July 15, 2010

Washington, DC— Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following remarks at a press conference this afternoon following final Senate passage of Wall Street accountability legislation. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“We all know the economic crisis – that is, rising unemployment, rampant foreclosures and frozen credit – started in the financial markets.

“If we’re going to make sure this disaster never happens again, the solution has to start there, too.

“You can draw a straight line from the greed on Wall Street to the grief on Main Streets throughout Nevada and across America.

“It cost too many workers in Nevada their jobs, too many retirees in Nevada their savings and too many families in Nevada their homes.  It shattered our faith in our financial system.

“How?  Wall Street rigged the game.  Big bankers gambled away our money.  When they lost their risky bets, they came crying to the taxpayers for help.

“And two years later, that’s still how the system works today.  Without this reform, we would be inviting it to happen all over again.

“That’s not a gamble I was willing to take.

“And neither was a supermajority of Senators, who a few minutes ago said loudly and clearly: No more bailouts, because no bank is too big to fail.

“We’re giving consumers and taxpayers the strongest protections they’ve ever had.  We’re giving Wall Street the strongest oversight it’s ever had – not to stifle it, but to safeguard us.

“We’re taking the shady markets that operate in the darkness and bringing them out into the daylight.

“If we’re going to recover, we have to learn from the mistakes of the past.  We have to resolve not to repeat them.

“That’s what this vote was about.  And it wouldn’t have happened without the leadership and tenacity of Chairman Chris Dodd.”

###