Rep. Ellison Statement on Fifth Anniversary of Wall Street Reform

Press Release

Rep. Keith Ellison released the following statement to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

"Five years ago, a preventable crisis was destroying American lives all over the country. The rules had been rewritten to let big banks gamble with our money. But the American people paid the price when the banks lost--they paid with their homes, their jobs, their retirements and college funds for their kids.

"When we passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act five years ago, we said no more. No more preventable crises. No more instability in our financial system.

"Our entire financial system is safer and more stable thanks to Dodd-Frank. We must continue to implement all the requirements of the law and protect it from attack."

Key accomplishments of Wall Street Reform include:

* Creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal consumer watchdog that has returned $10.1 billion to over 17 million consumers who have fallen victim of unfair and deceptive financial practices.

* Identifying and addressing risks to our financial system, through increased monitoring and stricter rules for our nation's biggest banks.

* Preventing future bailouts by requiring Wall Street firms take steps that ensure a failing financial institution never again threatens the financial stability of the U.S. These include requiring the biggest banks produce "living wills" and undergo stress tests.

* Providing new authority to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of Wall Street's top cops, which has recovered more than $9.3 billion in civil fines and penalties since 2011.

* The ability for shareholders of U.S. corporations to have a "say-on-pay," voting to approve or disapprove executive compensation.

Despite the success of Wall Street Reform and its popularity among the American people, Republicans continue to attack the law. In fact, a report set to be released this week by Financial Services Committee Democrats documents the GOP's efforts to undercut regulations by tucking repeal measures into larger legislative packages, bogging down regulators with more than 23,000 pages of document requests, and attempting to stall implementation through numerous lawsuits.

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