U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
December xx, 2009
Re: Support Rep. Inslee’s Systemic Risk and Stabilization Amendment
Dear Member,
As members of Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of more than 200 consumer, employee, investor, community, business and civil rights groups, we write you today to convey the coalition’s strong support for the amendment to H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, offered by Representative Jay Inslee.
The Inslee amendment improves H.R. 4173 in some vitally important respects by strengthening its provisions relating to prevention of future financial crises. The Amendment:
- directs the Federal Reserve to require systemically dangerous financial institutions to sell assets or off-balance sheet items, terminate activities or to impose conditions on activities undertaken by these financial institutions;
- permits the Financial Services Oversight Council (FSOC) to take preventative action to prevent financial instability;
- removes the onerous requirement of a showing by the FSOC that a financial company “poses a grave threat to the financial stability or economy of the United States” to take ‘mitigatory actions’; and
- removes obstructive requirement that the FSOC consider international competitiveness in deciding whether to require mitigatory actions.
These are changes that directly address some of the most grievous structural shortcomings of our current financial regulatory framework, and increase its flexibility and responsiveness to an impending crisis.
The important measures allowing regulators to reduce risk at systemically dangerous institutions contained in the Inslee Amendment will help restore Americans confidence in our financial system, and make it more likely that problems of excessive risk and irresponsibility are dealt with BEFORE it is too late.
We strongly urge all members of the House to support the Amendment
Sincerely,