Some quotes from Tuesday's Senate Banking Committee hearing on the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to bail out the financial industry.

"The market turmoil we are experiencing today poses great risk to U.S. taxpayers. When the financial system doesn't work as it should, Americans' personal savings and the abilities of consumers and businesses to finance spending, investment and job creation are threatened." Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

"Despite the efforts of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and other agencies, global financial markets remain under extraordinary stress. Action by the Congress is urgently required to stabilize the situation and avert what otherwise could be very serious consequences for our financial markets and for our economy." Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

"As you know, the U.S. economy continues to confront substantial challenges, including a weakening labor market and elevated inflation. Notably, stresses in financial markets have been high and have recently intensified significantly. If financial conditions fail to improve for a protracted period, the implications for the broader economy could be quite adverse." Bernanke.

"This proposal is stunning and unprecedented in its scope and lack of detail, I might add. It would allow the secretary of the Treasury to intervene in our economy by purchasing at least $700 billion of toxic assets. It would allow the secretary to hold onto those assets for years and to pay millions of dollars to hand-picked firms to manage those assets. It would do nothing, in my view, to help a single family save a home, at least not up front." Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

"If the government is going to get into the bailout business, shouldn't we also be focusing our resources on average Americans, the taxpayers, rather than sophisticated and well-compensated Wall Street bankers? The Treasury's plan has little for those outside of the financial industry. It is aimed at rescuing the same financial institutions that created this crisis with the sloppy underwriting and reckless disregard for the risk they were creating, taking or passing on to others." Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

"The essence of the proposition that the administration is presenting to us today is that the taxpayers will assume the risk of disastrous investment decisions made by very highly compensated individuals and institutions on Wall Street. I think the custom on Wall Street is when you assume the risk, it's because you get paid to do that. I believe it's essential that the taxpayers of this country are compensated for their assistance." Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

"In the past six months, our federal government has devised a dozen strategies to save America's financial markets. Each plan has been more costly, more risky, and less aligned with the principles of our country's free market economy than the last. I am disappointed to say that this latest plan puts all the rest of them to shame." Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.

"Pension funds, money market mutual funds, 401-K plans will be negatively impacted. The lockdown in lending has widespread consequences. I've heard from car companies that it's virtually impossible to get an auto loan right now unless you have a credit score over 720. And if that continues, the auto industry will sell six million fewer cars this year than it did in years past." Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

"The Paulson proposal is an attempt to do what we so often do in Washington, D.C., throw money at a problem. We cannot make bad mortgages go away. We cannot make the losses that our financial institutions are facing go away. Someone must take those losses. We can either let the people who made the bad decisions bear the consequences of their actions, or we can spread that pain to others." Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky.

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