Senate Proceeding 10-01-08 on Oct 1st, 2008 :: 4:27:16 to 4:33:23
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4:27:05 to 4:27:16( Edit History Discussion )

for compensation from $500,000 and we prohibit golden parachutes and other certain -- at other certain troubled institutions. for the first time ever in the history of the congress, we are going

4:27:16 to 4:27:28( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: to pass legislation dealing with golden parachutes. more will be done but this bill does take very concrete, specific actions in that regard. again, you're entitled to your own opinions, not your

4:27:16 to 4:33:23( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John Kerry

4:27:28 to 4:27:41( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: own facts. i yield five minutes to senator kerry of massachusetts. mr. kerry: thank you very much. i'm still trying to process my good friend, senator graham's statement about everything he learned in

4:27:41 to 4:27:58( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: the lick liquor store. i know him well nor to know that he learned a lot more than that and he practices it well. but he promised me to sit down and define precisely what he did learn. madam president,

4:27:58 to 4:28:16( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: i've listened carefully to a lost our colleagues, and obviously there's just an extraordinary amount of anger here. and that anger runs deep all across the country, and it ought to run deep. it's

4:28:16 to 4:28:33( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: hard to convey to some of our fellow citizens the degree to which a lot of us share that anger. there's a stunning trail here of lack of accountability, of arrogance in the marketplace that literally

4:28:33 to 4:28:48( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: built a kind of ponzi scheme, a house of cards, just out of greed. there's a stunning trail of i.g. snored advice to people in positions of responsibility who could have done things, and there's a shocking

4:28:48 to 4:29:05( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: trail of regulators who are in position, who have the authority, and who didn't use that authority. all of this we know as we come here tonight. but the fact is, there are bigger stakes and none

4:29:05 to 4:29:21( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: of us has the luxury of standing around here being angry and frustrated. the truth is that there is the potential of our financial system literally collapseing. and that's not because wall street needs

4:29:21 to 4:29:36( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: to be picked up and -- quote -- "paled out. it's because the liquidity crisis is preventing everyday businesses, community banks in local communities, small businesses that need to have working capital

4:29:36 to 4:29:48( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: to make the purchase of the orders that they need to fill. everything is frozen. the people are losing their ernest money on homes because the banks aren't fulfilling the obligation. they're scared to lend.

4:29:48 to 4:30:02( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: cars aren't being sold. it runs all the way down into the economy. and the stark reality is that if we don't act tonight, if we don't act immediately and if we don't act with strength, that whole system

4:30:02 to 4:30:13( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: can come grinding to a halt, and many, many more people are going to be hurt to a far greater dree. savings accounts wiped out, retirement accounts wiped out, the ability to be able to retire when they expected,

4:30:13 to 4:30:26( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: sending kids to school, paying off college loans, a whole host of things. it's ugly that we're here. this is a distasteful vote. none of us like this vote. but the fact is, we have a responsibility

4:30:26 to 4:30:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: to put our country and our economy and our security and our strength ahead of all of those dislikes and do the responsible thing here today. and i want to say that i believe the senate has acted responsibly

4:30:40 to 4:30:53( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: in this effort, on a bipartisan basis. i salute what senator dodd and senator baucus, working with us on the finance committee, and senator gregg and senator corker and others on the republican side

4:30:53 to 4:31:07( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: have done to be responsible here to bring this together. the fact is that more than 65% of the banks have significantly tightened their lending standards for small businesses. and what happens is,

4:31:07 to 4:31:18( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: one of the reason it's foreign take the fdic funding up to $250,000 is some people are looking at their banks locally and they're just scared. and so they move banks -- they move money to another bank,

4:31:18 to 4:31:28( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: which has an impact on the bank that doesn't have any relationship to the real strength of the bank, but then weakens it. by raising that amount, we're going to give confidence to community banks,

4:31:28 to 4:31:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: mid-sized banks and oh, and they pay nor that insurance, incidentally. it's not exactly a gift from the government. it's something that in insurance is paid for. every day approximately 10,000 more homes

4:31:40 to 4:31:52( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: are going into foreclosure. five million homeowners, almost one in every 11 homes are either in default or foreclosure. that's the highest level since 1979. this legislation that we're going to pass

4:31:52 to 4:32:04( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: tonight is going to help to keep the mortgage credit flowing to keep people in their homes on a readjusted basis, something many of us have been fighting for for some period of time here. in addition,

4:32:04 to 4:32:21( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: it is going to help families get student loans so they can continue to help their kids get through college and build the economy of the future. let me emphasize, this is not the original plan that

4:32:21 to 4:32:29( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: was sent to us by the administration. this plan has -- could we get one additional minute, or --? i thank the chair. let me say that we have strengthened this so significantly through the efforts

4:32:29 to 4:32:44( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: of senator dodd and others. there is an executive compensation limitation, contrary to what the senator from florida said. executives are not going to walk off with millions of dollars. there's an effort to

4:32:44 to 4:32:57( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: help homeowners. there's accountability with an inspector general. there's judicial review. and significantly in this effort, the american taxpayer is going to take ownership of these assets at a lower cost,

4:32:57 to 4:33:10( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: and when the economy comes back, which it will, those assets are going to rise in value and the american taxpayer is going to recoup this madam president, i was on the banking committee when we did

4:33:10 to 4:33:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: the 1990r.t.c. we saw this happen as we took good loans and separated them from bad loans and restored confidence in the banking system. so once again i say to my colleagues, this is not about party. this

4:33:23 to 4:33:34( Edit History Discussion )

Mel Martinez: is not about politics. this is a vote -- we don't always get them here -- that is absolutely strictly about our country and our future, and i hope the senate is resoundingly going to pass this tonight.

4:33:23 to 4:38:38( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Mel Martinez