Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator for Colorado, today joined members of the Senate Banking Committee in a push to enact comprehensive financial regulation reform that creates new, common-sense rules of the road for Wall Street, protects consumers, and helps to strengthen our economy.

At an event to unveil the discussion draft for financial regulation reform, Bennet highlighted the difficulty that the financial collapse has had on the lives of Colorado families and small businesses, and underscored the fact that taxpayers should not be responsible for saving institutions that are "too big to fail."

"We are in the worst recession since the Great Depression," said Bennet. "If you are trying to send your kid to college or to hold onto a small business, this is a life-changing period.

"And to add insult to injury, we, the American taxpayer, find ourselves in the ridiculous position of having to bail out Wall Street banks that are ‘too big to fail' - all this after a decade in which wages declined, costs skyrocketed and opportunities for our kids were diminished."

"We need to enact comprehensive financial regulation reform, and the discussion draft unveiled today represents a strong start. We still have a lot of work to do to get this right, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to produce a bill that reins in Wall Street and strengthens our economy."