Americans for Financial Reform

Report Category: Policy & Analysis

Recording: Senators Merkley & Levin call for banks to get back to basics

Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Carl Levin (D-MI) join with experts from Americans for Financial Reform to call for banks to get back to the basic commercial banking business of making loans to consumers and businesses instead of the ‘proprietary trading’ they do on their own account. As Congress heads into the final stages of

What the Senate’s Wall Street Reform Bill Means

Key Provisions Go a Long Way Preventing Another Financial Crisis Washington, DC – The historic Wall Street reform legislation passed by the Senate on May 20 will have an impact on Main Street as well as Wall Street. The big banks will make every effort to dilute the bill in the House-Senate conference. Congress must

Brownback Modification Merely Provides Window Dressing, But Fails To Stop Auto Fraud

OPPOSE AMENDMENT #3789 Senator Brownback’s Modified Amendment #3789 which provides a special interest carve out for auto dealers, does not protect US military personnel or any other American consumer from the abusive and unscrupulous practices of some auto dealers. The auto dealer exemption, as now written, maintains the status quo and allows bad acting auto

Poll Results Warn Senators: Hold Fraudsters Accountable

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2010 Poll Results Warn Senators: Hold Fraudsters Accountable CLICK HERE FOR POLL: MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICANS UNLIKELY TO VOTE FOR SENATORS WHO OPPOSE AMENDMENT TO FINANCIAL REFORM BILL TO HOLD KNOWING FRAUD AIDERS AND ABETTORS ACCOUNTABLE TO INVESTORS Specter-Reed Amendment to Senate Financial Reform Bill (S. 3217) Debated

Wall Street Influence, By the Numbers

$1.4 MILLION…The amount that the finance industry is spending every day to influence Congress. $600 MILLION…The amount that the six big banks and their trade associations have spent on lobbying, trade association activity, and political contributions since the first major federal bailout of Bear Sterns in March 2008. 243…The number of government insiders turned lobbyists employed by