Senate Proceeding on Jul 14th, 2010 :: 5:05:20 to 5:18:45
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5:05:16 to 5:05:37( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: families and small businesses in washingtontate and across the country desperately need. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. bond: mr. president, i thank

5:05:20 to 5:18:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Christopher S. Bond

5:05:38 to 5:05:59( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: the chair, and i rise today to speak about the financial overregulation bill. this so-called finance reform bill before us is being sold to the american people as holding wall street accountable for the economic crisis that hurt every american family and business in every community across the nation.

5:06:00 to 5:06:20( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: we're told that this bill will end too big to fail and prevent future bailouts. unfortunately, just as the stimulus bill was supposed to reduce unemployment and the health care bill was supposed to lower health costs and reduce the deficit, this bill, too,

5:06:21 to 5:06:44( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: will do the opposite of what is advertised. it will not prevent future bailouts. it will create another huge federal bureaucracy. instead of punishing wall street, it will punish main street and the families who suffer the most not caused the financial meltdown.

5:06:45 to 5:07:06( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: this bill was written to rein in wall street, yet the biggest opponents are community banks and small businesses in every city and town and community in the nation. i think thatells you all you need to know about this bill. i would urg my colleagues to listen to the folks at home, the people who have to make a living who are going to be burdened by it. i strongly oppose cloture on the bill.

5:07:07 to 5:07:27( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: yes, there have been some improvements made and i have worked with my colleague, senator dodd, to make sure we didn't devastate the venture capital area. unfortunately, that's coming in another bill, but despite some of the progress we have made, the provisions most harmful to taxpayers, families and small businesses still remain.

5:07:28 to 5:07:49( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: as a matter of fact, new provisions have been air dropped into the conference report that are so problematic neither chamber could agree to include them in either version. if we're truly committed to enacting real bipartisan reform, then the majority would not allow items that were never debated or voted on to be included in the bill.

5:07:50 to 5:08:11( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: i hope my democratic colleagues will stand up for these principles that they have talked so loudly about and say no to this back room practice of air dropping totally new concepts into the bill. i talk now about some of the most egregious provisions in the bill. first, it is unbelievable and

5:08:12 to 5:08:34( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: unacceptable that so many of my colleagues want to turn a blind eye to the government-sponsored enterprises, g.s.e.'s, who contributed to the financial meltdown by buying high-risk loans banks made to people who could not afford them. everyone here knows what i'm talking about.

5:08:35 to 5:08:55( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: despite this bill 2,300 pages, it completely ignores the 900-pound gorilla that's in the room, the need to reform fannie fanniemae and freddie mac, the not so

5:08:56 to 5:09:16( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: toxic twins. the american dream has been turned into the american nightmare by too many families who have had their homes foreclosed or are hanging on by a thread. the irresponsible actions pushed by previous administrations on fannie and freddie devastated neighborhoods and communities as property values diminished.

5:09:17 to 5:09:37( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: to add insult to injury, after fannie and freddie went belly up, it was the american taxpayers who suffered from the irresponsible actions who were left to foot the bill. as if that weren't bad enough, unless we act now to reform the toxic twins over the next ten years, fannie and freddie will cost the american taxpayers at least an

5:09:38 to 5:09:59( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: additional $389 billion. in the joy of the christmas holiday last december, the administration took off the $400 billion limit on it. i have to ask how much money they think they can lose if $400 billion is not enough for them to lose. but what's in this bill to address this problem?

5:10:00 to 5:10:21( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: absolutely nothing, zip, zero. next, this bill lumps in the good guys with the bad guys and treats them all the same, particularly when it comes to derivatives. now, folks who are trying to manage and control costs are treated the same as folks who are spending and speculating in e market, making shady bets with money they didn't have, making insurance bets on

5:10:22 to 5:10:43( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: property they didn't own. this was described in the book "the big short" by michael lewis. these computer gained derivatives or insurance policies were dreamed up by wall street geniuses, some who made billions, others who lost billions. those billions of losses almost destroyed o financial system

5:10:44 to 5:11:05( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: and poisoned the world's financial system. i have heard some folks say why do these bad practices mean something is going to happen to me? well, the way this bill is drafted, utility companies may not be able to lock in a steady

5:11:06 to 5:11:26( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: rates for their customers, leaving them instead at the whim of a volate company. they will have to pay billions to wall street or chicago to clear their normal long-term contracts and post collateral with energy suppliers through clearinghouses run by big financial firms. and that money will be

5:11:27 to 5:11:49( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: immediately passed along to every consumer of power from that utility company. that's what utilities do, they pass it on to you and me as electricity or gas or other customers of theirs. so you and i and folks in every community across the country could pay higher costs every time we flip on the light

5:11:50 to 5:12:10( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: switch, turn on the air conditioner and heat our house. that means family farms may not be able to get long-term financing, forcing many to quit farming and preventing many from beginning to farm. "the wall street journal" today front-page article described in an article headed "finance overhaul casts shadow on

5:12:11 to 5:12:31( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: claims," it tells about how this bill will clabber the folks in ag communities who have to have forward contracts. they never caused the problem, but it will tie up capital and make them pay tribute to big firms on wall street and chicago. no wonder those big firms are for them. a lot of business for them.

