Congressional Oversight
Floor Speech
CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT -- (Senate - September 24, 2008)
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Mr. McCONNELL. Will the Senator yield for an observation?
Mr. ALEXANDER. Of course.
Mr. McCONNELL. I was listening carefully to Senator Gregg and the Senator from Tennessee, Mr. Alexander, and Senator Coburn and I see another of my colleagues here, Senator Domenici. Let me give a real-world example from my State, information just received. Here is what this particular company experienced today.
``We were informed''--I will leave out the name of the bank. ``We were informed that an''--I will leave out the name of the county--``industrial revenue bond issued last year could not be resold this week in the market because of the freeze of the credit markets.'' Today. ``These tax free bonds totaling $10 million were issued last year on a variable interest rate basis, secured by a full irrevocable letter of credit from one of the nation's largest and most well capitalized banks.''
No credit problem at all, but no lending--freeze credit. This crisis we are all talking about here is not about a bunch of people on Wall Street. It is about a bunch of people on Main Street, and whether we are going to act on a bipartisan basis to restore confidence, restore confidence in our country and to prevent what could be a major catastrophic event.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, if the Senator from Tennessee would allow me to express a question to our leader: The point the leader makes is absolutely valid, but it is not unique to Kentucky. We are hearing all over the country that municipal--communities are unable to roll over their municipal bonds or are getting close to that threat. We have heard about major corporations that have been unable to move cash into franchises last week because the banks did not have the wherewithal to move cash because of the threat and the pressure that was being put on their money market accounts, which they had to protect and defend.
As you say, this is not a Wall Street event. This is going to be a Main Street event. People are going to be put out of work, they are going to lose their jobs, there is going to be a huge disruption. The potential for economic disarray is unprecedented.
I think it is very appropriate that the Senator from Kentucky, as the leader, has pointed out a very real-world event here because this is real-world stuff. This is not theory.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I see the Democratic whip here and I am glad to have an opportunity to make this point while he is here, since those of us on this side are Republicans.
I applaud the reaction of Senator Obama to this economic crisis. It is a Presidential reaction. It is restrained. It leaves room for discussion and it recognizes the problem.
I applaud Senator McCain's decision to involve himself, if he can, in a solution to the problem. That is the kind of leadership we should expect of both men, both of whom are Members of this body.
I can't emphasize enough how much I believe this situation cries out for measured but urgent reaction, in a bipartisan way, by the Senate. Because, as all the Senators have said, if it were Wall Street, we could leave them to pick themselves up. But we are talking about whether you can get a student loan, whether you can get a car loan, whether you can get an auto loan, whether your money market account is safe, and whether you have any money on the block. That is the potential impact of what we are talking about and we need, within a few days, to take the kind of decisive action that builds confidence in our country.
I yield the floor.
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