House Proceeding 09-29-08 on Sep 29th, 2008 :: 0:22:00 to 0:32:33
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0:21:58 to 0:22:12( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: from florida, mr. putnam, for as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. putnam: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from

0:22:00 to 0:32:33( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Adam H. Putnam
Bill: H.R. 3997: Defenders of Freedom Tax Relief Act of 2007

0:22:12 to 0:22:31( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: alabama for yielding. there's no an old chinese proverb may you live in interesting times. these are interesting and remarkable times. the past two weeks we have seen the five largest investment

0:22:31 to 0:22:51( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: banks in the united states be reduced to two. last week the largest bank in the united states failed. over 2,000 branches spread out across this country, retail outlets, where ordinary americans,

0:22:51 to 0:23:09( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: downtown merchants, farmers, students, seniors, savers relied on that bank to meet their needs. it failed last week. this morning another major bank on the brink of collapse was purchased for

0:23:09 to 0:23:22( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: $1 a share. last week a money market fund announced that for the first time they had broken the buck. they could not guarantee that every dollar that you put into that money market account

0:23:22 to 0:23:37( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: would be retrieveable on your request. and a second major money market account announced they were closing and not accepting any new deposits for fear of the same thing happening to them.

0:23:37 to 0:23:52( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: no w, when you get beyond credit swaps and derivatives and all these complicated things that obviously not even the wall street traders engaging in them understood, and start talking about the

0:23:52 to 0:24:08( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: bank on the corner failing, and the money market funds where every small business holds their payroll. where every saver is trying to ring out an extra half pint of interest, you have reached

0:24:08 to 0:24:25( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: main street. you are now standing at the brink of a financialci collapsela that is well beyond the financial capitals of itthe world. and i also failed to mention since we are not just talking

0:24:25 to 0:24:42( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: about an american problem, that this weekend alone three of the largest banks in europe either failed or were nationalized. so we live in interesting times.im and we are watching one domino

0:24:42 to 0:24:56( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: after another fall that are the pillars of our financial system here in the united states. now, i tried to think of the right analogy and it dawned on me that, you know, being from florida

0:24:56 to 0:25:11( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: we get a lot of hurricanes. and in 2004 we had three hurricanes come across central florida.. my home. in nine weeks. bam, bam, bam. and then a year later we watched a storm come across florida

0:25:11 to 0:25:29( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: and build in the gulf and it got bigger and bigger and moved faster and faster and had a bull's-eye on new orleans. and i like a lot of americans wondered why more people weren't leaving. why

0:25:29 to 0:25:44( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: more people weren't heeding the warnings that were so obvious from the weather map of what was building into a monster in the gulf of mexico. if you ever wondered why people don't get out of

0:25:44 to 0:26:02( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: the way of an oncoming storm. a hurricane that is barreling down on top of you, despite days of notice, despite satellite imagery, despite all of the best advancements in communications,

0:26:02 to 0:26:20( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: c then you have to apply that same analogy to what we are seeing now. one bank after another failing, rolling out of new york, rolling out of brussels, out of london, out of these places that seem so

0:26:20 to 0:26:35( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: foreign into our main streets. into our merchant associations. into our farmer cooperatives. you're watching this happen. so how could yous a member of congress in seeing that roll across the

0:26:35 to 0:26:52( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: countryside not do everything in your power i to prevent it? now, the previous speaker made an outstanding reference to the fact that congress is known for producing fairly bad legislation

0:26:52 to 0:27:09( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: in the aftermath of a crisis. what we have before us today is an attempt to avert that crisis and all of the rushed legislation that would follow a collapse, the likes of which we have not seen

0:27:09 to 0:27:32( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: in this country since the 1930's. this bill is a substantially different bill than what secretary paulson and the president sent up here a week ago. it is a better bill than what they sent

0:27:32 to 0:27:47( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: up here. it is a bipartisan bill. we talked about how remarkable these times are. last week two candidates who have spent two years, two diff icult, hard fought years looking for a way to

0:27:47 to 0:28:08( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: beat the other one to become the next president of the united states,he both hit the pause button and released a joint statement of principles in agreement that coress needs to act to avert

0:28:08 to 0:28:22( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: a financial collapse. this body has come together to produce a bill that is distasteful to most. that required both sides to give up many of the individual items that they thought would be

0:28:22 to 0:28:37( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: heful. pro-growth capital gains policies that republicans thought would be helpful. affordable housing trust funds issues that the democrats thought would be helpful. both gone from the draft

0:28:37 to 0:28:52( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: of this bill. and instead focusing on the central goal which is to avert the financial collapse that all of the experts and all of the evidence and all of the bankan failures and all of the

0:28:52 to 0:29:05( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: money market closings indicate is very possible if congress doesn't act. so by virtue of congress coming together and improving the paulson plan, by virtue of the people's elected representatives

0:29:05 to 0:29:21( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: having the opportunityor to weigh in on this issue and to hash out these problems and to work around the clock on theth weekends, to make this a better bill, it will not cost $700 billion as has

0:29:21 to 0:29:36( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: been widely reported in the original draft. for a variety of reasons. the potential upsideen of the assets that the government is buying. the insurance program. the most recent intervention

0:29:36 to 0:29:52( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: that this congress passed in the g.s.e.'s was estimated at $300 billion in costs. it was actually scored at $25 billion in cost. so it's important that thnte taxpayers understand that because

0:29:52 to 0:30:11( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: the congress has moved forward on this issue, it will be a smaller tab for the taxpayer. but it will be an effective intervention to restore the confidence necessary to avoid th e kind of panic

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Adam H. Putnam: that we haven't seen in generations in this country. this is no longer the paulson -president's plan. because of e work that chairman frank and the republican noshors -- negotiators have

0:30:24 to 0:30:40( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: done, this is a better bill. better for the taxpayer. no calleden parachutes for c.e.o.'s who drive their companies into the ground and walk away with millions. none of the special interest

0:30:40 to 0:30:54( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: projects that concerned so many people on our side. but most i mportantly the evidence is overwhelming that weth must act. it is always difficult to compile legislation this complex under

0:30:54 to 0:31:10( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: such a short time frame. we are up against a short time frame because of the markets, because of the holidays, because of the natural calendar and our political cycle. the only thing worse

0:31:10 to 0:31:24( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: than that is the kind of legislation that will result in the aftermath of the debris that remains after a financial collapse. and so ii stand here today willing to support this bipartisan

0:31:24 to 0:31:40( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: compromise that has been hard out over these last several days, that is such an improvement over what wer began a week ago, but is so important to the financial architect ture -- architecture

0:31:40 to 0:31:56( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: not just of investment firms and speculatorsla and people who got too cute with someone else's money, but someone who is willing to support this bill because it is so important to the seniors,

0:31:56 to 0:32:11( Edit History Discussion )

Adam H. Putnam: the savers, the merchants, and the farmers who need to understand that the confidence will be there in their banking system. that they don't have to withdraw their funds and stick them under the

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Adam H. Putnam: mattress. that our country's free market system is still the greatest in g the world and that this intervention will allow those credit markets to unlock and we'll be able to unwind and

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Adam H. Putnam: deleverage this marketplace and move forward together. so i climent my chairman. i climent our republican negotiators, mr. blunt and mr. cantor, and i urge my colleagues to support this bill.

0:32:31 to 0:32:39( Edit History Discussion )

i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. frank: i thank the gentleman for his words. i