TARP Reform and Accountability Act of 2009
Floor Speech
TARP Reform and Accountability Act of 2009 -- (House of Representatives - January 15, 2009)
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Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I rise in opposition to this rule, which denies Members of this House an opportunity to have their amendments openly debated and given an up-or-down vote.
The amendment which I offered, which was not made in order, would have very simply prohibited any additional budget authority for the TARP program unless at least 30 percent of the final $350 billion tranche is used to assist smaller, local community financial institutions. The 30 percent floor reflects the fact that approximately 30 percent of our Nation's deposits are held in these institutions, some 7,000 of them across the country.
Mr. Speaker, without question, these smaller institutions are suffering on the front lines of a crisis that they did not create. However, they are uniquely positioned to help provide much-needed credit access to ordinary citizens looking to buy a car or buy a home or invest in a small business.
Allow me to give an example. With every dollar in new capital a community bank can raise, it will help facilitate an additional $7 to $10 of lending in their communities. So by guaranteeing an appropriate portion of TARP authority to community institutions, we can better ensure this capital will indeed be put to good use.
Mr. Speaker, when Congress first considered the economic stabilization package last fall, the most severe threat presented to us was across-the-board credit freeze that would have stopped all financial activity in its tracks. Well, we may have avoided a catastrophe on Wall Street, but now is the time to encourage lending and capital on Main Street. And while I am pleased to see the underlying bill recognizes that community financial institutions, including those that are privately thinly held or subchapter S should have are the same level of access to the program as larger institutions, H.R. 384 does not go far enough. We must address the current crisis from a systemic perspective, and my amendment, I believe, would have fostered meaningful participation from the smaller financial institutions which, after all, Mr. Speaker, are vital to the economic recovery of our Nation, our States, our congressional districts. They are the lifeblood.
I ask my colleagues to oppose the rule.
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