Volcker Rule Regulatory Harmonization Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Waters for her constant leadership to restore prudent banking to this country and rein in reckless speculation.

When six megabanks in our country control over 75 percent of the wealth, that is too much power in too few hands. It has become increasingly clear that the Republican Party is focusing its efforts in this Congress on the only issue in which the GOP can seem to collect a consensus: handing out massive giveaways to the fat cats on Wall Street and their 1 percent buddies.

The number of Dodd-Frank rollbacks we have seen this year alone is a blizzard. Now, this bill, the Volcker rule repeal, is just that, another Dodd-Frank rollback wrapped and tied with a big bow for giants Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan and their like.

The bill rolls back key prudent banking protections put into place to prevent another financial meltdown and protect hardworking Americans from losing their wealth. You know, not one of those buzzards went to jail.

The bill allows for a blanket exemption for the Volcker rule for banks with less than $10 billion in assets. Oh, I feel so sorry for them. They only have $10 billion. There is no logic behind allowing banks of a certain size to engage in the exact type of speculative-- risky speculation that contributed to the financial crisis that we are still digging our way out of.

Don't we remember Countrywide? It wasn't so long ago. You know, my unflagging dedication to leveling the playing field and building up our prudent lenders, community banks, and credit unions is the reason I stand to object to this legislation today. We can't allow such foundational building blocks of our communities to be wrecked again into the mangled progeny of the big six, and that is just what my colleagues on the Republican side are about.

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, on top of this blanket exemption, the bill also hands complete rulemaking power to the Fed rather than having checks and balances inside the executive branch, paving the way to completely gut the Volcker rule.

You know, Fed Chair, formerly Paul Volcker, had said: ``I know from my long experience in banking and savings and loan regulation that plausibly small loopholes can be `gamed' and exploited with unfortunate consequences.''

Again I say: Remember Countrywide?

African Americans lost half their accumulated wealth since the founding of the Republic, Latinos a third, and everybody else a fifth. You know what, it is time to keep prudent banking elevated and curb the speculators.

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