quorum call:

quorum call:

ms ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator in minnesota. ms. klobuchar: are we in a quorum call, mr. president? the presiding officer: yes, we're. ms. klobuchar: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to discuss the very important bill that we're very hopeful we can move on today to start the debate on wall street reform. i understand that there may be an agreement to move forward with this bill. we don't know that yet, and if it is true that we have an agreement to start the debate on this bill, then it is very fitting that i go through why this bill is so important f we don't have an agreement, then it is even more important, because we know that the american people got severely hurt by the crisis on wall street by the fall of

many of our financial institutions, and they were not the ones that are supposed to be hurt, the american people, and we need to fix this so it doesn't happen again. nearly three years after the financial system began to melt down, america continues to suffer the effects of the worst economic crisis since the great depression. millions of americans have lost their jobs, homes, and their retirement savings. although some key indicators are beginning to move in the right direction, many families -- like those that we no in minnesota -- are still struggling and the economic damage is so slow to heal in their towns. on wall street, however, it seems to be back to business as usual. last year wall street's largest firms handed out record bonuses totaling nearly $146 billion, an 18% increase from 2008. meanwhile, overall u.s. per capita income declined 2.6%. so it's little surprise that

wall street financiers are not enthusiastic about reforms that could change the way they do business. in fact, some of them claim that wall street just has a few potholes that need fixing. well, i think it needs more than that, mr. president what. wall street really needs is more stop signs at key intersections and some really good traffic cops. this bill that we have today, it is the product of months of bipartisan negotiation. for the first time ever, this bill would create a nine-member financial oversight council chaired by the treasury secretary and mate made up of fl financial. this would serve to oversee financial risk, something that was clearly lackin lacking yearn the market went tumbling down.

the domino effect of deeply connected financial companies such as insurance giant a.i.g. just create economic ripples. it cent tsunami wave. this financial oversight counsel shrill be charged with skank the system for systemic risk and putting speed bumps in place to ensure we never see a crisis like this one again. this council will for the first time bring the regulators together to form a picture of the entire system so one regulator won't be off dealing with one problem while another is dealing with another with no information being shared. this way there'll be one place where they can look at the entire financial system and look for those warning signs of problems. this bill will also stand at the intersection and make firms slow down by increasing the costs of being large and complex. the most interconnected firms will be required to hold larger levels of capital to minimize their risk to the system if the investments go bad. all we're asking sheer that

taxpayers don't have through bail out these firms, that they have significant resorrieses and enough resources on hand in case they face troubled times again. if firms are going to create risk to the system, they need to take some responsibility. we clearly saw in this crisis what a lack of capital can bring -- can do, thousand can bring a firm to the brink, and the downward spiral that this can cause when they're unable to attract new investors. now, as much as we would like, we can't simply predict how a future crisis might unfold. and i believe one of the most important lessons we can take from this crisis is that the american taxpayer should never again be left on the hook for the unconscionable bets of wall street. the american taxpayer is not like a casino where you can just go out and play games and throw their money around and then maybe some of it come back and some of it won't. we have to make sure this doesn't happen again. preventing american taxpayers from being forced to bail out

financial firms starts with strengthening big financial firms to better withstand stress, looking out for systemic risk, and putting a price on activities that pose risk to the financial system. in any event that a firm is to fail, this bill creates a safe way to liquidate failed financial firms that won't leave the taxpayer on the hook. first of all, it updates the federal res. authority to allow systemwide support but to longer allows it to po prop up an individual firm. it requires large financial companies to submit plans for their rapid and orderly shutdown should they start to go under. these plans will help regulators understand the structure of the companies they oversee and serve as a road map for shutting them down if the company fails. most large financial companies are expected to be resolved through the bankruptcy process. bankruptcy allows these -- those that invest in a firm to better assess their risk and it allows the pobilityd that a company

will emerge -- the possibility that a company will emerge in some way intact. if we have a situation where a firm won't go into bankruptcy and its failure could bring down the whole system, we make the process of resolution as hard as we can on that firm. we start by shutting down the business and throwing out those thathat caused the mess. this is a very different route than we took where we propped up firms and kept them alive because of the risk that it could pose to the entire financial system. we don't want to be in that position again. the taxpayers don't want to be in that position again. if a firm chooses resolution, the treasury, the fdic, anded the federal reserve must first all degree to put a company into the orderly liquidation process. a pafnl three bankruptcy judges must then agree convene and agree within 24 thyrse a company is insolvent. at that point, the fdic would step in and resolve this through an orderly process and in a way that doesn't harm the overall system. the cost of resolution would be paid for not by the taxpayer but

by a $50 billion fund built up over time -- and this is key -- paid for by the industry, paid for by the descrirks not by the taxpayers. -- paid for by the industry, not by the taxpayers. i would like to talk about a key portion of the bill that came out of the agriculture committee, led by chairman lincoln. the portion of that bill i want to talk about is the focus on transparency and accountability to the over-the-counter derivatives market. bringing transparency and accountability to the over-the oveover-the-counter derivatives market is as important as any other piece of reform that we're going to be debating. reckless trading of unrecreated over-the-counter derivatives played a significant role in triggering the financial crisis in the fall of 2008. a.i.g. using a type of derivative known as a credit default swap took enormous risk and at least $400 billion worth

of other companies' loans including those of lehman brothers were a at steak. treasury and the federal reserve were forced to step in to accept unknown, untold risk to the world financial system. in the end, the governmen govert up $180 billion to save a.i.g. from collapse. i point it out that mention the dangers of an unregulated derivatives market. derivatives when used properly and backed by sufficient collateral, play a crucial role in our financial and economic system. you think about airlines that want to hedge their risk with the price of oilment, you think about agribusinesses, all over this compan country that goes o. but this is a whole different thing that we're talking about, when irresponsible financial institutions are allowed to make unconscionable bets lidde bets m the view of the financial regulators, the entire financial

system is threfntsed. right now the over-the-counter market counts its transaction into the hundreds of trillions of dollars. but under the current system, there are almost no requirements that the most baiivelg terms of these contracts are -- or even their existence be disclosed to rergtz or the public. think about it, trillions of dollars changing hands and no one even knows what's hasmg the goal of the bill we have today is to finally bring transparency and accountability to these unregulated marl markets. for the first time, all trades will be required to be reported to the regulators and to the public. with that information, regulators will be able to effectively monitor risk to the system and prevent market manipulation and abuse. transparency will also benefit those that use derivatives to hedge risk, as they will be better-equipped to evaluate the market as price information will finally be made public. by requiring mandatory clearing and trading for standardized derivatives, this bill will

