For Immediate Release

July 19, 2010

Wall Street Reform Bill Still Garnering Mass Applause

While Opponents Continue to be Disparaged for Their Motives

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial: Wall Street reform: Congress makes the proper response to crisis, July 19: “The nation’s gravest financial crisis since the Depression demanded a government response that was just as wide-ranging. The financial overhaul bill proposed by the Obama administration and finally approved by the Senate on Thursday provided such a response. Advocates argue credibly that the bill would reform Wall Street, protect consumers and make another crisis less likely. Rather than enshrine future taxpayer bailouts of faltering banks, as its critics charge it would do, the measure would discourage such bailouts, since banks would have to hold larger reserves to guard against losses.”

Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial: ‘Kumbaya’ it wasn’t, July 19: “No GOP senator from a state south of the Massachusetts Turnpike voted for the bill, which calls for the most significant overhaul of financial rules since the Great Depression. This legislation is Washington’s needed response to Wall Street’s reckless habits, which helped to cause the financial meltdown of 2008. … Big banks will be required to set aside more capital to protect against bad loans. Trading of complex derivatives will be forced onto more transparent exchanges. Shareholders of public companies will be given a nonbinding vote on executive pay packages.”

Roanoke Times Editorial: Wall Street reform passes, July 19: “…the legislation creates mechanisms in the Treasury Department to monitor the financial sector for systemic threats and to dismantle “too-big-to-fail” firms in an orderly and less disruptive manner, and without taxpayer dollars. These are all good measures that will strengthen oversight of the financial system and give regulators more ability to deal with a crisis before it becomes acute…Oddly, the vast majority of Republicans opposed this — and are already threatening to repeal the law if they regain control of Congress in November… Why would the GOP oppose something that is so clearly necessary? Money and politics.”