Congressman Rick Larsen's Online Office

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) voted to send Wall Street Reform to the President’s desk to be signed into law. The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 237 to 192 and now awaits action by the U.S. Senate.

“Today, I voted to protect hardworking families and small businesses on Main Street by creating common sense regulations for Wall Street.

“For too long, federal regulators were asleep at the switch as bigger banks on Wall Street played games with our economic security. As a result, our country faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Today, I voted to send comprehensive Wall Street Reform to the President’s desk to be signed into law so that we can prevent another financial crisis from happening again.

“Nearly 100,000 people in Northwest Washington lost their homes or retirement savings, through no fault of their own, because bigger banks on Wall Street played with their futures by selling risky financial products. Small businesses in our community have been forced to shut their doors because big banks put big profits and big bonuses ahead of your financial security.

“This Wall Street Reform bill restores financial security for families and small businesses on Main Street by imposing strong oversight of Wall Street. No longer will taxpayers be held responsible for irresponsible actions of a few.

This Wall Street Reform legislation includes provisions that will:

Protect Consumers and Small Businesses on Main Street

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  Wall Street Reform protects consumers from financial industry abuse.  A new independent watchdog group has the authority to stop deceptive terms and hidden fees in bank loans, mortgages, and credit card contracts.  It sets up a national complaint hotline so consumers can report abusive practices.

• Mortgage Reform
  Wall Street Reform ends deceptive lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis.  It ensures that mortgages are available only to those who can afford them.  Families facing unemployment due to the economic collapse receive additional mortgage help.
  

• Interchange Fees
  This bill requires fees charged to small businesses by credit card companies for debit card transactions to be proportional to the cost of processing these transactions.  Some small businesses claim these fees are currently too high.  

Create Common-Sense Regulations for Wall Street

• Ends the Era of Too Big to Fail
  Wall Street Reform ends the Era of Big Bank Bailouts.  In the future, if a hedge fund, trading firm, or investment bank wants to drive off a cliff, the American people are no longer trapped in passenger seat.  The bill ensures taxpayers will never again be footing the bill for the reckless behavior of big banks on Wall Street.  It puts new rules in place for the liquidation of failing firms that require the financial industry, not the taxpayers, to pay for their mistakes.
  

• Executive Compensation
  Consumers suffered as Wall Street executives put the interests of big profits and big bonuses ahead of working families.  This bill gives shareholders a vote on executive pay and golden parachutes and prevents the practice of using deceptive financial statements to reap big bonuses in the short term.
  

• Derivatives
  Wall Street Reform places tough new rules on the riskiest financial practices that caused the financial crash, like the credit default swaps that devastated AIG.  High-risk financial products like derivatives must be traded in a regulated market with appropriate controls so that irresponsible practices and excessive risk-taking no longer escape regulatory oversight.
  

• Volcker Rule
  Wall Street Reform prevents the financial industry from playing games with consumers’ money and jeopardizing their retirement with high-risk financial products.  This legislation includes the “Volcker Rule” to prevent banks from using consumers’ deposits on high-risk, speculative behavior that is not in their best interests.
  

• Long term risk
  Wall Street Reform establishes a Financial Stability Oversight Council to identify future risks in our financial system and address them before they threaten our economic stability.  
  

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