greatly reduce the ability of risk to build up to a point that could once again burst and threaten the financial stability of our financial system. i've obvious said, mr. president, that when wall street gets a cold, main street got pneumonia. we can't let this happen again. in this bill, careful consideration has been made to ensure that commercial entities -- and this was the work done in our agriculture committee -- to make sure that commercial entities that hedge solely to mitigate their own commercial risk are not brought under requirements meant to address the failures of a market that they had no hand in. you think about all the people that didn't have a hand in this problem that got affected. you think even about our small banks, mr. president, in the state of minnesota. they didn't engage in this kind of risky behavior. i think about them sometimes standing there with their briefcases in the heartland, with those credit default risks swirling around their they ha tt

they never used saying "toto, we're not in kansas anymore." some banks in this country had a brain. some banks didn't go to oz and didn't think they could go bet with the american taxpayers' money. but the most important thing here is to make sure we put a traffic cop at those intersections, that we put some stop signs at those intersections, that wall street isn't allowed to drive down in their ferraris while the government is following behind in a model-t ford. enacting these reforms is not just important for our financial markets, it is important for ordinary americans. while very few people outside those involved in these markets, their misuse contributed to a recession that left millions without jobs, businesses shuttered and trillions in household savings lost. the legislation we passed out of the agriculture committee that chairman dodd has worked to incorporate into this bill will bring these dark markets into the light of day and ensure that

they will never again threaten the stability of this financial system. mr. president, it is very important that we bring this before the senate, that we begin debate on this bill, and that's, why as we look at the rumors swirling around that in fact there is a deal that we're going to be at least -- a bill deal to debate, not on the bill yet. but we think this is a good bill. we look forward to working with our colleagues on it. we can't even get to "go." we can't even get to sction start" if we can't get this bill to debate. we look forward to getting it dofnlt the american people who lost their jobs, their homes, and their savings are scared every day that it's going to happen again because of the recklessness of wall street deserve no less. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i note the eables after quorum. -- i noalt th i note the absenca quorum. the presiding officer: the

clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the motion to proceed on be agreed to. once the bill is reported tonight, the senate then proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. on thursday, april 29, following the recognition of the leaders and the designees, the senate then resume consideration of s. 3127. after reporting the bill to make opening statements on the bill, senator lincoln then be recognized to speak for up to 20 minutes. on thursday, no amendments or motions will be in order prior to offering the dodd-lincoln substitute amendment, and that once the substitute amendment is offered, it be considered read. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i want to take a few moments here to thank the distinguished senator from alabama who has been our lder the banking committee and an expert on this very, very complex subject of financial regulation for his steadfast effort in bringing us to where we are today. as senate republicans plus senator ben nelson of nebraska have demonstrated over the last few days is that we felt the bill that we started with was not insignificant and needed to be improved. and senator shelby was given the opportunity as a result of staying together to be empowered to improve the bill that had previously come out of the banking committee on a straight party-line vote. so i just wanted to take the

opportunity to thank all of my republican colleagues plus senator nelson of nebraska in giving us the opportunity to improve the underlying bill. and i want to thank the senator from alabama for his efforts in that regard. i think we have a better starting place than we would have had earlier, and we look forward to the, the majority leader indicated we'll have an open amendment process and plenty of opportunities to treat this like the serious comprehensive bill this is. we have many amendments that we intend to offer. our members will be prepared to accept reasonable and short time agreements so that we can get these amendments up and voted on and hopefully have an opportunity to make further improvements in the bill. i know senator shelby may want to make a few observations. mr. reid: i'll be happy to yield to my friend from alabama and my friend from connecticut. but i just want to say a few words first. first of all, i too have great respect for my friend, senator

shelby. he and i were neighbors in the longworth building many years ago, and we've maintained that friendship since. there are times when we disagree on issues, but our relationship is one of friendship. chris dodd has had an extremely difficult year. he's had legislation on the most difficult issues to come before this body. in addition to that, his dear friend, his best friend, senator kennedy was ill. he had to take over that committee and do his banking committee also. it's been a tremendously difficult year for him. he's done it with mastery of the senate rules and with the ability to articulate his position as well as anyone that's ever served in the senate. so i admire and appreciate him so very, very much.

we also have a new chairman, senator lincoln on the ag committee, and she has done a very good job. she took it over just a couple months ago, but stepped into that committee and has done a remarkably good job on an extremely difficult issue dealing with derivatives and things like that. so i admire her work and i appreciate so much the ability of her and senator dodd to work together. their staffs worked all weekend trying to put together this substitute amendment that we will offer tomorrow. i'm very grateful for their leadership in the conference, the democratic conference. they do good work all the time. and we have so much to do in the weeks ahead in this work period. but this is an issue we're going to go on. the american people waited long enough for their leaders to get to work, get to work cleaning up wall street.

first on monday, then on tuesday and twice more today. we didn't have to vote today. that i think's a decision that senator mcconnell and i made that there was no need to have a vote. there was an agreement to move to the bill, and that's what we've been trying to do all week. some democrats have asked one thing: that we be allowed to debate, that we simply be allowed to do our job as legislators and legislate. we believe in this bill to crack down on wall street and protect family's savings and seniors' pensions. we never asked the senate to unanimously or blindly approve a single policy. we never sought to send this bill directly from the committee room to the president's desk. the only thing we fought for is the opportunity to have that conversation. after months of bipartisan meetings and negotiation, it's time to move this debate from the side lines to the playing field, to the senate floor which is where it belongs. senate republicans have finally agreed to let us begin this debate. i appreciate that and hope it foreshadows more cooperation to

come. i know republicans have their own suggestions and amendments for improving this bill. so do democrats. now we'll be able to begin that process, the american people will finally have the opportunity to watch and weigh those ideas. nothing has changed from our end since monday. the only thing that's different is the date. we've always wanted to start the debate on wall street reform with an open bipartisan amendment process. i'll offer the first amendment combining the best parts of the banking committee and agriculture committee's bills. that will be what we will work from. let's get to work and let's do our utmost to make the american people proud of our efforts. let's work for them -- the american people. let them know that wall street needs reforming. democrats, republicans, all americans believe it. so let's show the american people that we will list ton what they say. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. reid: there will be no

more votes tonight. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? let me just say again, before turning to senator shelby, how much we appreciate his leadership on this and how much we appreciate all of our republican colleagues plus senator nelson giving him the ability to improve the bill that came out of committee. much has indeed changed since monday. and i thank senator shelby for his leadership on this. i also want to commend senator dodd for the spirit in which those discussions were commenced. mr. president, i see the senator from alabama on the floor, and i yield the floor. mr. shelby: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: mr. president, i'll be brief. first of all, i want to thank the republican leader, senator mcconnell, for his kind words. also i want to thank my friend, the majority leader, senator reid, for helping us bring us where we are today. but more than that, i want to commend senator dodd, the chairman of the banking committee, who i've worked with

