UPDATE: On Wednesday, July 21st, 2010, President Obama signed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the most sweeping reforms of our nation's financial system since the Great Depression, into law. Click here to watch a short video explaining how the law helps you. Watch President Obama's remarks at the signing ceremony below:
People across Illinois are struggling every day to recover from the deep recession that was caused by big banks and financial institutions on Wall Street--and by mortgage lenders across the country--who took advantage of lax regulations to draw people into unaffordable mortgages and tainted investments.
The Senate is working to pass legislation to hold Wall Street accountable for the economic disaster it created and to give American consumers the strongest protection against abusive lending practices in history.
The Wall Street reform bill would create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, based on a proposal I authored, to protect consumers from the schemes the banks dream up to maximize their bottom lines.
This bureau would put a real cop on the beat to prevent Wall Street from gambling with our financial security. It would protect consumers by preventing banks and credit card companies from hiding key details in the fine print. It would empower consumers by demanding that financial institutions provide clear terms in plain English that will allow consumers to choose the credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans that are best for them.
For years, the big banks and credit card companies held all the cards, setting rules and rates that guaranteed them billions of dollars in profits while leaving consumers ever-deeper in debt. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will put consumers in control, help small businesses find the responsible credit they need to grow their businesses, and help honest financial institutions to focus on value.
I am working to help Congress stand up to the Wall Street lobbyists, make the banks and speculators pay for the cost of their mistakes so that taxpayers will never again have to bail out these institutions, and restore the middle-class values of hard work, fairness, and accountability that can allow our economy to thrive.
UPDATE: On Thursday, May 13th, 2010, the Senate approved an amendment written by Senator Durbin to help reduce the swipe fees that small businesses pay on every credit and debit card sale by a bipartisan vote of 64-33.
This bureau would put a real cop on the beat to prevent Wall Street from gambling with our financial security. It would protect consumers by preventing banks and credit card companies from hiding key details in the fine print. It would empower consumers by demanding that financial institutions provide clear terms in plain English that will allow consumers to choose the credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans that are best for them.
