Labor & Employment Law

Main Street Wins: Senate OKs Wall Street Reform, Obama to Sign

By Mike Hall

In a ?historic shift of power? from Wall Street to Main Street, the Senate this afternoon approved sweeping Wall Street reform legislation and sent it to President Obama for his signature.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, says the bill, which will rein-in some of most reckless Wall Street/Big Bank practices that shoved the nation?s economy over the cliff,

represents a historic shift of power?away from big bankers and CEOs to working families and Main Street.  For years, Big Banks have profited on the backs of working families. Millions of working families lost their jobs and still can?t find work because of the reckless and selfish actions of Wall Street and the big banks.

The 60-39 vote caps a nearly year-long fight that pitted an army of Wall Street lobbyists against a grassroots movement of financial reform activists from union, consumer and community groups. At one time the financial industry was spending an estimated $1.4 million a day to derail Wall Street reform.

Just this April, more than 15,000 people marched on Wall Street and in May, thousands more marched on K Street in Washington, D.C., demanding Wall Street reform. We also generated tens of thousands of e-mails and phone calls and rallied outside banks and Wall Street financial institutions. Such mobilization helped ensure that many of the Wall Street reforms working families advocated are in the final product

The bill includes new rules on how banks handle derivatives. Derivatives are the complex and risky financial products developed by Wall Street and Big Banks that were at the heart of the financial collapse. The bill regulates banks? hedge fund operations and gives shareholders more of a say on corporate governance.

It also creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to rein in subprime mortgages, payday lending and abusive credit practices. The bill protects taxpayers from footing the bill for failing financial institutions by giving government regulators the authority to liquidate the companies by breaking them apart, selling assets and forcing creditors and shareholders to take losses?not the taxpayers

Senate and House Republicans have stood nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with Wall Street and the Big Banks in opposing reform. Just three House Republicans voted for the bill?s final version last month. Today, Maine?s two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and, Susan Collins, and Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) voted for it. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) voted against the bill, saying he wanted to see even tougher measures. Says Trumka:

After the financial meltdown brought on by Wall Street?s greed and irresponsibility, it would have been an outrage for the status quo to stand.  Yet all but three Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted against reforming our bloated and unaccountable financial sector.

This vote will make it a lot harder for big bankers to indulge their greed at the expense of working people.

Trumka also says the bill is not the final chapter in reform and that rules addressing ?too big to fail? financial institutions and legislation to make Wall Street pay its fair share to create the 8 million jobs it helped destroy are still needed.

He also called the vote ?a defining line in the sand? for voters in November.

Working families will be dedicated to supporting leaders who vote to create jobs and hold Wall Street and Big Business accountable. Voters now have a clear picture of those who stand on the side of Main Street and those who choose instead to stand on the side of Wall Street.  We will not forget.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 15, 2010 (boomark / email).