for years and years. we have worked can exceedingly e on many issues dealing with the banking committee. what we're bringing to the floor now is something very complex, very far-reaching. the idea that something should be too big to fail is very important to me. nothing should be too big to fail, in my judgment, in this country. and i want to commend senator dodd. in our negotiations, we have reached some assurances in that he has and his staff have made some recommendations that we like. and we made some they like. i think we made real progress on that. i know we have to seal it, but i think that senator dodd is working in good faith on that. but we've got the derivatives

title and we've got the consumer products deal. and we haven't been able to resolve those yet. i hope we will on the floor of the senate. we moved to a new forum, and it's going to be a very important debate in the weeks ahead here, because this is very, very important to the american people. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. dodd: mr. president, let me begin by thanking the majority leader for his work on this. and let me thank the minority leader as well. this has been a bit acrimonious over the last ten days or so as we tried to get to the floor,th bill. and of course i want to thank richard shelby. he and i, as he points out, have been working together over the last 37 months during my stewardship of the banking committee that i inherited in january of 2007. i noted the other day there's some 42 measures that have been brought out of our committee. 37 of them have become the law

of the land. this is a good result. we're now on the bill which the american people want us to be on. this is an important issue. we had the headlines of the hearings here yesterday involving mortgage deals; the other headline about greece and its debt, its bonds were sinking, causing economic problems in europe, potentially here. these problems are huge, mr. president. and as senator shelby has said and i've said over and over again, that is complex area of law we're talking about. and it has to be gotten right. we've had very good conversations on a number of issues going back over many, many weeks. we both shared that we again have institution that is become too big to fail with the implicit guarantee that the federal government will bail them out. i'm satisfied that our bill does that already, but i appreciate there are others who would like to see it tighter, think we can do something to make this better and more workable. i'm anxious to hear that.

i know my colleague from california, barbara boxer, has ideas she would like to raise. i mentioned my colleague from alabama, he has issues he'd like to raise. we've had great conversations as two people with goodwill can have. we're going to have a very busy couple of weeks coming up now. there are a lot of members who have very strong feelings about this bill. our job, my job, our job will be to see to it that people have a chance to offer their amendments, to debate them and to go through that process. i may sound pretty old-fashioned, mr. president in, this regard. as i pointed out last night, i first had a vow to this chamber as i sat here in a blue suit as a page, watching lyndon johnson sit where you are, mr. president and watching mike mansfield and everett dirksen, listening to debates on civil rights in the

1960's when this chamber in difficult moments worked together for the achievements of our country. i have great reverence for this institution and i want to see it work as our founding fathers intended it to that where you have important debate that, we work together. and that's what i intend to do as the manager of this bill, to make sure that each and every one of my colleagues, whether they sit on this aisle or that side of the aisle, we're fall this chamber together to try to improve the quality of life for the people who have been so badly hurt, the homes lost, the jobs that have evaporated, the retirement accounts that have disappeared from people. they want to see us work together to get a job done to make a difference for our country. and i firmly believe that we can do that. and i will do my very, very best, i say to my friend from alabama, i say to the minority leader as i said to the majority leader, to act with fairness, to work together to try to resolve matters so we can have a good outcome on this bill. obviously we can't predict that. i know there will be some who want to make this a big fight,

that that's a great, great issue maybe for the day or the week. do you it, and who wins, who loses here. that's a great story. but this is not an athletic contest we're involved in. it is a decision to try to put our country on a far more sound footing of security. i look forward to working with senator shelby. we're good friends. i admire him immensely. he understands the job of being a chairman. i'm determined to get the job right, mr. president. i encourage our colleagues who have ideas and amendments to come forward, share them with us. we're going to set up shop over the weekend to make sure we're there. we've so* we've got ideas we can consider, accept, maybe modify, make it work right. from that spirit, we can do a good job here and we can leave this chamber at the end of this congress knowing that we confronted a serious problem and stepped up to the best of our ability to try and solve it for

the people we seek to represent. with that, mr. president, i thank the majority leader and his staffer and others for their work. i thank senator shelby and his work. again, this conversation will continue. we've got a lot of work to do. it's been very worthwhile and very productive over these last number of weeks, and we intend to keep it in that forum. and i thank the minority leader as well. and the republican conference. i know it must have been probably a healthy, good, vibrant conversation for the last hour and a half in there. but even those who question whether or not we can do this, i want this institution to get back again to the idea of listening to each other, debating the issues, taking our votes and putting together the best product we can. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the motion to proceed to s. 3217 is agreed. the clerk: calendar number 349, s. 3217, an original bill to promote the financial stability of the united states by improving accountability and

transparency in the financial system and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the senate will proceed to a period of morning business with the senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from connecticut and alabama for all their hard work on this issue. i am delighted that after three votes and three full days of pressuring those on the other side of the aisle to allow us to at least begin debating this critical bill, it finally appears that they have relented. and finally a appears that they are willing to listen to not only what democrats have been saying about the importance after strong, new reform bill for wall street but what the american people have been saying and what we've been saying is that it's time to hold wall street accountable. it's time to pass strong reforms that cannot be ignored or sidestepped. it's time to end bailouts and give wall street the responsibility of cleaning up their own mess. it's time that credit card statements are in plain english

and loan terms that are spheld owvment it's time for wall street to come out of the shadows and out into the light of day. and it's time for negotiations to come out of the back room and onto the senate floor. mr. president, it's time to put an end to obstruction and begin working for american families, so i'm glad that we're finally now on this bill. you know, mr. president, for most american families this debate is not complex. it's simple. it is not about derivatives or credit default swaps. it is about fundamental fairness. it's a debate about when they walk into a bank to sign a mortgage or apply for a credit card or start a retirement plan, are the rules on their side? are they with the big banks or wall street? and for far too long, the financial rules of the road have not favored the american people. instead, they favored big banks and credit card companies and wall street, and for too long

they have abused those rules. whether it was gambling with the money in our pension funds or making bets that they could never cover or pedestrians ling mortgages -- or peddling mortgages to people that they knew they could never repay them, wall street made choices that came at the expense of our working families. that is exactly the reason why we have all fought so hard to move forward with a strong bill. it is why we have refused to back down or sit by while it was watered down, and it's why we were ready to stay up all night or vote to move forward with this bill all week long. it's why we have insisted on a bill that includes the strongest protection for consumers ever enacted, an end to taxpayer bailouts, and tools to give individuals the resources they need to make smart financial decisions. because, mr. president, each of us knows that th what the

