and i regret deeply that mike oxley didn't prevail here and his ideas in the senate. he passed it in the house, but it was squashed over here. and then in 2008, as i said, by a vote of 19-2, and 72-13 on the floor of this chamber, we did pass legislation that provided for comprehensive overhaul of the regulation of fannie and freddie. and those differences made i think a substantial change but yet far more needs to be done. i acknowledge that, clearly. but let us not in the face of that acknowledgment straip way in this bill -- strip away in this bill within 24 months the ability without replacing it with anything putting our economic recovery at great risk. and i predict to you as certain as i am standing here, if the mccain amendment were to pass, that is the outcome. count on it. in my view. so i urge my colleagues, despite, i know, the political mantra associated with all of this, to please, we're in a very delicate time. it's very important we use our heads and carefully deliberate on how we're moving. by a vote of 59-35, we rejected the ensign amendment last wee

in 2005, the house financial services committee, under the leadership of mike oxley, a republican fromio, was the chairman of the committee, and he passed bipartisan legislation dealing with fannie mae and freddie mac. the senate democrats picked up that proposal that it stalled in the committee over here despite the support for it. the republican-controlled committee then passed a bill and never filed it, never brought it up for vote here on the floor of the united states senate 2005. i became chairman of the banking committee in 2007, and as the presiding officer recalled when he arrived in 2008, we had a significant number of hearings and discussions about fannie and freddie. and in the summer of 2008, the banking committee passed a comprehensive overhaul of the regulations of fannie and freddie including the establishment of a tough, new regulator,

oxley on the right-hand side. years later i got that picture cut out of the film and i sent it to mike with this inscription -- mike, this past save your life. -- this pass save your life. -- saved your life. [laughter] i use that as a reference point because those of you that follow sports, even those that do not, he has been a phenomenal success over his career at duke. when he came to west point he had been the leading scorer in the chicago catholic league for two years. one of the better basketball names in the united states. he got fouled a lot but he was never really a good shooter. and he made the best adjustment from high school basketball to college basketball of any player i've ever coached. and i think the ability to adjust, the ability to be able to see something and adjust to it, to change your approach because there is a better approach, it is going to be very important to each of you. as i say, i have never been around anyone that made a better adjustment and mike did. one of the great offers -- authors had a great phrase on a book that i really got a kick out of relative to adjustment. it goes somet