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Klobuchar Amendment Included in Wall Street Reform Conference Bill

Amendment protects the interests of Main Street by supporting community banks

June 25, 2010

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced today that her amendment to the Wall Street reform bill maintaining the Regional Federal Reserve’s supervisory role over community banks was included in the final bill passed by a House-Senate conference committee early Friday. The bill – which seeks to restrain the reckless, irresponsible practices of Wall Street that led to the economic collapse of 2007 – now moves to the House and Senate for a final vote in both chambers.

“The reckless gambling on Wall Street cost millions of Americans their jobs, homes, and nest eggs,” Klobuchar said. “Trillions of dollars in wealth were gambled away because of a financial system that lacked the necessary safeguards to protect Main Street. This bill establishes safeguards to protect our economy and will help bring accountability back to our financial system.”

The Senate passed its version of the Wall Street reform bill last month by a vote of 59 to 39. The Klobuchar amendment, which she introduced with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), passed the Senate by a vote of 90 to 9 last month. Without the amendment, Minnesota’s Federal Reserve would have gone from supervising 600 banks to supervising one.

“The regional Federal Reserve bank system is a two-way street giving a voice to our community banks,” Klobuchar said. “This amendment ensures the institution overseeing our nation’s monetary policy is connected to Main Street.”

Also included in the Wall Street reform conference report were provisions from an amendment that Klobuchar and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) successfully included in the Senate bill protecting consumers from predatory lending practices. The final bill will ban mortgage lenders and loan originators from accepting payments based on the interest rate or other terms of the loans.  In addition, it will require lenders to document income and other underwriting standards to ensure that borrowers can repay their loans – effectively ending the deceptive practice of “liar loans.”

Both the House and Senate are expected to take up the conference report next week.

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