anything-goes rules have meant, each one of us have talked to people who have been hurt through no fault of their own. we have all seen the tremendous cost of wall street's excesses. in my home state of washington, it has cost us over 150,000 jobs. it has cost small businesses the access to credit that they need to grow and hire. it's cost our workers their retirement accounts that they were counting on to carry them through their golden years. it cost our students their college savings that would help launch them their careers. it has cost our homeowners the value of their most important asset, as neighborhoods have be decimated by foreclosures. it's cost our school teachers, our plirvetion and our communities. it's cost young people like david corato of seattle, whose mother since he was very young would take $400 out of her paycheck and put it towards david's education fund. it was a long-term smart

investment that she knew would pay off for david's future. well, when that financial crisis occurred, he lost a third of his college fund -- $10,000. it's also cost older people like edward diaz, who's also from washington state. he was not only laid off from his job of 21 years due to the recession, but he also lost $100,000 from his 401(k) account. on the verge of retirement, edward tells me that now he scours the classifieds every day searching for any way to get back to work. so, mr. president, in the days ahead, as we debate this bill, those are the people that we have to remember constantly. we have to keep them in mind as we work to protect against this happening ever again. the people who, through no fault of their own, paid the price for the risks and irresponsible behavior of wall street. they were people in my state and across the country who skimp

scrimped and saved and made right decisions and were left holding the bag. mr. president, now is not the time for half measures. the american people are looking to us now for real reform, and to put progress before politics. and we have to put people before wall street. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, what is the order? the presiding officer: in morning business, senators are able to speak up to ten minutes each. mrs. boxer: okay. i would ask that i be allowed to speak for as much time as i might consume. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, thank you very much. this is good news that we just received that our republican colleagues have decided to allow us to proceed to the debate on the wall street reform bill. i was, frankly, confused as to why they were objecting. but in any event, without going through that, i'm just very pleased that they have backed down in terms of their

objection, because we want to get to this bill and many of us have ways that we feel it can be made stronger. i bet there will be some amendments to make it weaker, and that's what the process is all about. the most important thing for the american people to know tonight is that an issue of critical importance is moving forward in the united states senate. and i think it's important for us to remember the real reasons as to why we are taking up this bill. and even though it is painful, mr. president, to review the dark times of 2008 when the -- our economy and the world economy was really on the brink, i think it's important for us to do that review. and i asked my staff fought together some of the headlines from those days. and we're going to go through a couple of charts. and i'll read a few of them.

because we need to remember -- we need to remember what it was like in those dark moments in our -- in our history. here's a picture of a wall street trader and he is under a headline that says, "black monday." it was at a moment when the first bailout went down in the house. it says, "bailout fails. stock drop most in history." and then you look at this one, "where do we go from here?" "nasdaq in biggest fall since dot-com." "time" magazine, "wall street's latest downfall, madoff charged with fraud."

"the bailout to end all bailou bailouts." "credit crunch continues." "u.s. sentiment decrease to a 28-year low." "u.s. loses 23,000 jobs in the biggest drop since 1974." so that's one chart, and i have one other. if you can -- just to remind us we're were. "san jose mercury news " -- "foreclosure wave, san jose fights to protect neighborhoods." "carnage continues: 524,000 jobs lost." "wall street employees set to get $145 billion." that's in bonuses during all of this. "economy in crisis,

foreclosure." "layman files for bankruptcy." "a.i.g. seeks cash." we know about that. "what now?" is the headline. "what now" "dow falls 777." "u.s. pension insurer lost billions in the market." "housing prices take biggest dive since 1991." and here's one. "full of doubt, u.s. shoppers cut spending." now, i read these headlines to you, mr. president, to just bring back those dark, dark, dark days. and why we're here today trying to make sure that never happens again.

if you don't learn from history, you are doomed to treept. and -- to repeat it. and we have learned and we are ready to make sure that this never happens again. now, those dark times came because we allowed wall street to engage in unregulated and unsupervised gambling. unregulated and unsupervised gambling. now, i have to say that i'm an economics major that goes back quite a bit o and many, many, many years ago, mr. president, before any of these kind of exotic instruments were created, i worked on wall street as a stockbroker. and i can tell you that every time the president of the united states would sneeze, the market went down a few points, i worried. i can just about imagine how i

would have felt if i would have had clients in this kind of situation where there was no control. a shadow banking system grewup that fueled an unsustainable housing bubble. from 2001 to 2007, the issuance of toxic private mortgage-backed securities increased by 400%. these securities were rated by the credit rating agencies. the credit rating agencies who are supposed to be the tellers of truth. they're supposed to say to the consumer, uh-oh -- i sounded like my grandchild here, who says, uh-oh, who say, don't buy those securities because they're really no good. but these credit agencies, rating agencies such as moody's and standard & poors, frankly,

they acted like they were in the pocket of the insurers. in other words, they gave you a good answer. if you wanted issue securities, i don't care whether it's goldman or anybody else, you go to these fellows, you pay them and they tell you something good. what went wrong? that's a disaster. where's the fiduciary responsibility in any of these relationships, mr. president? the unregulated over the counter derivatives market also grew by over 400% to a value greater, listen, than the entire u.s. economy. mr. president, the unregulated over-the-counter derivatives, that market drew by over 400% to a value greater than the entire united states economy. wall street institutions critical to our economy

purposely -- purposely created complex paper instruments that had no real value. no real value. we see in these hearings that senator levin is holding. we see what happened. -- what happened when one company, goldman, knew -- and i can't use the words they used because it would be improper on the floor. they knew a product they were selling was just plain junk and they sold it to their customers. to their clients. i mean, one of -- one of the people said there in an e-mail, "wow, think of all the orphans and widows that we're hurting." that sounds to me like the exxon scandal, we had the same -- enron scandal.

sorry, mr. president. the enron scandal where we had traders doing the same thing when energy prices went through the roof. well, in 2007 and in the first part of 2008, the house of cards began to collapse because backing up these new complex instruments that wall street created were these exotic loans that consumers could never repay unless housing prices continued to soar to unrealistic levels. so they -- they -- they created these instruments that were backed by these mortgages that were doomed to fail unless the economy continued to shoot like a star straight-up in the housing -- and the housing market went up. well, the housing bubble began to deflate and think about all these derivatives and all these exotic securities that were based on housing. mortgage lenders and financial

institutions began to fail. first countrywide, then bear stearns, the federal reserve had to intervene behind-the-scenes to try to keep credit flowing. remember, in a capitalistic society in our economy, you have to have credit flowing. credit, that's what the small businesses need. that's what governments need. overnight credit, state of california couldn't even get overnight credit. and the crisis hit. the worst crisis hit in september 2008, the worst since the 1929 great depression. listen to this, mr. president. over just three days, mr. president, september 13th, 14th, and 15th, three major financial institutions failed, layman, a.i.g., and merrill

lynch. oh, my god. the shock in the country. regulators were unprepared. they had no warning. panic spread from this wall street debacle as banks lost confidence in the solvency of the financial system and they refused to lend. credit was frozen. consumers start to withdraw their money from failing money market funds. and some of them found out -- am i right on this -- that they weren't insured by the money markets. we had to actually create insurance. the stock market dropped 25% in september alone, mr. president. part of a larger 50% drop from 2008 to 2009. trillions of dollars in pensions and savings wealth were lost. without the tools to handle the crisis, the bush administration was forced to approach us for direct taxpayer assistance.

