Murkowski Comments on Financial Regulatory Reform Votes
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today released the following statement after the Senate for a second time this week rejected a move to take up the Democrats' financial regulatory reform bill. All Republican senators, along with Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against a parliamentary motion to debate the bill.
"I strongly support bipartisan financial regulatory reform legislation, and my two votes this week against moving to floor consideration of the bill were designed to encourage negotiators to keep working on a solution that will do the job. It is critical to get this right, and not ram through a bad bill simply for the sake of passing something.
"Over the last recess I spent a good deal of time meeting with and listening to stakeholders in Alaska's financial services community. What I heard time and again - from our credit unions, our community bankers, our housing finance agency, and even our car dealers - is that this bill has far reaching impacts that go way beyond Wall Street. This bill affects the extension of credit in the United States, meaning it will affect every American who takes out a home or car loan and every small business looking for financing or start-up capital.
"Everyone agrees that we must rein in Wall Street. But there is deep concern among our small financial institutions that this legislation overreaches. I want to ensure that we do not pass legislation that will make it harder for Alaskans to access credit and capital needed to create jobs. We're close but the Democrats' bill still needs work. I believe, however, that we can get there if both sides continue the negotiations. This issue is too important to allow politics or partisanship to get in the way."
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