Providing for Consideration of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 83, Insular Areas and Freely Associated States Energy Development;

Floor Speech

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Ms. WATERS. Madam Chair, I have come to the floor today to stop
Republican efforts to give Wall Street banks a multibillion dollar gift
this Christmas.

Under the cover of must-pass legislation, big bank lobbyists are
hoping that Congress will allow Wall Street to once again gamble with
taxpayer money by reversing a provision that prohibits banks from using
taxpayer-insured funds--bank deposits--to engage in risky derivatives
trading activity.

In fact, The New York Times reported that Citigroup, a bank that
stands to directly benefit to the tune of billions of dollars, authored
this provision. Big banks want to use their cheap funds provided by the
taxpayer backstop to undercut their competition in a ``heads I win,
tails the taxpayer loses'' scenario.

We know why Republicans want it. The spending bill also quietly
allows individuals such as the big banks to contribute millions more to
their own reelections. This provision must be stopped. Enough is
enough.

This puts taxpayers at risk. This puts consumers at risk. This
provision directly weakens a provision intended to prevent future
bailouts of Wall Street. The Obama administration said this provision
could be disruptive and harmful. Former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said
the provision takes reform in the wrong direction.

It is also strongly opposed by consumer, labor, and civil rights
groups, and former chairman Barney Frank, who puts the Frank in Dodd-
Frank, called it a frightening precedent. So I agree, and I am urging a
``no'' vote.

I just heard the gentleman say this is bipartisan and this is
bicameral. It is neither. As a matter of fact, Democrats are not going
to join in putting this bill out.

We understand that our constituents, our workers, our people out
there, our consumers know that we bailed out the big banks, and they
know that we would be putting them at risk one more time to bail them
out if we allowed them to do this risky derivatives trading.

Dodd-Frank said you need to push out your trading activities and put
them in affiliates or subsidiaries. Don't try and use the people's
backstop, FDIC protection, to do this risky trading with.

If you think the American public is going to stand for a bailout of
the biggest banks in America one more time, you are wrong. This bill is
going nowhere because we have enough people, I believe, that are going
to stand up and fight on this issue and other issues in the bill.

As the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, I am just
focusing on this one bad part of the bill because it is so outrageous.

I ask for a ``no'' vote on the rule, I ask for a ``no'' vote on the
bill.

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