and i will never forget the day when a republican treasury secretary, hank paulson, looked me in the eye and all my colleagues and said, capitalism was on the brink of collapse and i -- and i will tell you, mr. president, i asked him a number of questions that day about the role that credit default swaps played in this and derivatives. an to be totally candid with you, he just -- he just didn't have an answer. he just was so concerned about saving off this -- staving off this collapse. now, it was too late -- it was too late to stop wall street's crisis from impacting our -- the rest of our economy. business lending plummeted. now, i know that you know this, mr. president. businesses -- small businesses have created 64% of all the new jobs in the last 15 years.

and when those good, strong businesses couldn't get credit, some of them just couldn't keep the doors open. and i can tell you none of them expanded. they couldn't. they didn't have the capital. retail spending fell by 14% driven by historic declines in consumer confidence. and because consumer spending accounts for 70% of our economy, this was another disaster on another disaster on another disaster. as the recession fueled by the financial crisis spread, job losses exploded to 750,000 a month. the highest ever recorded. some 8.4 million jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009. and in my own home state of california almost one out of every 10 jobs was lost. one out of every 10 jobs. now, to put a human face on

that, think about those families in that situation. where not only did they lose a lot of their net worth in the stock market, which was going down, down, down, but they were losing the value of their home and then they lost their job and it exacerbated the problem. unemployment rose above 10% for the first time in 28 years in my -- 28 years. in my state it is over 12% today even though we're now creating jobs in california and across the country, they're not at a faster -- fast enough pace as people come into the job market. we had a situation where almost one out of every five americans who wanted to work was underemployed. now, i don't see how anyone who knows this history -- and all you had to do was wake up and read the paper. or if you didn't do, that put on the tv or if you didn't do that, look at your internet or if you

didn't do that, listen to the radio and if you were really without all of that, you could have listened to what we were debating here, which there probably was not too many people doing that. but the fact is, how could we ever for one second deny the need for the dodd bill, which reflects the president's wall street reform bill? even for a minute. i can't imagine anyone living through this crisis could ever doubt the need to do the bill that we, thank goodness, are on right now. the bill directly addresses the problem that led to the crisis. it gives regulators the tools they need to prevent the crisis in the future without ever turning to taxpayers. now i'm going to just quickly go through the provisions of the dodd bill. and, by the way, i'm going to go

through six provisions. first, the bill ends taxpayer bailouts. the bill guarantees that taxpayers will never again be forced to bailout wall street firms. failing companies will be liquidated and any losses will be absorbed by the companies in the financial sector, not taxpayers. that's in the dodd bill. and by the way, when i heard my colleagues on the other side say they didn't think this is true, i went up to senator dodd and i talked to the administration, i said you know what? i'm going to offer an amendment that says this in plain english. will you accept the amendment? and they did. and we're going to have that amendment accepted. so that no one -- if anyone ever says to you this bill is about giving more taxpayer funds to bail out wall street, you just say excuse me, you're looking at the wrong bill. second, it puts a cop on the beat for consumers. the bill creates the consumer

financial protection bureau, which will have the sole job of protecting the american consumers from the kind of deceptive and abusive financial practices that fueled the crisis. and they also will be looking out for credit cards and other kinds of things. we will finally have disclosure in these dark markets. remember, i talked about these toxic assets, these assets that were made up of slices of mortgages, many of which were -- had no value? they were in the dark. now, these dark markets are over. derivatives markets will be open, and the shadow banking system will be over. over. no more darkness. transparency, openness, and the rest that goes with it. here's the rest of what the dodd bill does. it curbs risky behavior on wall street because it says

essentially no more gambling. there are going to be strict new capital and borrowing requirements so that you can't just go out and superleverage. you have to be able to have some balance in your bank. there will be an early warning system to prevent a future crisis. a financial stability oversight council to focus on problems before they lead to a crisis. and as a last resort, the regulators can break up a company that is too big to fail. too big to fail is over. and if anyone tells you it's not over, they haven't read the bill because this bill completely says, clearly says that if a company is too big to fail, the regulators can break it up. we will see protection against security market scams. the bill mandates management improvements and increased funding for the s.e.c. so that a new office in s.e.c. will be

created to look at the credit rating agencies -- remember, i mentioned that. the credit rating agencies were just giving aa, a ratings to junk. no more. they will have someone looking over their shoulders, and that's very, very important. i want to put back the -- the headlines. so clearly, this bill does what we need to do. the bill stops taxpayer bailouts, and if ever there was a time when we could agree on one thing, it would be that. and again, to eliminate all doubt, i propose an amendment to senator dodd which he is in agreement with and the president's people are in agreement with to make it clear that failing firms cannot be bailed out. and it's just very, very clear because it says it in this amendment. cannot keep a company alive, cannot keep it on life support,

cannot stop it from failing, and when it's liquidated, the cost of that liquidation will be paid for by wall street firms. now, i'm excited about the fact that we're finally moving to this bill. by the way, the last sentence in the boxer amendment, it's very short. it's on this page. taxpayers shall bear no losses from the exercise of any authority under this title. so if anyone says to you that this bill isn't clear, i -- i just have to say they're making it up because it's very, very clear. senator dodd would never have accepted this amendment if it wasn't in concert with the bill. now, again, i know that many colleagues have ideas for changing the bill. that's why we're here. my republican friends decided not to make any amendments in the committee so this is their opportunity to do so, and i'm

looking forward to seeing their ideas. i really -- i say that with sincerity. a lot of republican amendments were included in the health care bill, and that's good. we want to see some of their ideas to strengthen this bill, because as senator dodd has said many times, no senator has a corner on all wisdom. we have to work together. we can get our best ideas by working together. and i'm going to work with anyone on either side of the aisle who has the goal of protecting american taxpayers and has the goal of protecting the american economy from a future crisis. i'm going to be voting for a couple of colleagues' amendments to really strengthen this bill, and i'm really looking forward to that. but let's not oppose this bill on the grounds that to do nothing is better because clearly to do nothing leads -- would lead us right back to this road of getting up in the

morning and shaking in our boots about what's happening with unemployment with the loss of our pension funds. it's really extraordinary to go back just to 2007. it's not that long ago when this all started. and we have to commit ourselves to never having it happen again. so the time is now for wall street reform. i am very pleased that there is a change of heart on the other side. i cannot tell you. i had -- i was ready to spend the evening here and i'm really happy that i can actually go home to my family tonight and -- as much as i enjoy my colleagues' company, i think i would prefer to be with my family, with my grandkids, my husband is here visiting, and not have to spend the night here. but i was prepared. i would be prepared to spend the weekend, to spend whatever it takes here because once in a while an opportunity like this for reform comes along. it came along with health care.

