mr. burris: thank you, mr. president. in early 1933, just after franklin roosevelt was sworn in as president, the great depression was at its worst. the american economy had been shaken to its core, financial institutions had closed, people life savings had evaporated, and no one knew where to turn. that's when the unthinkable happened, much of the american commercial banking system collapsed. president roosevelt and his colleagues in the house and senate sprang into action. congressman henry siegel and senator carter glass, both democrats, worked president to write sweeping reform legislation that set out to get the economy back on the road to recovery. the resulting law, known as the glass-steagall act of 1933, helped lay the foundation for sensible bank regulations in this country. it would come to define america's financial landscape in the decades that followed the depression. mr. president, it is in this spirit that i've asked my colleagues to join me today in supporting major financial reform and making sure that t

mr. burris: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. urris: may iequest that the quorum call be suspended? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. burris: may i speak, madam president, as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. burris: thank you, madam president. madam president, in 1790, secretary of state thomas jefferson became the first government official to perform the essential duties laid out in article 1, section 2, of the united states constitution. he oversaw a team of marshals who fanned out across all 13 united states to conduct a very first u.s. census. in those days, it took quite a long time to get an accurate account and certify the results. but in many ways, that first census laid the cornerstone of our democracy. it codified the principle that our system of government depends upon the accurate representation of the people. even today that accurate -- that's exactly what the census is called for and what the census is all about. it determines the size of the house of representatives a

mr. burris: thank you, mr. president. earlier this morning, we awoke to sad news out of memphis, tennessee. this country has lost a civil rights pioneer, a strong leader and a witness to history. benjamin lawson hooks fought all his life for freedom, prosperi prosperity, and universal equality. when the world was consumed by war, benjamin put on the uniform of the 9 2nd infantry division and rendered honorable service to his country. when peace was won and mrk looked inward to address policies of discrimination and inequality, he was on the front line once again standing with visionaries like reverend dr. martin luther king jr. at every turn, at every moment in his life, he waged a fight against injustice. he became an attorney and was eventually appointed as the highest-ranking black federal judge in the state of tennessee. but that was only the beginning of a remarkable career in public service. benjamin hooks was the first african-american to serve on the federal communications commission, where he spoke out against bi

mr. burris: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. burris: thank you, mr. president. my colleagues and i here in washington are here to fulfill a sacred public trust, a commitment we made the moment we raised our hands and swore the oath of office, and whether we swore that oath 30 days ago or 30 years ago, that commitment remains very real. we're here to fight for citizens of our respective states, to represent their concerns, and to make sure their voice rings out in the committee hearings and on the floor of this chamber. that is the obligation we took upon ourselves the moment we entered purr sssments i know it's something all of us take very seriously. so, mr. president, i call upon my colleagues to rise to the challenge of this pivotal moment. it's time to live up to the promise we made. it's time to stand up for the people we came here to represent from all 50 states of this union. it's time to take action on wall street reform. so we can restore accountability to a system that has spiraled out of control and cost billions in taxpayers' dollars. the

i don't know mr. burry, but he basically may very well be in that third group. i don't know that, but the problem is he in that article which i read quickly this morning is actually making the case that it's a very small group because he says effectively but no one agreed with him. well, he made his money properly in my judgment and i think very successfully by effectively selling subprimes short. now, if nobody -- >> he was betting against subprime mortgages working. >> exactly, and if everybody agreed with him or a large proportion of people agreed with him he wouldn't be able to sell those contracts, the short contracts so to speak which works through technical jargon, there would be thob to buy it because they would agree with him so it required a very large proportion of the investing public, sophisticated investing public to disagree with him, and i think -- i don't know whether or not he is in that extremely small group which may, this fact, be really exceptionally adroit at these things. as i said a minute ago, i know four or five people who are really g

mr. burris: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. urris: thank you, madam president. i would make a motion that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. burris: thank you, madam president. we just witnessed a few moments ago the third try to try to do something about financial reform legislation in this body. and for the third time, it went down. you know, madam president, i'm an old baseball player. i played a lot of baseball in my young days, and there's a rule in baseball that says three strikes and you're out. we're at three tries at this financial reform and i will tell the distinguished colleagues on the other side of the aisle, we're not out, that we're just beginning to fight under the circumstances we're confronted because we're fighting on behalf of the american people. earlier this week, our distinguished majority leader called for a vote to open the debate on major financial reform and we've seen well-designed proposals from the senator from connecticut, chairman dodd. this bill reflects

mr. burris: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. burris: i'd like to to thank the distinguished senator from montana. i hope i can do my little brief remarks in six minutes. this is tax day. senator, i hope your taxes are filed. madam president, my colleagues, the american people are undoubtedly well aware, today is tax day. across the country hundreds of millions of americans are filing their tax returns, paying what they owe, calculating refunds they will receive. now even in the best of time, paying taxes is not something that most americans look forward to. in fact, in the wise words of george washington, i quote, "no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant. ." end of quote. even washington and other founding fathers recognized th thattatiothattaxation is necesst paying taxes is every american's patriotic duty. when they are levied, not by some tyrannical monarch across the ocean but by a representative government, taxes are -- and i quote -- "the price we pay for our civilized socie society."

