100 Days

by: Congressman Frank Pallone

Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 03:48:01 PM EDT

Cross Posted on Daily Kos

It's been a busy 100 days for us in Congress.  From reining in Wall Street excesses with comprehensive financial regulation reform to protecting and creating American jobs, we are working hard to fulfill the mandate given to President Obama and Congressional Democrats back in November of 2008. But the next 100 days promise to be even busier.

In Congress, we have been fighting back against the constant obstructions of the Republican minority.  Instead of coming to the table with new ideas to get the American people to work, the GOP is still more interested in scoring cheap political points.  Whether it's arguing for repeal of health care reform that will help protect America's families, apologizing to BP for Democrats' efforts to hold them accountable for their actions in the Gulf, or denying a crucial extension of unemployment benefits for nearly three million American workers, it's clear that Republicans are more interested in fighting for corporate interests than the interests of the American people.  

Despite this obstructionism, we have made some important progress.  The most obvious example is the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  The White House blog conveniently lays out ten parts of the financial regulation package you may not be aware of, such as prohibiting mortgage brokers from selling unaffordable mortgages simply to make higher commissions, providing consumers with free credit reports, and putting an end to the "too big to fail" mentality by preventing financial institutions from growing to such a point that their collapse would trigger much wider economic collapse.  

The financial regulation reform package will prevent the excesses of Wall Street and big banks that led to the financial meltdown in 2008 and protect consumers from confusing and deceitful financial service products.  We established an independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a mission of protecting common people from excessive interest rate hikes, misleading financial products, and the leveraged risk of packaged securities that resulted in the loss of people's savings.  

Making Wall Street Take Their Medicine

by: Congressman Frank Pallone

Wed May 19, 2010 at 11:17:37 AM EDT

Last fall, I fought for the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a reform package that will protect consumers from the financial fallout of the selfish actions of  bankers and prevent taxpayers from ever having to foot the bill for another bailout when risky investments go south. It will force the banks to pay back all bailout money they received and then go further, to tighten the reigns on Wall Street's worst practices.

In my book, "too big to fail" means too big - period. No one bank - or small group of financial firms - should have the power to collapse our nation's economy in the blind pursuit of profit. At the end of the day, all the reforms in the world cannot stop all irresponsible behavior and unreasonable risk-taking. But we can ensure that the impact of such bad decision-making is limited by ending the "too big to fail" financial firms. This will both protect the financial well-being of our families, students and retirees as well as businesses small and large. Perhaps more importantly, it will end the need for big bank bailouts that punish taxpayers for Wall Street's risky decisions.

Moving forward, the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) will protect consumers from some of Wall Street's worst abuses. For too long, banks have been allowed to engage in marketing gimmickry and predatory lending practices, aimed right at those who can afford it the least - families and small businesses. The CFPA will enforce transparency and fairness in lending, ensuring that credit cards, mortgages and personal loans are understandable, affordable and free of devious fine print.