it's coming along now. we are in an era of reform, and we have to just keep doing it. i'll tell you the reap. it's all expressed right here. we know what happens if we keep this going the way it's going. deregulation on steroids didn't work. we need sensible regulations, sensible rules of the road. we want everyone to prosper, but we don't want to see gambling lead to the pain and suffering that is still going on throughout this country. so thank you very much, mr. president. i yield the floor and i note -- and rather than note the absence of a quorum, i ask unanimous consent that on tomorrow, following the recognition of senator lincoln, senator chambliss be recognized for up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate

consideration of calendar number 359, h.r. 5146, an act to prohibit a cost of living adjustment for members of congress in 2011, an act that is identical to s. 3244, which passed the senate on april 22. that the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with any statements relating to the bill appearing at the appropriate place in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 5147 received from the house and at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 5147, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the airport and airway trust fund, and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection.

mrs. boxer: mr. leader, i ask unanimous consent -- or mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table and any statements appear at this point in the record as if read, with no intervening action. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate now proceed to consideration of s. res. 504 which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 504, expressing the condolences of the senate to those affected by the tragic events following the tornado that hit central mississippi on april 24, 2010. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business

today, it adjourn until 12:15 thursday, april 29. that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the senate resume consideration of s. 3217, as provided for under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate will stand adjourned until april 29, thursday,

>> iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad has applied for a visa to attend a nuclear conference in the united nations. spokesman p.j. crowley talks about iran's nuclear program. reports of the settlement construction freeze in israel and other subjects. this is 40 minutes. >> we will wait for you before we start. good afternoonnd welcome to the department of state. several things to talk about before taking questions. this afternoon in fact immediately following this briefing, the secretary will meet with foreign minister of

tunisia to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues, human rights, freedom of expression, counterterrorism and military cooperation and efforts to expand science, technology and educational cooperation under the principles outlined in the presidents cairo speech and the meeting reflects our commitment to stronger relationships with tunisia and we look forward to finding ways to strengthen and expand our ties. later on this afternoon, the secretary will meet with foreign minister of honduras to exchange views on updating progress in the honduras and areas of mutual concern including citizen safety, human rights and ongoing work on reconciliation following last year's coup d'état. we look forward to be made for launch of of the truth

convention-- commission which fulfills a key element set forth in san jose accord. at the secretary will also express her concern about safety including the safety of journalists who have been targets of violence and intimidation in recent months. also this afternoon the secretary will meet with the families of the three hikers, who remain in detention in iran, and we will continue-- we will review with them steps we are taking to do everything possible to gain their release. let a run through that and this evening the secretary will provide remarks at the memorial

service for dr. dorothy height, the civil rights pioneer who passed away this week. in it she will reflect on her work as the godmother of the civil rights movement here in this country and will talk about the fact that dorothy irene height was no ordinary woman. she was no ordinary american. she made us a better people, a better society and a better nation. dr. hyde recognized early on that civil rights and women's rights are inseparable. on travel, kurt campbell, our system secretary for asia and pacific affairs met today at the ministry of foreign affairs with the minister, the director general of the north american

affairs bureau and the director general for the defense policy bureau at the ministry of defense. they talked about a wide-ranging issue regarding u.s. security cooperation and as you could anticipate, who tend law was part of the discussion. assistant secretary of lake is in bhutan today. he led the u.s. observer delegation to the 16th south asian association for regional cooperation for the summit and congratulated the saarc on its 25th anniversary this year, and we-- he welcomed their vision for greater salvation regional cooperation yesterday on the fringes of these meetings. he met with sri lankan president and multi-vm president not sheep also richard holbrooke is traveling this week. he is in germany for meetings that are part of our regular

consultations with partners and allies. he met today with german national foreign-policy and security adviser, the german s. rep michael steiner and german state minister, warner hoyer in addition to his counterpart from italy. our team, our interagency team has arrived in moscow. it is a seven-member delegation including representatives from the state department and u.s. citizenship and immigration services, also are consular affairs section, european affairs and the legal adviser's office and look forward to meetings tomorrow on friday in moscow. with that, i will take your questions. >> on the families of the hikers, you said that she's going to review with them all that they are doing to secure their release? apart from asking the swiss to check in on them and making the

appeals, the public appeals that have been made, what exactly is all that you are doing? >> well, we have made many public declarations going back to last year when they were first apprehended. we have brought this up, both through the swiss to the iranians directly but also we have highlighted this in a number of our bilateral consultations with other countries that we think have the ability to communicate our concerns to iran. >> such as? >> such as austria for example. she was talking recently with the austrian foreign minister and this was part of the conversation. >> how about brazil? considering the president of brazil is about to go out there. >> i will check but i wouldn't rule it out. i don't know. [inaudible] >> i am confident that in that context we have communicated that.

>> how many times has she met with the families? >> with the families? i will check that. this is not the first-time. >> on the same issue, you mentioned the three hikers who remain in detention i believe for your words, clearly they are. have they not been charged? are there any charges pending against them? >> i do not believe they have been charged. yes. >> some state department officials said they-- it will suspend efforts to get the north korean back to the six-party talks pending the results of south koreans thinking navy ships. is that the position-- the state department position on the six-party talks currently? >> i wouldn't necessarily link goes directly. the investigation on the ship sinking continues. as we have said from this podium

and elsewhere, we will draw conclusions once we understand what the investigation discovers. we want to see north korea come back to the six-party process. we are committed to this with our partners. but clearly, provocative actions that north korea takes has an impact on the broader environments, so i wouldn't predict anything going forward but on the investigation itself, let's find out and conclude what is responsible for the sinking of the ship and we will draw implications from that. speak can i follow up on that? the military u.s. officials are saying that it was not an internal explosion, that it was an external explosion that caused the subto sink. i am sorry, because the south korean ship to sink. now that they no it is not a