mr. burris: thank you, mr. president. last week i came before this body to speak of the loss of a great leader from memphis tennessee by the name of benjamin hooks. madam president, it is with heavy heart that i come to this floor of the senate again for the loss of a distinguished american. early this morning our nation lost a strong leader, a great civil rights pioneer. i would ask my colleagues to join me for a moment in reflecting upon the leadership, passion, and selfless dedication that defined the highly consequential life of ms. dorothy height. she began her career in the 1930's as a teacher in brooklyn, new york. she became active in the united christian youth movement shortly after it was formed. it was this cause that would first carry her to national leadership, though she was quite a young lady at the time. in 1938, dorothy was selected by the first lady eleanor roosevelt to help plan a rural youth conference. she rose to this task with poise and determination and made a strong impression on the first lady. l

senator burris. >> thank you, mr. chairman. commissioner, i would like to congratulate you and welcome you aboard. i recently had the opportunity to travel to the southwest border and get a close-up look at the work of dhs and its component agencies are doing down there. we've been fighting a tough battle in a grateful for the men and women who are working to protect our borders and i want to take my hat off to them and not the american people know that that is not an easy provision to be in great having visited there, seen it firsthand. commissioner, i am deeply concerned about fbi not. i am trying to get a clear understanding of your testimony, that you say that it is an overall combination of the various protections, but i want to know who authorized, they're probably no longer there, authorize this particular contract. and by the way, my people are here and i'm not going to start for interior the people in my state. i don't want bowling or any other country taking advantage of the taxpayer dollars. if they spent all of this

senator burris. >> thank you, mr. chairman. commissioner, i would like to congratulate you and welcome you aboard. i recently had the opportunity to travel to the southwest border and get a close-up look at the work of dhs and its component agencies are doing down there. we've been fighting a tough battle in a grateful for the men and women who are working to protect our borders and i want to take my hat off to them and not the american people know that that is not an easy provision to be in great having visited there, seen it firsthand. commissioner, i am deeply concerned about fbi not. i am trying to get a clear understanding of your testimony, that you say that it is an overall combination of the various protections, but i want to know who authorized, they're probably no longer there, authorize this particular contract. and by the way, my people are here and i'm not going to start for interior the people in my state. i don't want bowling or any other country taking advantage of the taxpayer dollars. if they spent all of this

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for ten minutes, to be followed by senator burris for 5 minutes, at which point the senate would recess for party caucuses. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. sanders: the front page story of the "new york times" today points to the fact that of the enormous power of big money in terms of financial reform. and they say -- and i quote -- "with so much money at stake, it is not surprising that more than 1,500 lobbyists, executives, bankers and others have made their way to the senate committee that on wednesday will take up legislation to rein in derivatives." that's end of quote. mr. president, when congress deregulated wall street and allowed them to do pretty much anything they wanted to do, which brought us to where we are today, i.e., a massive recession, they spent over a ten-year period $5 billion. $5 billion in order to work their way on congress. last year, as we begin to address financial reform, they spent $300 million. so the issue that we are debating now is not whether congress will regulate wall street.

mr. president, on april 15, benjamin hooks died in the city where he was born 85 years ago, the city of memphis. later this afternoon, i and senator burrisand senator corker will introduce a resolution honoring the life and achievement of dr. benjamin l. hooks. that the text of that resolution be included in the record following my remarks now. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: benjamin hooks was certainly one of tennessee's most distinguished citizens and one of america's leaders in this last half century. he was a patriot, a family man, a visionary, a lawyer, a storyteller, a preacher. and for my wife and i, he and his wife francis were close and good friends. it's hard to start talking -- i -- there will be a funeral service in memphis on wednesday. i will attend it, will make remarks there, but i wanted to say just a few words about my friend, dr. hooks, on the floor of the senate today. ben hooks was born april 15, 85 years ago. he leaves his wife francis and his daughter, patricia gray and two grandsons. he was the fifth of seven children born to robert b. and bessie hooks. and right from the beginning, he wa

mr. burris: thank you, mr. president. for years at big corporations like goldman sachs wall street bankers packaged bat mortgages together and sold them to investors. they knew that these investment vehicles would inevitably fail, so they turned around and bet against them. they betted against the american people, mr. president. that's what they did when they put these packages together. they sought to make a profit off the misfortunes of their own customers. tonight we stand at the brink of a real debate on this topic. but our republican colleagues will not even agree to let us move forward. we have to debate on whether or not we're going to debate. main street suffered through the most challenging economic situations in a generation. it has been made clear tonight who the republicans stand with. they stand with wall street because, mr. president, we're debating to debate. after the breathtaking scope of the economic crisis america's only now coming to terms with how we can simply refuse to move forward. refuse to debate