Christopher Dodd

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I strongly endorse the Reed amendment. It is a very strong contribution to the bill. I commend him for it.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I thank Senator Boxer of California for this amendment. It is so reasonable, and yet so many people have had difficulty. Today, with the securitization of mortgages, that mortgage no longer stays at your bank for the length of that mortgage. Today, it is sold off very quickly. When homeowners want to find out who actually has that mortgage, it is almost impossible to discover that. Senator Boxer's amendment makes that possible once again, and it is a very valuable contribution to the bill.

Mr. DODD. Yes.

Mr. DODD. I thank the Senator. Having authored the neighborhood stabilization bill, those dollars going back to the communities have been a great asset in order to deal with foreclosed properties and to mitigate. Bridgeport, CT, in my State, is one example. I think all of our colleagues can cite examples. Allowing for the allocation of some of these resources along the lines the Senator from Pennsylvania suggests is a terrific contribution as well. I thank him for it. Amendment No. 1020 Senator Grassley was the other admendment. I commend Senator Grassley for his amendment. It is a good amendment, in my view, and one worthy of our support. I am not sure he is going to be able to be here to make a comment. It is a good amendment. I urge my colleagues to support it. We worked on it yesterday, and Senator Grassley is to be commended for his efforts. Amendment No. 1036, as Modified

