Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) voted with a bipartisan majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday evening to pass landmark legislation that includes robust consumer and investor protections and ensures that taxpayers will never again have to foot the bills for risky deals on Wall Street.

“This legislation puts consumers first by creating a new consumer watchdog agency devoted to protecting Americans from unfair and abusive financial practices,” Connolly said.  “By reining in the excesses of Wall Street, giving consumers the information they need to make informed decisions, and ending taxpayer bailouts of big banks, this bill ends the era of abuses by ‘too big to fail’ banks that robbed many Northern Virginians of their jobs and reduced the value of their homes, their retirement savings and their investments.”   

The independent bureau created by the legislation – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- will provide consumers and small businesses with clear and accurate information to ensure that bank loans, credit cards, and mortgages are fair and affordable.  It also outlaws deceptive mortgage and credit card practices such as hidden fees and misleading fine print, and brings greater accountability to credit rating agencies, Connolly said.

The legislation, known as the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, makes sure that taxpayers no longer have to pay the price for Wall Street’s irresponsibility and creates a process to shut down large, failing financial firms whose collapse would put the entire economy at risk.  Costs associated with closing failing financial companies will be paid for out of the company’s assets until they are exhausted.  Additional costs will come from a fund derived from contributions by large financial firms.

“By passing this legislation, we are helping to ensure that our financial system can never again take actions that caused the type of damage it did to our nation’s economy in 2008,” Connolly said.

“This bill protects consumers from fraud and provides financial security for Virginians and all Americans,” Connolly said.  “It also recognizes that we must have a strong financial system to spur economic growth, jobs, and American ingenuity and entrepreneurship.”

The bill passed by the House does not increase the deficit.  In fact, it will reduce the deficit by $600 million.

The legislation was supported by a broad coalition of organizations including AARP, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, the National Restaurant Association, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Council of Institutional Investors, and the North American Securities Administrators Association.