Wall Street Reform Passes! On to Round II...

July 15, 2010 - Today, the Senate followed the House and passed comprehensive Financial Reform.

It’s a major win for Main Street over Wall Street - congratulations to the Alliance to Develop Power in Massachusetts for pushing Scott Brown (R-MA) do the right thing and vote for the bill.

Round II begins now. And, in this round Big Banks must fix the mess they created and do their fair share to repair our nation. Institutions such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo have a legal responsibility to invest in America’s neighborhoods and fix the mess they caused.

This Legislation will put a cop on the beat that puts consumers’ interests first and outlaw some of the worst types of predatory lending. It will make derivatives trading face the light of day and public scrutiny by requiring that they be traded out in the open. It ends taxpayer bailouts of the banks by giving the regulators a way to take over and wind down failing banks.

But this legislation won't make sure the big banks fix the problems that continue to pose tough challenges for tens of millions of Americans everyday. This legislation does many things to prevent a future crisis, but it does not make banks responsible for cleaning up the mess they created, and it doesn’t break up the big banks or outlaw payday lending. This financial reform is round one, but we still have a fight on our hands.

Banks must invest in our communities and get America moving forward again.

One way we’re going to hold banks accountable is by ensuring that banks meet their legal responsibility to invest in our communities. National People's Action demanded that the bank regulators (i.e. the bank cops) start the process and they have, but they need to hear from us on how to make sure banks do the job. They need to invest in small businesses to get jobs back in the community; clean up neighborhoods littered with foreclosed and abandoned buildings and they need to listen to us and invest in community-led economic development projects.

The banks will try to fight back and try to get out of their responsibilities. Let's make sure they can’t and that the regulators hear from us about what they need to do. Attend a hearing on community reinvestment and write a comment letter to the regulators telling them to hold banks accountable.

Congratulations on winning Round One and get ready: It’s time to Win Round Two!