June 6, 2017,Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) and Congressman Walter Jones (NC-03) testified to the House Rules Committee on their bipartisan amendment to H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act. The Kaptur-Jones amendment would have removed the bill’s current language, which takes America backward on Wall Street reform, and replaced it with the Return to Prudent Banking Act, a bill led by Kaptur, which reinstates critical Glass-Steagall protections.
Watch their testimony to the Rules Committee here. The Committee voted down the Kaptur-Jones amendment.
“Though we are disappointed our efforts fell short today, the American people should know that there is a bipartisan consensus in Congress fighting to rein in Wall Street,” said Congresswoman Kaptur. “Wall Street profits continue to rise at the expense of the American people, yet the Financial CHOICE Act takes us backward on protecting consumers. Despite this setback, we will keep working to make sure our banking system works for Main Street, not millionaire investors.”
“Today might not have been our day, but Congresswoman Kaptur and I remain resolute in our fight to protect American taxpayers and depositors from risky Wall Street decisions,” said Congressman Jones. “I have full faith that with bipartisan support, we can reinstate Glass-Steagall protections for the good of the American people.”
Background:
The Return to Prudent Banking Act restores the separation of commercial and investment banking. As such, it goes far to restore stability to Wall Street and reduce the size of the mega-banks that the 2008 banking crisis and taxpayer bailout proved to be “too big to fail.” The justification for this policy is straightforward. When Congress created the FDIC in 1933, it provided abundant credit for banks from depositors and rationally restricted FDIC-insured banks from risky activities, including investment banking. Over the years, the banking industry persuaded regulators and then Congress to eliminate this separation with the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act. Less than a decade later, reckless Wall Street activity led to the crash from which the nation still struggles to recover.
Kaptur and Jones have long been proponents of restoring Glass-Steagall protections to the banking system. The Return to Prudent Banking Act was reintroduced in February of this year and has the bipartisan support of 50 cosponsors. Support for the restoration of Glass-Steagall protections was also in the adopted platforms of the Democratic and Republican Parties at last year’s National Conventions.
Learn more about the bill’s history and introduction here.
Tags: Glass-Steagall, Marcy Kaptur