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Sen. Reed and other Members of Congress watch as the President signs Wall Street Reform into law.
Dear Susan,
This morning President Obama signed into law the most significant financial regulation legislation since the 1930s. The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will hold Wall Street accountable while better protecting Americans’ retirement plans and other investments.
This law strengthens regulation over credit cards, mortgages, and other financial products that affect every American. Consumers shouldn't be exposed to unsafe food or drugs, and they shouldn't be exposed to unsound and risky financial products either.
It includes a tough, new consumer watchdog that can keep up with new scams and predatory products on a real-time basis to prevent American families from being treated unfairly.
And, most importantly, the law eliminates the taxpayer-funded TARP bailout created under President Bush.
As the Chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment Subcommittee, I have been working on this law for over a year, and I am pleased that it includes a number of key provisions I wrote. Indeed, these reforms will:
- Create a new Office of Financial Research that will help provide early warning to regulators about financial problems, and allow regulators to act on that information and keep pace with new financial products being created on Wall Street.
- Strengthen consumer protections by creating a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which includes an Office of Service Member Affairs that will monitor and respond to complaints from military families.
- Close dangerous loopholes and gaps in financial oversight by requiring advisers to hedge funds and private equity funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- Hold credit rating agencies accountable by empowering the Securities and Exchange Commission and improving accountability and accuracy within the credit rating industry through a strong new liability provision that allows investors to take action when a rating agency knowingly or recklessly fails to review key information in developing a rating.
- Protect investors by strengthening the SEC’s ability to bring enforcement actions, addressing issues revealed by the Madoff fraud, and modernizing the SEC’s ability to obtain critical information.
- Create a national foreclosure database to give regulators an important tool to monitor and anticipate issues stemming from foreclosures and defaults in our housing markets and better pinpoint assistance to struggling homeowners.
To read my floor statement on final passage of the Wall Street Reform legislation, please click here. You may also wish to visit my website on Wall Street Reform. Finally, the Senate Banking Committee has published an in-depth summary of the law.
Please be assured that I will continue my work of behalf of all Rhode Islanders by supporting initiatives that create jobs, increase access to credit for small businesses, and address the needs of middle class families in such areas as housing, education, and energy.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Jack Reed
United States Senator | 
