Kudos to all in the House who worked so hard on this measure. It marks an important milestone in the real recovery of America… and it’s very nice to see Chairman Frank smiling…
~~~”The U.S. House voted to tighten rules for derivatives and create powers to break apart healthy financial firms that threaten the economy in legislation passed today over objections of Wall Street and Republicans.
Lawmakers voted 223-202 to set up a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, expand oversight of hedge funds and build a $150 billion industry fund the government would use to take apart failed systemically risky firms. The House failed to add language letting bankruptcy judges reset mortgage terms, known as a “cram-down.” The focus now shifts to the Senate, where lawmakers lack a schedule for action on a bill.
“We are sending a clear message to Wall Street: The party is over,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference after the vote.
The measure is central to lawmakers’ effort to end rescues of firms deemed too big to fail, which led to bailouts of New York-based American International Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. The banking industry and the nation’s biggest business lobby fought to scale back the legislation. Republicans called the bill a permanent government bailout and 27 Democrats joined to vote against the measure.
“The free market, particularly when it’s in an innovative phase, works best with a fairly defined set of rules, and that’s what we’ve done,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who offered the legislation, said today at the news conference.
Obama Priorities
The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act adopts priorities President Barack Obama outlined in June for strengthening financial rules. The bill lets regulators unwind failed systemically important firms, sets up a council to monitor for systemic risk and creates a industry-backed fund for dissolving large failed firms.
The measure removes a three-decade ban on congressional audits of Federal Reserve interest-rate decisions, an amendment offered by Representative Ron Paul, a Republican from Texas who is urging abolition of the central bank.