[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 16] [Senate] [Pages 22218-22219] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]LOOKING AFTER MAIN STREET Mr. ISAKSON. I have listened to so many speeches today--really yesterday, this week--about our problems and our plight in this country economically. I have listened to a lot of blame and, quite frankly, there is a lot of blame to go around, including on the shoulders of every one of us here. But I think the American people are interested not in the past but in the future. As our leaders have appointed designees to negotiate what hopefully will be a successful package, I think it is now time to start talking about what can be rather than what was. And what can be is a return to prosperity and confidence in the United States of America. I think there are four component parts that must be a part of this package I believe our leadership is working on. First and foremost, they need to understand we have to worry about Main Street and not Wall Street. In my State, Main Street is Slappey Boulevard in Albany; it is Abercorn Highway in Savannah; it is Whitlock Avenue in my hometown of Marietta; and it is Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. The people who live on those streets, who have life savings and 401(K)s and IRAs, have concerns. Let's talk about the prospects for the future. The prospects for the future right now are quite grim without an arrangement, without an agreement in this Congress to deal with the current financial stress that is taking place in our financial institutions. We are going to have some protracted, difficult times. But if we rise to the occasion, if we, in fact, do what things we need to do in the next 48 hours, we can change the future for the better. It is our responsibility, and it is our job. [[Page 22219]] First of all, in looking after those Main Streets in our home States and our hometowns, what we need to do is return confidence. We need to return confidence by, first of all, having our financial institutions strengthened. What Secretary Paulson proposed, what is now being currently debated in terms of a $700 billion authorization to purchase assets that are troubled from financial institutions is an important part of that solution. It is also, and little has been said about this, an opportunity for the United States of America to stabilize the financial markets and over time to recover not only the cost of stabilizing them but actually get a return. For example, if the Treasury is authorized to purchase mortgage-backed securities that today are on the books at marked-down market value to zero, at 50 cents on the dollar, hold those to maturity. If those default rates on those mortgages hold, which today are somewhere between 9 and 12 percent, the margin could be as high as 25 to 38 percent in terms of held to maturity. In fact, as the market returns, those securities could, in fact, be sold by the Treasury at a margin above the 50 cents on the dollar that was paid for them. It is an opportunity that can work and, finally, an opportunity that will make our financial markets much stronger. Will it bail out Wall Street? No. Wall Street has taken its hits. Lehman Brothers is broke. AIG is liquidated. The remaining investment bankers on Wall Street have asked to come under FDIC regulation. And Bear Stearns lost 90 percent of its value. Wall Street has taken a hit, and a significant one. We do not want Main Street to take it. This proposal has the opportunity to solidify the balance sheets of the local savings and loan and of the local bank that your customers and your citizens on Main Street deal with every day, which right now are under stress. The second thing we need to do is to ensure the American people understand we have the oversight over the Treasury during the disposition of these funds so that we know the funds are being handled in an accountable way. Our leaders are negotiating right now precisely that type of oversight, so the Congress knows, not on a quarterly basis but on a daily basis, what the Treasury is doing and how the program is working. Third, it has to include and address the fact that a lot of CEOs in a lot of troubled companies have run away with large packages of money. That has been very offensive to the American people and, quite frankly, very offensive to me, the most recent of which took place last night with Washington Mutual. It is appropriate if financial institutions come to the Treasury of the United States and the taxpayers of our country and ask for assistance in the purchase of these securities in order to stabilize their balance sheets, that there be accountability in terms of executive compensation to those taxpayers who are funding that bill. Then, fourth, we need to start talking about the greatness of this country and the confidence we have that we can return. Our difficulties now are somewhat of a crisis of confidence in our country and in its financial system. As elected officials Republicans and Democrats alike, in these next 48 hours, it is critical for us to understand that nothing is more important in the financial markets than the confidence of the consumer. The American consumer is the person who resides on Main Street and is the person I was elected to represent and will. We need to recognize also there is a second phase to this recovery. After we finally do get the financial markets stabilized--I think the proposal by the Secretary has the opportunity to do that--we need to understand three things have to happen. First, this country has to get its arms around our energy crisis and solve it. I have enjoyed working with the Presiding Officer on programs such as that. When we return in January, our first priority must be to open all of our resources, lessen our dependence, and become independent from foreign imported oil and independent with our own sources of energy. Whether it is biodiesel, whether it is diesel, nuclear, whether it is coal-to-liquid, whether it is solar--it ought to be all of them. We are a great country with enough natural resources to be independent in terms of our energy. Second, we have to get a handle on our debt, and this package that is being negotiated has the opportunity to do that because a part of it should ensure that the proceeds we receive in return for the assets we buy at a discount in the beginning go not to the general fund but go to pay the debt of the United States of America. In time, this exercise can in fact reduce our debt obligations rather than increase them. But we need to ensure that is part of the package. Then, finally, it is very important for us to understand it is not just our income in balancing your balance sheets, it is our out-go. We have been spending too much money as a Congress of the United States of America. One of the more disappointing things I have experienced in the Senate has been our failure on many years to not do appropriations bills in an orderly fashion. We end up doing them as a combination, as a minibus or omnibus where instead of debating the finer points of a particular appropriation, we develop a gigantic piece of legislation that none of us knows every facet of when it comes to spending. So as we look after Main Street today by finding a solution to bring stability to our financial markets, and we can do it, and do it in an accountable way, let's also recognize that when we return, as our markets solidify, let's do the things the people of America elected us to do: hold the Treasury accountable, find a solution to our energy dependence, make sure we do not spend too much money, and restore to the American people the confidence in our budgetary process that they have in their own around the kitchen table. We are a great country because we have always risen to the occasion. There may have never before been, domestically, a more difficult financial occasion than the one we face today. In the hours ahead, I hope we will rise and come to a conclusion that will benefit the taxpayers on Wall Street and will ensure the financial stability and the confidence of American consumers in this great economy and our great country. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized. ____________________