Byron Dorgan Slams Fellow Dems On FinReg Reform (VIDEO)

Yesterday, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) took to the well of the Senate to introduce his amendment banning naked credit-default swaps.

Along the way, he took the opportunity to rain fire on his Democratic colleagues for pussyfooting around with the financial reform bill. Citing the failure to do something constructive to limit the impact of "too big to fail" institutions, Dorgan warned his colleagues that if "we leave this chamber... and claim to have fixed it and have not done it, then shame on us."

WATCH:

DORGAN: And if we don't, in this piece of legislation, fix it...put a cork in it...if we don't fix it, and we leave this chamber and this Congress and claim to have fixed it and have not done it, then shame on us. We have a responsibility here. And let me tell you what I think the responsibility is. It relates to a range of things that are not yet done. It relates to the issue of dealing with "too big to fail." I know we had one vote, and we failed, unfortunately. There are other ways to do this. But if we have institutions that are "too big to fail," that are so large that they cause moral hazard to this country should they fail, so large that they cause completely unacceptable risks of bringing the country's economy down should they fail. If we don't do something about that, then we cannot claim ever that we have done something about this system.

Dorgan is retiring from the Senate at the end of his current term, and this is one of those moments where you have to imagine it will be a significant loss for that body.

RELATED:
Dorgan Criticizes Dems' Financial Reform Bill: 'Shame On Us' (VIDEO) [TPMDC]

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