House Passes Financial Reform Legislation

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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By Jen Chung in News on December 11, 2009 4:10 PM

Comments [rss]

handsomedevil

Of course you can't leave comments on the "thanks to our advertisers" item, so I'm reduced to leaving this facetious reaction here on this wholly serious and important story.

HOLY SHIT THE BLACK EYED PEAS

JacqueMehoff

I'll just say it's about time.

not that I know anything bout this bill.

I do know the credit card companies are raising rates and min payments and other sorts of games they're playing.

me thinks they're doing this because of obama and the new regs that will be coming.

chuzzlewit

could someone please lecture us on this?

PKMKII

Oh great, another regulatory agency that has all the power of a wet noodle to actually enforce anything on Wall Street.

Kojak

Well the bill will go far regulating many of the products being used today, but Wall Street has an uncanny way of finding new ways to make money and tends to be one step ahead of gov't regulation. The key is for the gov't to keep up with the Street.