January 16, 2018

Brown Stands Up for Working Families During Consideration of Bill to Roll Back Wall Street Reform Law

BROWN stands up for working families during Consideration of bill to roll back WALL STREET REFROM LAW

Ranking Member Voted for over 30 Amendments to Improve S.2155 for Taxpayers, Homeowners, Consumers in Banking Committee Markup

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – supported over 30 amendments today during the Committee’s consideration of S. 2155, the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.” Brown supported amendments to address concerns that the bill as written does nearly nothing for consumers, while putting taxpayers at risk of another bank bailout and scaling back protections for homeowners. With the exception of one amendment by the bill’s author, no amendments to improve the bill to support consumers were adopted.

 “We missed an opportunity to provide real relief to Americans burdened with student loan debt, homeowners stuck in underwater mortgages or workers who haven't had a raise in years,” Brown said. “Regional and community banks and credit unions provide critical services to customers, homeowners and small businesses, and I support many of the efforts to help those institutions. But I do not support efforts to roll back accountability measures on the largest banks with nothing to help hardworking Americans who have the most to lose.”

Brown offered several amendments including provisions to:

  • provide relief from student debt for borrowers in distress,
  • restore protections for homebuyers from bad mortgage practices,
  • protect taxpayers from another bailout by ensuring stress tests are only relaxed for smaller banks,
  • restore oversight of large foreign banks that operate in the U.S., and
  • promote economic growth by prohibiting large banks that benefit from the bill from raising CEO pay or buying back stock.

In addition, Brown supported amendments offered by several other Senators to provide support for seniors, servicemembers, and victims of Wells Fargo and Equifax.

Senator Brown opposed S.2155 because it puts taxpayers at risk of another bank bailout and puts homeowners at risk of the same traps that led to the foreclosure crisis, all while doing virtually nothing for hardworking Americans.

Today’s Banking Committee’s Markup of S. 2155 can be viewed here.

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