Last night the Senate passed their version of the financial reform bill, bringing the U.S. to the brink of passing the biggest overhaul of financial regulations since the Great Depression. The New York Times says:
The bill seeks to curb abusive lending, particularly in the mortgage industry, and to ensure that troubled companies, no matter how big or complex, can be liquidated at no cost to taxpayers. And it would create a “financial stability oversight council” to coordinate efforts to identify risks to the financial system. It would also establish new rules on the trading of derivatives and require hedge funds and most other private equity companies to register for regulation with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although this bill is far from perfect, it is a big move in the right direction, and it would not have happened without people like you taking action. Wall Street has fought this bill every step of the way, spending $1.4 million a day on lobbying. It was your voices: in the streets, on the phone, and in the mailboxes of your Senators that made it impossible for the banks to kill this legislation.
The bill now goes to conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills, where big banks will no doubt try to weaken the bill behind closed doors. We will continue to keep you posted on what you can do to make sure that the final bill is as strong as possible and to build for even better legislation down the road.
