H.R. 10 is 318 pages long. You can knock down the barriers that separate the insurance, banking and securities industries in about 65 pages. What I found in H.R. 10 was basically a mass of compromises where often the first half of the sentence would say one thing, and the second half of the sentence would say another thing. One provision in one section would reach one conclusion, and another provision in another section would reach another conclusion. If we re going to really modernize the financial markets in America, it s important that Congress take a position and say what it wants to do.
Political compromises are wonderful things.
I have made my living as a politician for 20 years by making compromises. I understand political compromises, and they re very important. They re critically important to the functioning of our society. But it seems to me that a compromise ought to be a compromise on position where we know exactly what we re doing. I don t want to be part of an effort where two different groups read the bill and see two different things, and someday it will be decided what we ve really done.