5:12:32 to 5:12:54( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: a lot of expense for the farmer -- the commodity hauler trying to make a living. i'm stunned that any senator in good conscience would vote for a bill that will increase costs forvery american, especially at a time when working families are struggling to make ends meet. one thing is certain: this bill

5:12:55 to 5:13:16( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: will -- today's "wall street journal" editorial opines that dodd-frank with unleash the biggest wave of new financial rule-making in generations. whatever it will do, it will not make lending cheaper or more credit available." close quotes. they go on to state one law firm has estimated that the new law will -- quote -- "require no

5:13:17 to 5:13:39( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: fewer than 243 former rule makings by 11 different agencies." close quotes. what will be the effect? more lawyers, more bureaucracy, more taxpayer money, more lawsuits. certainly, i cannot vote for -- in gd conscience for a bill that creates a massive new superbureaucracy with

5:13:40 to 5:14:00( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: unprecedented authority impose government mandates. we're not talking about the big guys, goldman sachs, a.i.g.s of the world. in the real world, we're talking about your community bank, your small retailers and even your dentist. i have talked to a lot of small busi and a lot of people are concerned this past week when i was home about what was going on

5:14:01 to 5:14:23( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: in washington. and i -- i was talking to a group in maryville in northwest missouri, and i said the uncertainty is really a problem for small business. one small businessman corrected me. he said no, it's the certainty. we know what washington has already done to the deficit, to

5:14:24 to 5:14:47( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: the debt, to health care, what it is going to do to financial regulation and what it is threatening to do to energy costs. and i asked everybody around the table, i said should i have said certainty rather than uncertainty, and they said you

5:14:48 to 5:15:08( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: certainly should, because small businesses not willing or able or even inclined to create jobs when this massive government rollout of spending, taxation and regulation is coming down on them. let's not be naive. any of the new costs as a result of the new mandates and

5:15:09 to 5:15:29( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: regulations, regardless of the entity on which they are imposed will be passed down to the very people that the bill claims to protect. under the new misnamed consumer protection bureau, or cfpb,the decisions on allocating credit will no longer be based on the

5:15:30 to 5:15:51( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: safety and soundness requirement for healthy banks. instead,y empowering this new super bureaucracy wit unprecedented power, decisions on credit will be driven by the administration's political will and agenda. politics will then decide how to allocate credit while operating outside the framework of safety

5:15:52 to 5:16:12( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: and soundness, thus putting more risk back into the system when we were supposed to be taking ri out of the system. this giant bill alsoontains a provision creating a new office of financial research. you'll get to know this one. it's given the authority to access personal financial information of any citizen in

5:16:13 to 5:16:33( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: the united states. i don't know about you, but i'd prefer not to have a new bureaucracy rifling through my personal account information in an era of economic and electronic communications, where fraud and identity theft run rampant. ordinary americans who did not cause the financial meltdown should not be punished and

5:16:34 to 5:16:54( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: placed at risk because the government wishes to create this new unnecessary office. now, i could continue to list provision after provision, pointing out expansions of government and ill-intended policies that will create more uncertainty while failing to hit the objective of regular tory reform -- of regulatory reform. however, this chamber doesn't have the hours for my speech

5:16:55 to 5:17:15( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: alone. i could say harsh letter to follow. if anybody wants to know, we'll be happy to send them lots of chapters and lots of versus. but much like the health care bill recently signed into law, i fear that small businesses will soon learn of many more

5:17:16 to 5:17:37( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: unintended consequences which have yet to be seen. even the bill's sponsors admit that the bill's long reach will not be fully known until it's in place. remember when the leader on the other side of this building said if you want to find out what's in the bill, you'll have to pass it? well, in this bill, if you want to find out what it's going to do, unfortunately, you're going

5:17:38 to 5:17:58( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: to find out if you pass it. i don't want to have my fingerprints on what's going to happen to businesses, to the community, to jobs in the united states if it passes. to sum up, if the goal is to enact real reform that ensures we never, ever have another financial crisis like the one we had 18 months ago, the bill

5:17:59 to 5:18:19( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: falls woefully short of that goal. it's light on reform, heavy on overreach and unintended consequences. overall, this bill is too large, too costly for consumers and time when working americans need to be left what they do best and that's succeed. no doubt we need to protect

5:18:20 to 5:18:40( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: every american from ever again falling victim to wall street gone wild, but what we do not want and why this debate is so important is we do not want to punish americans for a crisis they didn't cause. unless we scraphis failed version and start over, the democrats' bill will do just that and the ct will be paid

5:18:41 to 5:18:45( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: by main street. i ask unanimous consent that the