Rep Maffei Hails Senate Passage of Wall Street Reform Bill

Press Release

Rep. Maffei hailed the Senate passage today of legislation to rein in Wall Street, end taxpayer bailouts of big banks, and create a consumer financial protection bureau that finally puts consumers first. The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will end the era of abuses by "too big to fail" banks that have cost the American people 8 million jobs and $17 trillion in retirement savings and net worth. The legislation will now go to the President to be signed into law.

Maffei said: "Working families in New York and across the country have lost their homes, their jobs, and their retirement savings as a result of Wall Street's recklessness and greed. For too long, the people who were supposed to be enforcing the rules just looked the other way as Big Banks made a buck at the expense of average Americans. This bill is a major step in the right direction."

On the same day the Senate passed this landmark legislation to protect working Americans, the Republican leader in the House said he believes the legislation should be repealed. Republicans are once again standing with Wall Street executives and the Big Banks who brought our economy to the brink of collapse over the American people.

The bill has been called the "strongest set of Wall Street reforms in three generations" by Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the nonpartisan Congressional Oversight Panel. The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will help prevent the risky financial practices that led to the financial meltdown and stop large financial firms from gambling with Americans' retirement and college savings and home values. Taxpayers will no longer pay the price for Wall Street's irresponsibility. The bill creates a process to shut down large, failing firms whose collapse would put the entire economy at risk. It also creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new consumer watchdog devoted to protecting Americans from unfair and abusive financial practices.

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has been endorsed by the AARP, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Council of Institutional Investors, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Restaurant Association, Public Citizen, SEIU, and US PIRG, among other organizations.

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