Today, Congressman Al Green (TX-09) applauded the Senate passage of the Conference Report on the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (H.R.4173), which passed  by a vote of 60-39. According to Green, this bill is not only fair for the American people, but historic for the nation. For the past few months Congressman Green, who serves on the House Committee on Financial Services, has played a major role in the design of the legislation. 

          Congressman Green continued, “this legislation will change our country’s financial practices for the better because it provides much needed oversight that we did not have before.” Green also said “unfair practices combined with poor regulation enforcement drove us to the worst historic economic crisis since the Great Depression. The new rules will bring transparency and accountability.”

          The new legislation creates an independent agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to protect Americans from anti-consumer abuses and closes the door on predatory lending. It also includes provisions to conduct oversight over the Federal Reserve, establishes new and strict rules for risky financial practices and enhances oversight for credit rating agencies.

         “With this legislation, we will begin to address the issue of taxpayer bailouts of ‘too-big-to-fail’ firms and take additional steps to restore the foundation of our nation’s financial network,” indicated the Congressman. 

          The new rules develop a new process to dissolve failing large financial institutions in a way that does not affect the whole national economy and, with this resolution authority, federal regulators can more effectively shut down any failing institutions that pose a risk to the financial system.

          “I am confident that instituting stronger consumer protections, improving market transparency, and rewarding responsible investing will lead to confidence in our financial sector, and growth in our economy, which will increase investment and entrepreneurship and, therefore, create more jobs,” concluded Congressman Al Green.

          The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that H.R. 4173 will reduce the deficit by $3.2 billion over 10 years.