boiler there is obviously some kind of explosive device. i guess what i don't understand is what is taking so long to determine there was some sort of offensive action here that sunk the ship? >> i am not aware the investigation has arrived at the destination that you described. but, you know, for arguments sake, if it was an external explosion what was it, and where did it come from? again, these are all things that have to be investigated and once we understand more about what actually happened, we will draw the appropriate conclusions. >> is anybody thinking of any foul play or any kind of terrorism? >> that is all part of the investigation. ships don't normally sink of their own accord. they can occasionally but that is one of the reasons why we are supporting the south korean effort. if the ship has been raised and

we should be able to answer these questions in time. [inaudible] unless someone wants to stay on. >> i just wanted to slip in a quick iran question. [laughter] be granting a visa to ahmadinejad to attend the u.n.? >> we have certain responsibilities as the host of the u.n.. any foreign official who comes to the u.n. for official business is normally granted a visa. >> he is not normal though. he is not a normal guest. >> to your more precise question, as the iranian delegation, including its president, presented applications for embassy in bern, the answer is yes? >> have you granted? have you granted him a visa? >> this just happened this

morning. >> so they haven't been granted yet? >> not to my knowledge. >> the conference begins on monday. >> yes it does. >> the last time i remember ahmadinejad being at the u.n. is two years. >> wasn't he there last fall? >> i don't think he showed up at. >> he was there last fall. >> i thought the big show was cut off the last year. if the iranians will have a delegation at the npt conference on monday, and if they choose to have the president lead the delegation that is their decision. >> can remove a little bit to the west of iran? what is your understanding right now of the alleged defect dough freeze in east jerusalem construction and as senator mitchell still planning to go

next week? >> regarding the policy of the israeli government in east jerusalem i will refer to the israeli government to enunciate its own policy. george mitchell is planning to travel to the region next week. he was here yesterday along with the secretary for important meetings with defense minister ehud arauca. they talked about a range of issues including the efforts that the israelis have undertaken on their side. sum of those areas rest within minister barack mac portfolio and the secretary thanked him for working with the policy authorities and humanitarian crisis in gaza and access to key goods there. the israelis have worked in

recent months to remove some check points as talking about ways that much more can be done to open up greater space on the west bank. but george is planning to go next week. >> did anything outside of the specific portfolio come up? >> i am not going to get into any more particulars the map. i think you can rest assured, we talked about the full range of issues both within our efforts to get the israelis and the palestinians into proximity talks. we also talked about other regional issues from syria to iran. >> the reason i am asking the jerusalem question is because the mayor of jerusalem last night had some pretty provocative comments about what his local, with the municipal position is on this and what he

said was that regardless, basically that he doesn't really care if it has any effect on the peace process, there will not be any freeze or de facto or otherwise. and that this kind of construction is going to continue regardless of whether it interferes or hurts your task to get the proximity tasks started and the other thing he said there was no way that jerusalem would ever be divided. and i am just wondering what you make of these remarks in light. are they helpful in the light of where you are trying to get the two sides? >> we have our own issues in this country were occasionally cities or states delve into foreign-policy areas. >> here's the thing. he doesn't regard this as a foreign-policy. >> hang on a second. there is a conversation between the federal government and state and local governments over the provinces of federal action versus local action.

in this case, as well, notwithstanding what they may or may think, to the extent that there are issues that have broader implications, this is an area that we really is between the israeli government, national government and the mayor of jerusalem. i am not going to intercede in the middle of that relationship. as the vice president and the secretary has made clear, we think that the parties have special responsibilities not to take unilateral actions that complicate-- they should take actions that promote negotiations. they should not take actions that complicate negotiations but that is our position. as to how that applies to the actions of the mayor i'll leave that to the israelis. >> but do you regard his comment as a complicating factor?

>> i would simply say say that israel and israeli citizens have special responsibility as palestinian authority and palestinian people have special responsibilities. that would include the mayor of israel, the mayor of jerusalem. >> that was not my question. my question is does this complicate your attempts to get the proximity talks started? >> i am not going to comment on the mayor's specific comments. obviously this issue involving actions on the ground have the potential to complicate proximity talks that we hope will lead to the direct negotiations. we have made that clear. inner lateral actions weather made it the government to level or at the citizen system level have an impact. people need to take that into account. before they take such action. but these are matters that we remain in regular, if not daily, contact with the parties on, in

and we continue to work with them as we have in terms of the secretary's meeting with minister barak, deputy secretary steinberg also had a meeting with deputy foreign minister-- minister and we are working this intensely and hope to see the parties back into proximity talks very soon. >> i will talk but after this but i'm just a little confused because when the initial announcement was made that caused so much problems last month, there was no question-- he weren't shy about talking about announcements or comments. the secretary got on the phone with netanyahu and complained rather vociferously about this, as did you from this podium-- and as did white house officials after that, so why now is it that you don't want to talk about-- you don't want to say. >> let me separate.

>> you don't want to give us your impression. >> let me separate the two issues, okay? on comments by the mayor of jerusalem, i will simply repeat what the vice president said, bad the parties have special responsibilities to do things that promote negotiation and not do things that complicate negotiations. but, on the specific issue of actions on the ground, we have been very clear that jerusalem is a final status issue and the only place in which that can be resolved is through direct negotiations and no attempt should be made to change her complicate the facts on the ground before the parties get into direct negotiations. on that score we have been very clear. >> do you think the mayor is irrelevant here? >> as to what the mayor says and how that relates to israeli

policies, i will leave that to israeli politics. as to our view of jerusalem, we have been clear over a number of years that jerusalem was a final status issue and that the parties writ large, and that includes the high and low levels of government, they should avoid provocative and unilateral steps that complicate getting the parties into negotiations, which is the only route to resolve this once and for all. >> south asia? p.j., as far as u.s. high-level trips to india and pakistan were concerned in recent days and weeks and months, what role do you think they played as far as india and pakistan talks, upcoming talks now? >> i am not sure i completely understand the question. >> there were high-level visits to india and pakistan from the u.s. and also from india and pakistan here. what do you think the u.s.

played, what kind of role as far as india pakistan talks, upcoming talks, mostly tomorrow? >> we have, as we always have, we have our own strategic dialogue with both india and pakistan. we are planning for the next round of discussions with india in the next few weeks. we have encouraged india and pakistan that they need to restore a high-level dialogue that they have had in the not-too-distant past. there have been some significant steps by both countries to restore dialogue, both at the leader level and at other levels and we certainly encourage that. >> p.j., so far, the prime ministers of two countries are meeting tomorrow in the capital of the ton on the sidelines of saarc summit. how do you see the meetings

coming together? how d.c. the meetings of the two prime ministers meeting? >> i think we always think that when leaders of countries particularly countries with a unique history of india and pakistan, anytime they can get together for high-level constructive dialogue that is good for the region and we supported. >> when the president and secretary met the prime ministers of india and pakistan on the sidelines of the nuclear security summit here, was there any common message relayed to both the country's? >> we have encouraged the leaders of pakistan and india to restore direct dialogue that has been characteristic of the relationship between the two countries within the last few years and we are and courage that they are taking steps to do that. >> finally on the saarc nations which are having the meetings with the seven leaders from afghanistan also bear, how d.c. the role of saarc nations are saarc group.

