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Deregulating Wall Street Will Make America Crater, Not Greater

May 22, 2018

Deregulating Wall Street Will Make America Crater, Not Greater

Statement of Bartlett Naylor, Financial Policy Advocate, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

Note: The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote today on S. 2155, dubbed the “Bank Lobbyist Act,” which reverses many reforms in the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The notion that persuadable voters in competitive districts are clamoring for yet another big bank handout is as laughable as it is false. Just the opposite – voters will see this vote for exactly what it is: a giveaway to Wall Street at the expense of Main Street and another painful defeat for the public in the war on regulation.

Lawmakers should reject S. 2155, which rolls back vital consumer protections and systemic safeguards to curb the banking industry’s recklessness and greed. The bill reduces oversight of some of the largest banks, empowers midsized banks to gamble with taxpayer-backed deposits and exposes borrowers to discriminatory lending.

After bailing out the financial industry, failing to jail any senior bank executive for criminal misconduct and passing a corporate tax cut that showers more wealth on banks than any other sector, removing key guardrails on Wall Street won’t make America greater again – it will make America crater again.

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