Senator Byron Dorgan Joins Jeanne Shaheen To Call For Accountability And Oversight In Financial Markets
Wednesday September 17, 2008
Wednesday September 17, 2008
(Manchester, NH) — Today, on a conference call with reporters, former Governor and current candidate for U.S. Senate Jeanne Shaheen was joined by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to discuss the need for increased accountability and oversight in the financial markets.
Senator Dorgan has been a leader in the Senate on standing up to the culture of lax accountability that has permeated Washington under George Bush. He has called for a bipartisan Truman Commission to oversee how the Bush administration awards contracts in Iraq and he has been a longtime proponent of increased accountability on Wall Street. He was one of just 8 Senators to oppose the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley legislation that many blame as a significant cause of this financial crisis.
"Senator Dorgan has been a leader in the Senate on standing up to the culture of lax accountability that has permeated Washington under George Bush," Shaheen said. "There is a lack of oversight of how we spend billions of taxpayer dollars on contracts in Iraq and almost no oversight of speculation in our energy markets.
"And the lack of oversight and accountability that George Bush and his allies in Congress have supported in our financial markets have brought us the crisis Wall Street is in today. This crisis is putting additional strain on middle class families who are already struggling in this economy. Housing values are dropping even further, retirement savings are being jeopardized and it is becoming harder and more expensive to borrow.
"The root cause of this crisis is the deterioration of regulation in mortgage markets. John Sununu sat on the banking committee in the Senate for five years while this crisis was developing, and did nothing to prevent it."
On the call, Shaheen discussed immediate steps we can take to bring tougher accountability to the markets:
*First, capital, liquidity and disclosure requirements should be developed and strengthened for all financial institutions.
*Second, we should end our patchwork system of overlapping and competing oversight and create one, streamlined system of oversight that functions effectively in 21st century markets.
*Third, we should regulate financial institutions based on the products and services they offer, not based on the kind of institution they are. For example, investment banks who are in the mortgage loan business should be subject to the same regulations as commercial banks.
Regulation should identify, disclose, and oversee risky behaviors – regardless of what kind of financial institution engages in them.
For more information, visit www.JeanneShaheen.org.
Senator Dorgan has been a leader in the Senate on standing up to the culture of lax accountability that has permeated Washington under George Bush. He has called for a bipartisan Truman Commission to oversee how the Bush administration awards contracts in Iraq and he has been a longtime proponent of increased accountability on Wall Street. He was one of just 8 Senators to oppose the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley legislation that many blame as a significant cause of this financial crisis.
"Senator Dorgan has been a leader in the Senate on standing up to the culture of lax accountability that has permeated Washington under George Bush," Shaheen said. "There is a lack of oversight of how we spend billions of taxpayer dollars on contracts in Iraq and almost no oversight of speculation in our energy markets.
"And the lack of oversight and accountability that George Bush and his allies in Congress have supported in our financial markets have brought us the crisis Wall Street is in today. This crisis is putting additional strain on middle class families who are already struggling in this economy. Housing values are dropping even further, retirement savings are being jeopardized and it is becoming harder and more expensive to borrow.
"The root cause of this crisis is the deterioration of regulation in mortgage markets. John Sununu sat on the banking committee in the Senate for five years while this crisis was developing, and did nothing to prevent it."
On the call, Shaheen discussed immediate steps we can take to bring tougher accountability to the markets:
*First, capital, liquidity and disclosure requirements should be developed and strengthened for all financial institutions.
*Second, we should end our patchwork system of overlapping and competing oversight and create one, streamlined system of oversight that functions effectively in 21st century markets.
*Third, we should regulate financial institutions based on the products and services they offer, not based on the kind of institution they are. For example, investment banks who are in the mortgage loan business should be subject to the same regulations as commercial banks.
Regulation should identify, disclose, and oversee risky behaviors – regardless of what kind of financial institution engages in them.
For more information, visit www.JeanneShaheen.org.
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