[inaudible] in that particular part of the world? >> as we said earlier, this is one of a number of important structures that you have across the broader asia region. we think they are important. we encourage them. and as you see, both with secretary of lake's appearance at the saarc, the secretary is committed to strengthen the united states's ties to other structures like asean. this is an indication of our ongoing and deepening commitment to the region. >> could i go back to iran for a second? if ahmadinejad's visa application is made, the u.s. wouldn't see any problem in granting at? >> we have special responsibilities as the host of the u.n., and if you are asking,

is he likely to be in new york on monday, i mean, that is an iranian decision and i will defer to them. our focus is, should he come, we want to see him play a constructive role in the upcoming npt review conference. this is about efforts that-- our commitment to strengthening the non-proliferation treaty, strengthening the capabilities and the resources available to the iaea. we want to see nations reaffirm their commitment to the treaty, and we would certainly hope that president ahmadinejad or whoever leads the iranian delegation will come to new york prepared to make that commitment. >> following on that, would it be at all possible that he or members of his delegations would

have meetings with u.s. officials in new york? >> i would not anticipate that. >> you would not? >> the secretary will have a number of bilateral, when she is in new york early next week. the iranian president or foreign minister is not on the schedule of. >> you said you hoped the iranians would play a constructive role. what are the chances of that, do you think? >> well, this is what the international community is clearly telling iran it needs to do. and, if iran plays by the approach it has taken-- i mean it is going around the world right now trying to evade responsibility, trying to demonstrate a phase of being cooperative. it is not. it has yet come as the secretary has said yesterday, with a recent meeting between the iranian foreign minister and director general of the iaea,

was nothing new in that meeting. so, while iran is traveling around the world doing what i would call, to use a boxing term, rope a dope diplomacy trying to evade responsibility, we are in new york, committed to the treaty, strengthening the global regime and we want to see countries play a constructive role. iran is not playing a constructive role and it would not surprise us if they continue on this same path. and if they do, the leadership of iran will be further isolating its country and its people. >> i don't know how big a boxing fan you are but the rope a dope actually works. [laughter] >> in this particular case of. >> it won't? >> i mean, look, we are not looking for a knockout punch here. we are committed to a

non-proliferation regime. we are demonstrating for what we have done throughout the obama administration's 15 months in office, to start negotiation, the recent nuclear security summit-- hack, iran had its own meaning and couldn't even get nations to agree to it final statement. so, we think there is wind at our backs. we are making the case. other countries are seeing that iran is offering nothing in his conversations with various countries around the world. we continue to work in new york on a strong sanctions resolution. we are working with the congress on prospectively other actions that we will take domestically. the secretary in her meeting yesterday with the leaders of the president of the european parliament talked about the fact that we want to see europe take its own steps.

so, this is a case where president ahmadinejad it becomes to new york on monday, will have the opportunity to clearly make that kind of commitment. we will not be astonished if he fails to do that and as we have said before there will be implications. >> why was he not invited for the global nuclear summit in washington? >> by president ahmadinejad was not invited? the countries that were invited we think are playing or had the opportunity to play a constructive role, and iran is certainly not part of that grew. >> but don't you think it would have been greater opportunity for you to talk to him or bring him on board, and since they are about to announce their nuclear. >> that is a dead-end. >> can we move to russia real quick? are you hoping or expecting that the meetings tomorrow and friday are going to produce a

resolution to the adoption mass? >> i think we are going to compare notes on what the current situation is. in our discussions, to the extent that part of the lessons for-- from some of the most recent tragic situations involving the family in ohio, greater transparency, better information, as children and parents go through the adoption process, would be useful. russia has signed the hague convention, has yet to ratify it but we will be looking at ways in which we can strengthen procedures so that at the end of these processes, you have successful adoptions and children received well in loving homes here in the united states. so, to the extent that russia may seek some sort of agreement where we can strengthen these procedures, we are willing to have that conversation.

>> but have you been given any indication that they are willing to and the slowdown, or that they believe that the slowdown can be ended as a result of these talks? >> that will undoubtedly be part of the discussion tomorrow. >> did this come up with the secretary's meeting with the first deputy prime minister yesterday? >> i don't think so. that was mostly on economics but it has come up in recent conversations with the foreign minister. >> he came here-- a deputy prime minister saying that he was really pushing for renewed commitment from the obama administration for russia's wto entry. did they discuss that? >> the issue of russian and the wto did come up as part of our efforts to deepen economic cooperation, not only with the united states at other major trading countries around the world. i think we are supportive of russia's entry.

but obviously, there will be steps russia has to take in order to qualify. >> the u.s. was slowing down negotiations deliberately in geneva on wto, that they were basically asking questions but not really offering anything. >> i think i will defer to the trade representative's office. i think they'll take the lead on that. >> is there no policy to slow down wto negotiations? >> obviously for any country that wants to come to the wto they have to qualify and there has to be steps that they take in terms of opening up their economy, best business practices, transparency and so forth. as the secretary expressed yesterday we are supportive of russia's entering the wto but there's obviously work to do. >> today, the american organizational state -- not although it is an internal affair of the u.s. many countries in latin america have

expressed their concern about the situation in arizona. many countries say that they are going to put new consulates to help some of the immigrants that are there in california and-- sorry, in arizona. i want to know of the department of state is taking any action with all of these concerns? >> well, let's make it slightly larger than the state department. the administration is evaluating the implications of the arizona law. there are some questions about the state law and how it intrudes into federal authorities for immigration and border security. the president has said he thinks this legislation is misguided. clearly it is having an impact, most profoundly and mexico but elsewhere. we are conscious of the fact that the government of mexico has issued a travel advisory for

its own citizens. we do that for our citizens. so clearly there is an international implication for this. as we have said in many meetings with many leaders in the region, the administration is supportive of immigration reform and obviously we are working closely with the congress in terms of how we can get that done as quickly as possible. >> but common terms of operative situation, imagine that there are arrests or error situations there with latin immigrants. the department of state is going to work with these countries in order to help them in case-- much of their citizens are arrested or situations like that? >> i can tell you that we understand fully that steps like this have serious ripple effects around the hemisphere. we are very conscious of that. and we will continue to support efforts along with the rest of the administration for comprehensive immigra