House Approves Wall Street Reform Bill, Including Peters' Amendment To Ensure All Bank Bailout Money Repaid

Press Release

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved an amendment authored by Congressman Gary Peters to ensure that American taxpayers will not lose one cent from government loans to large banks and other TARP recipient institutions. Congressman Peters' amendment to comprehensive Wall Street reform legislation (which the House passed after adding Peters' amendment) would require any shortfall in the taxpayer funded Wall Street bailout to be fully repaid by assessments on large financial institutions which pose systemic risk to the economy, the entities responsible for creating the global financial crisis.

"My amendment will ensure that the Wall Street bailout does not increase the national debt one bit and does not cost taxpayers one cent," said Congressman Peters. "Instead, large financial institutions that caused the credit crisis will be required to make taxpayers whole. As large banks return to health, there is no reason why taxpayers should pay to clean up Wall Street's mess. I am very pleased the House has approved this measure."

H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, already contained a provision that would require large financial institutions with $50 billion in assets or more to pay assessments to create a systemic dissolution fund to pay to wind down troubled financial institutions whose impending failure pose systemic risk to the economy in the future. With the creation of this fund, Congress will never again be faced with the choice of using taxpayer money to prop up Wall Street firms or allowing a total economic meltdown, and taxpayers will never again be on the hook for bailing out financial institutions. Institutions would pay assessments based on their potential risk to the financial system and broader economy if they were to fail.

Congressman Peters' amendment simply states that similar assessments will be levied against the same institutions to foot the bill for any shortfall in the TARP program created last year.

"I fully support measures being taken to ensure taxpayers are never again on the hook for bailing out Wall Street. It follows that there ought to be a similar mechanism to protect taxpayers from losing any money on the recent bailout as well," Congressman Peters said. "It's just common sense."

The full Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including Peters' amendment, now heads to the Senate.

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