WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Monday regarding financial regulation reform:
“Later today, the senate will cast its first vote in the debate over financial regulation.
“And let me just say this at the outset: Republicans are united in our desire to protect the taxpayer from those who would put them and our nation’s financial system at risk through recklessness, stupidity, greed, or some combination of the three.
“But as we consider this legislation today, Republicans are also acutely aware of the fact that government solutions to big, complex problems like this one are rarely as effective as they’re made out to be, especially when they’re rushed.
“And Republicans are conscious of something else this morning too: when it comes to fixing the problems that we see in the economy or in our healthcare system or anywhere else, the days of taking the Democrats’ word for it are over.
“There’s a reason public confidence in government has slipped to one of its lowest levels in half a century, Mr. President, and it’s not because Congress takes its time to get legislation right. The reason Americans are so mistrustful of government at the moment is because on issue after issue, they feel as though they’re being sold a bill of goods. The reason there’s such a serious trust deficit out there is because what Americans see is so rarely what they get from Washington these days.
“Just consider the national debt, for example. The International Monetary Fund is right now warning us that mounting government debt is perhaps the greatest single threat to the global financial system. As a senator, the President seemed to understand that. He said America’s debts and deficits were spinning out of control and that it was a failure of leadership not to address them. Yet under his administration, the debt has increased over $2 trillion. In February, we ran the largest monthly deficit ever. And this year alone, we’re expected to run a deficit of $1.4 trillion dollars.
“What about the Stimulus? Congress passed this trillion dollar bill about 18 hours after the legislative text was available — because Democrats said they needed it right away to keep unemployment from rising above eight percent. A year later, unemployment is hovering around 10 percent — it’s even higher in Kentucky and other states — we’ve lost some four million jobs since the President took office, and every day, it seems, we hear about some new wasteful project funded by this bill.
“Then there’s health care. The White House and its allies in Congress told the American people again and again and again that this legislation was absolutely necessary in order to cut the cost of care and to ensure our nation’s economic security. Americans were skeptical. They wanted us to take our time. But Democrats said they couldn’t wait. They cut their deals and jammed it through.
“And now we’re beginning to see who was right in that debate.
“Last Thursday, a report out of the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that the health care bill falls short of the President’s goals. Rather than cutting costs, it’s expected to increase them.
“The White House also said the bill wouldn’t raise taxes on the middle class. Yet now we’re finding out that nearly 15 million middle class Americans, as defined by the White House, will get hit with a tax increase. The White House said premiums would come down too. Yet now we’re learning that premiums will keep going up.
“Pick the issue. Whether it’s the Stimulus, the debt, health care, bailouts — you name it — the concerns Republicans raised are being validated. And Democrats have the nerve, in this debate, to say that we’re the ones who are being dishonest.
“As I said, all of us want to deliver a reform that will tighten the screws on Wall Street. But we’re not going to be rushed on another massive bill based on the assurances of our friends on the other side. It’s just this kind of rush that gets us a $13 trillion debt, a trillion dollars for turtle tunnels and sidewalks to nowhere, and a so-called health care reform bill, the primary effect of which, so far as I can tell, is higher taxes, higher premiums, and higher costs. Americans have been rushed by this Congress before. They’ve seen the results. They’re not going to be rushed again.
“Now when it comes to financial regulations, my constituents have a fairly short list of demands. They don’t want to be on the hook for recklessness on Wall Street. And they don’t think any financial institution should be considered too big to fail. But if the Senate votes to get onto the Dodd bill tonight, there’s good reason to believe we will never truly solve these core problems.
“Some on the other side may deny this. But the fact is, the bill that the Majority Leader wants to bring to the floor tonight still contains a number of loopholes that enable future bailouts.
“This isn’t just me talking. A finance reporter on National Public Radio last week said he couldn’t find a single expert — not a single expert — who was willing to agree with the Administration’s claim that this bill puts a stop to taxpayer funded bailouts — not a single expert who was willing to say this bill really solves the problem we were asked by our constituents to solve. Isn’t that reason enough to slow down?
“If we can’t look our constituents in the eyes and tell them with absolute certainty that we’ve addressed their core concerns, then tell me: Why are we voting on this bill?
“The Democrats want us to trust them on this one. With all respect, Americans aren’t in a trusting mood at this point. The burden is now on the Democrats to prove it when they say their legislation will or will not do something. To a lot of Americans that’s what this debate has become: it’s about proving to our constituents and to the rest of the country that Congress can actually deliver on its assurances.
“Americans aren’t inclined to take our word for it when we say this bill doesn’t allow for bailouts, that it won’t kill jobs, or that it won’t enable the Administration to pick winners or losers, like it did with the auto bailout. They’ve heard all that before. This time, they want us to prove it.
“They want us to prove that this bill doesn’t allow for bailouts or the kind of regulatory overreach that ends up punishing Main Street under the guise of reforming Wall Street. They want us to show them where it says in the text that the next time there’s a crisis, the government will have to seek permission from the taxpayer if it’s thinking about creating a new bank debt guarantee program. At the moment, we can’t say this. That’s unacceptable to my constituents. And it’s unacceptable to the rest of the country.
“We can solve this problem. But we won’t solve the problem if we vote for cloture tonight. A vote for cloture is a vote that says we’re done listening to the American people on this issue. And a vote against ending this debate is a vote for bipartisanship, for working out an iron-clad solution to the problem of Too Big to Fail. A vote against ending this debate tonight is a vote that says it’s no longer enough to tell our constituents to trust us. It’s a vote that says this time, we’ll prove it.”
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