Waiving Requirement of Clause 6(a) of Rule XIII with Respect to Consideration of Certain Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. I thank Congressman McGovern from the Rules Committee for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of reforming Wall Street and this rule. Under this new Wall Street reform, consumers and middle class families win, and the big banks on Wall Street lose. The Wall Street reform bill is the toughest regulation of Wall Street in generations. And it comes after years of recklessness that led to the financial meltdown and the worst recession in our life times. That economy was built on a house of cards.

Wall Street reform will provide a new foundation for our economy to go, one that inspires confidence and will spur new jobs. Under the new law, consumers and middle class families will benefit from a new consumer financial protection agency, a new independent watchdog that will be on the side of American families and consumers, because there always seems to be hidden charges and fees when you are applying for a credit card or a mortgage or some transaction. The new consumer agency will root out the deceptive practices. Its mission will be to protect homeowners and small businesses rather than the big banks on Wall Street.

We will have new cops on the beat on Wall Street, new enforcement, transparency, and oversight. The reform measure rightfully outlaws future bank bailouts by taxpayers. I voted against the Wall Street bailout, known as TARP, because it focused entirely on Wall Street rather than middle class families, and it did not include safeguards on executive pay, bonuses, and transparency.

The Wall Street reform bill that we will pass today now levels the playing field despite the opposition from the big banks and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. The reform bill is also designed to protect consumers from predatory lending.

I strongly agree with the new requirements for mortgage lenders that they must ensure that a person has an ability to repay a loan rather than what happened in the subprime market, where they peddled the loans, flipped them, and then pocketed the cash and left us all with the mess.

So thank you, Chairman Frank, and all of my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee. This is a great day in Washington and all across America because consumers and middle class families win.

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