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, not withstanding its adoption, I ask unanimous consent the Reed amendment, No. 1039, be modified with the change at the desk.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, let me notify my colleagues here, there will be no more votes at this moment. There will be some votes around 1:30. The pending matter is the Schumer amendment. There is some effort being made to see if some agreement can be reached on that. There is an outstanding issue. After that would be Senator Coburn, Senator Jack Reed, and Senator Grassley. I know we intended to have two or three votes but, because of these problems, we cannot at this moment, so I leave it to the leadership--1:45, I am now being told, is when the next vote will occur. With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I am going to read a unanimous consent request in a moment, but before then, because I don't have any time at the conclusion of the last vote before the vote on final passage, I wish to take a minute to thank the majority leader, Senator Reid, for making it possible for this bill to be before the Senate this week. I am grateful to him and his staff. I thank my staff, who have done a terrific job: Jonathan Miller, principally, from my Banking Committee staff, as well as many others from the Banking Committee staff who worked very hard to bring this bill together and to create the opportunity for our colleagues to offer as many as 20 different amendments, most of them in direct relation to the bill but others to add items which will strengthen the bill. I want to specifically thank Colin McGinnis, Beth Cooper, Dean Shahinian, Julie Chon, Brian Filipowich, Misha Mintz-Roth, Deborah Katz, Matt Green, Amy Widestrom, Ella Humphry, and James Bair. I thank Senator Shelby and his staff as well--Bill Duhnke, Mark Oesterle, Andrew Olmem, Peggy Kuhn, Hester Pierce, and Jim Johnson. We worked very cooperatively. While there were some differences of opinion on a couple matters involved with this legislation, overall we had great cooperation, as we have had over the past 2 years I have been chairman of the committee. I am grateful to him and his staff for the cooperation they have with my office. We have a strong committee of some 23 members. Almost a quarter of this body serves on the Banking Committee. They add great value to the process. I am grateful to them. This is an important matter, not just for financial institutions but, more importantly--I say that with some caution--to open up lines of credit. We need to have an increase in deposit insurance. We need to have an increase in the borrowing authority. Sheila Bair, for whom most of us have great respect, is Chairperson of the Federal Department Insurance Corporation and is doing a wonderful job. This bill includes that. We have provisions in here to provide a safe harbor for servicers--a key component of the legislation designed to get servicers to pursue loan modifications more aggressively. I thank Senator Martinez of Florida for his contribution to this provision. I see Senator Ensign in the Chamber, who, working with Senator Boxer, added value to this bill as well, making it possible for homeowners to determine who actually holds their mortgages. Senator Grassley added contributions, as well, to accountability and transparency. Senator Reed of Rhode Island has done a great deal in providing greater flexibility in terms of warrants, which I think is going to strengthen the bill as well. Senator Reed also contributed groundbreaking legislation to fight homelessness along with Senator Bond. Invariably, when I start doing this without a note in front of me, I am going to forget some Member and their contribution to the bill. So I will reserve the ability to amend these remarks to make sure I include others who have contributed to this legislation. But this bill includes the kinds of steps we need to be taking in order to get our economy moving, to increase that confidence and optimism so critical to economic recovery. Madam President, 10,000 foreclosures a day is unacceptable. This bill will now provide the opportunity for us to be able to reduce that number. Some estimates are that as many as 1.7 million to 2 million homeowners could be positively affected by what we are doing today with this legislation. That is no small number when you consider the total numbers that could be adversely affected. Our hope is that will do just that, to make that kind of a difference, in addition to the other matters I have already mentioned that were added by amendment or included in the underlying bill. So while this is not going to change everything, it is not going to solve every problem, it is a major step in the right direction in terms of this economic recovery we are all interested in. There is not a Member in this Chamber--regardless of the differences we may have on how to get there--who does not want to do everything in their power to see to it that our country once again has that sense of confidence that has been the hallmark of America for more than two centuries. Certainly, we are going through a difficult time. Individually, people understand it; they know it. We have an administration under President Obama that is working hard to do everything possible to see to it that we move in the right direction. So I am grateful to my colleagues who have shown a lot of patience over the last several days to get to this point. I thank them for that. Senator Kerry, Senator Casey, Senator Feingold--I mentioned Senator Ensign-- Senator Snowe, Senator Bond, and Senator Pryor have all either been sponsors or cosponsors of major amendments on this bill, and I express my gratitude to all of them.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Madam President, before we get to that, I would like to report to Members that we are inching closer to completing action on this legislation. Four amendments remain in order, and votes with respect to these amendments will occur shortly. Those that remain are Schumer amendment No. 1031, as modified; Coburn second-degree amendment No. 1042; Reed of Rhode Island amendment No. 1040, as amended, if amended; and Grassley amendment No. 1021, as modified. Once we have disposed of these four amendments, then the only matter remaining is adoption of the substitute, as amended, and, finally, passage of S. 896. Since there is no time in between, I have given my closing remarks on the value of the legislation. With that, I guess we turn to Senator Schumer.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I will not object, I wish to commend my colleague from New York. I say this through the Chair. We will come back to this issue. I understand an objection has been voiced, but I want to thank our colleague from New York. He raises a very important issue and one that needs to be addressed. I commend him for it. There will be other opportunities, I hope, shortly to come back to this issue.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I believe the next item is the amendment offered by our colleague, Senator Coburn, from Oklahoma.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, in a moment I will make a point of order. But Senator Coburn and I, last night, had a short colloquy. He raises a very legitimate point on a larger issue, and he talked about it last evening at some length. I expressed to him then--and I am very sincere about it--that I would like to work with him. We have a lot of properties out there for which it takes too much money to care for them each year. A lot of them probably ought to be destroyed, as the Senator has pointed out. So I want him to know that the point of order being raised here should not reflect the underlying issue he has raised, and I am committed to work with him on that. I think it is a very good idea and one we ought to be aggressive about. But having said that, Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Jack Reed, I raise a point of order that the pending amendment violates section 201 of S. Con. Res. 21, the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2008.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, what is the pending business before the Senate?

Mr. DODD. Have the yeas and nays been ordered?

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, my colleague, Senator Grassley, the Senator from Iowa, has offered a very good amendment. I strongly support the Grassley amendment. It increases accountability of transparency at the Federal Reserve. Let me defer to my colleague to explain the amendment.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I strongly endorse this amendment. The Senator deserves a lot of credit, along with Senator Bond. amendment no. 1040

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I urge that we move to the vote and yield back the time.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask for a voice vote.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, the pending matter is the Grassley amendment, is that correct?

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.