Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada's Third District spoke on the House floor this morning on the importance of reforming Wall Street. Below are her remarks as delivered.
"Two years ago, our nation suffered one of the greatest economic meltdowns in history when the financial markets nearly collapsed and sent the country into the deepest recession in a generation -- one that my state of Nevada is still working to pull itself out of.
"The hard-working people of Southern Nevada have paid a steep price for the greed and dangerous underregulation of Wall Street that created a foreclosure crisis resulting in far too many families losing their homes. Seniors lost their retirement nest eggs and parents lost their savings to pay for their children to go to college.
"It is time to ensure that the proper regulation and safeguards are in place so that we can prevent a crisis of this magnitude in the future. We must reign in Wall Street banks that gave their executives obscene bonuses while steering our economy into a ditch. We must close regulatory loopholes and strengthen oversight enforcement so that government agencies cannot fall asleep at the wheel. The House has already passed this important legislation that will permanently end taxpayer bailouts and hold Wall Street accountable. I urge the Senate to do so."