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House Passes Financial Reform Legislation
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2009
Modified Dec 11, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2009
Modified Dec 11, 2009
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Today, the House of Representatives "approved the most sweeping overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system since the Great Depression," according to the Washington Post. The NY Times reports the vote, which was 223-202, created the Consumer Financial Protection Agency which would oversee lending, "establishes new rules for transactions that contributed to the meltdown, and seeks to reduce the threat that one or two huge companies on the verge of collapse could bring down the economy."
Nearly all Republican Congressional members opposed the bill, saying it would restrict credit and hurt businesses, and said that there was no mechanism to dissolve too-big-too fail firms. Representative Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama) said, "If bankruptcy is good enough for American citizens, if it is good enough for small businesses, if it is good enough for 99.9 percent of American corporations, it ought to be good for the largest, ‘too-big-to-fail’ institutions." Democrats rejected the Republicans' proposal to have judges reset mortgage terms.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "We are sending a clear message to Wall Street: The party is over." And Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said, "Passage of this bill moves us an important step closer to meeting the president’s objectives for reform. Comprehensive reform must establish clear rules of the road with strong enforcement for our nation’s financial institutions and markets." The bill is headed to the Senate; it's unclear what the prospects are there, because the Senate has its own plan (of course).
You can read the bill here and see the roll call of the vote here.
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financial reform
house of representatives
reform
too big to fail
wall street
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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