate Proceeding on Oct 27th, 2009 :: 1:02:55 to 1:08:00
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1:02:46 to 1:03:06( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: floor. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, first let me compliment my colleague from illinois. he's right that the health care system in this country i in need of repair and reform, and he's right also about the people that are out there believing that they are insured when in

1:02:55 to 1:08:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Byron Dorgan

1:03:07 to 1:03:27( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: fact they're one sickness, one serious illness bankruptcy. in fargo, north dakota, i met a woman that 10 years ago had $600,000 in the bank. she had a job, health insurance and she had equity in a home. 10 years later, it's gone. she has a very serious she is a quadriplegic, needs a

1:03:28 to 1:03:48( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: substantial amount of care, and all those assets are gone. and she had insurance, and now the question is what? because a lot of people don't know that. they say, well, i've got health insurance. their insurance often has a cap on how much the insurance company will pay in the aggregate, which means they are just one serious illness away

1:03:49 to 1:04:09( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: from bops. and that's just -- from bankruptcy cht and that's just one, among others, of the reasons why there needs to be some change with respect to the health care issue. this will be difficult, and i commend the majority lead trying to put a bill together. it will come to the floor of the senate. we'll all have an opportunity to review it and offer amendment,

1:04:10 to 1:04:31( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: which is the way it should and at the end of the day, hope is that we will be able to advance the issue of health care and improve the health care system in thisountry. mr. president, i wanted to just mention very briefly -- and i'll speak about this a bit more later -- the daily n the very large

1:04:32 to 1:04:52( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: very large financial firms that received tarp funds or funds from the taxpayer from the federal government to try to keep difficult times last year. the notices of the bonuses and profits of those firms are very troubling to me other people. i wanted to mention that a group of us a while back wrote

1:04:53 to 1:05:13( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: federal reserve board asking them to release information about how much money went out the book door of the federal reserve board when for the first time in history they allowed investment banks to come to the loan window of the federal reserve board and get dect loans from the fed. so for the first time in the history last year they did that,

1:05:14 to 1:05:36( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: and now the question is, who got money from that fed window, under what conditions did they get that money, how much money did they get, and a group of us have asked the federal reserve board to release that information. is that information important? it sure is to me. are the companies that are now proposing to pay the very large bonuses the same companies that

1:05:37 to 1:05:59( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: got money out the direct window of the fed for the first time in history? probably. what c that money? what are the rates, if any? we'd like to know the specifics. well, on september 15, the chairman of the federal reserve board has written back to us -- excuse me, september 16. he's written back to us saying that releasing these names would

1:06:00 to 1:06:20( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: hinder t fed's assistance efforts. i mean, that's just argument. the american people's money is put at risk. the american people have the right to know how much money wen out that if he fed. we have a right to know, members of the congress, the ameri people have a right to know. and the federal reserve board is

1:06:21 to 1:06:41( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: saying, you don't have a right to know, and we don't intend to tell you. so i'm going to tk a bit more later, but we had a federal court case in which a judge in a foia case had found that the federal reserve had -- quote -- "improperly withheld agency records.

1:06:42 to 1:07:05( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the judge called the fed's argument that borrowers w hurt if their names were released -- the judge says that was -- quote -- "conjecture without evidence of imminent harm." now, despite the judge has determined that, we still don't have a release of this information.

1:07:06 to 1:07:26( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: in the nurse article -- in the use in article of a hearing, it said the fed was consideration to releasing the names of firms that received assistance. in the same article they quoted federal general counsel scott alvarez, "we'd be happy to work with you to establish procedures

1:07:27 to 1:07:48( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: for disclosure." unquote. and a few days following that, a bloomberg news article stated that the fed had decided to appeal an earlier ruling that had information. why does the fed believe that we and the american people don't variety to know? it makes no sense to meevment

1:07:49 to 1:08:00( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: i'm going to speak about this at greater length later. but clearly as big bonuses are going out have the right to knohow much money went out the front door to these institutions, how much at what rate and so on.