ALG Urges Senate Republicans to "Hold the Line" Against Dodd "Goldman Sachs Bailout Bill"

"The facts are clear. The head of Goldman Sachs has said he embraces the legislation and that the biggest beneficiary of the bill is Wall Street.  This is evidence that the Dodd-Goldman bill continues the system of 'too big to fail,' and does not reject it." —Bill Wilson, President of ALG.

April 28^th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today praised Senate Republicans for blocking what he called the "Dodd-Goldman financial takeover bill" and "protecting taxpayers from never-ending government takeovers and bailouts."

"We know now this is nothing more than the Goldman Sachs bailout bill.  The Senate must vote no on the Goldman Sachs bailout bill," Wilson said.

"The facts are clear. The head of Goldman Sachs has said he embraces the legislation and that the biggest beneficiary of the bill is Wall Street.  This is evidence that the Dodd-Goldman bill continues the system of 'too big to fail,' and does not reject it," Wilson said.

The final vote failing to invoke cloture on the legislation was 56-42.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promptly filed a motion to reconsider.

"Harry Reid and Chris Dodd are desperate to make good on their promises for an unlimited bailout fund to Wall Street," Wilson declared.

Wilson noted that Goldman Sachs has been a major Democrat donor, funneling over $20 million in donations to Democrat candidates from since from 1989, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Wilson blasted provisions that he said would protect firms with assets greater than $50 billion, saying, "This bill would create about sixty new Fannie Mae's all with the implied backing of taxpayers.  Taxpayers cannot even afford to back Fannie and Freddie, and Senate Democrats want to multiply that by a factor of thirty.  This is madness."

According to the Congressional Budget Office, there are about 60 bank holding and insurance companies with $50 billion or more in assets that would contribute to an unlimited fund with the power to bail out those firms.  The Dodd-Goldman bill would also allow the FDIC put into receivership companies whether they are financial or not.

Wilson urged Senate Republicans to produce an alternative bill that "addresses the root, government causes of the financial crisis: Fannie, Freddie, the Federal Reserve, the FHA, and HUD."

ALG has previously condemned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac weakened mortgage underwriting standards and mislabeled high-risk mortgage-backed securities, defrauding investors; the Federal Reserve whose easy money, low interest rate policies fueled the housing bubble; the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lowered down payments on mortgages; and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Reinvestment Act regulations reduced lending standards and forced banks to give loans to lower-income Americans that could not be repaid.

"Any compromise legislation that includes a takeover of the financial services industry, and endangers taxpayers with perpetual bailouts, and the private sector with limitless government takeovers, is unacceptable to the American people and must be rejected," Wilson concluded.

Attachments:

Letter to the U.S. Senate, ALG President Bill Wilson, April 26^th, 2010.

"'Down a Rabbit Hole:' The Threat Posed by the Dodd Bill to the Private Sector," April 22^nd, 2010, Americans for Limited Government.

DNC - NH Political Report: DNC ad targets Gregg on financial reform

Watch the new DNC TV Ad “Risky Business” HERE

http://nhpoliticalreport.com/dnc-ad-targets-gregg-on-financial-reform/

DNC ad targets Gregg on financial reform

by James Pindell

DNC says about the ad (which will air on DC and national cable outlets): “Despite the greed and the excess, the bailouts and the bonuses, the pain and the anger, Republicans have unanimously taken the side of big Wall Street banks over the side of Main Street families.  And New Hampshire’s Judd Gregg is no different – Gregg has consistently opposed regulating the reckless Wall Street practices that brought our economy to the brink of a second Great Depression just a few years ago.

Gregg’s vigorous defense of Wall Street may help land him on the board of a company, or a job lobbying but it won’t help the tens of thousands of Granite Staters who every day worry that once again the economy could come crashing down around them as a result of big bank’s reckless practices.”

###

Michael Czin

Northeast Regional Press Secretary

Democratic National Committee

DNC - Senator Gregg - Not Even Willing to Debate

Please see the below e-mail from OFA Director Mitch Stewart to members of the OFA e-mail list in New Hampshire asking Granite Staters to speak out and tell Senator Gregg to stop protecting big banks and start protecting American consumers.

---

From: Mitch Stewart, BarackObama.com <info@barackobama.com>
To:
Sent: Tue Apr 27 20:04:44 2010
Subject: Not even willing to debate

Michael -- Both parties have worked for months crafting a bipartisan Wall Street reform bill. But, just hours ago, Senate Republicans -- including Senator Judd Gregg -- voted for a second time to protect their allies on Wall Street and block reform. Maybe they think obstruction is a good political strategy in an election year. Maybe they're hoping the delay will give bank lobbyists time to water down reform with loopholes and exemptions. But here's what we know for sure: These Republicans have a lot to explain to the American people. A recent ABC News poll showed that 65 percent support the reforms they just opposed. Sen. Gregg still has time to cross the aisle and stand with Main Street -- but to make it happen, New Hampshire's voters need to speak out now. If you haven't already, tell Sen. Gregg to end the delay -- stop protecting the big banks and start protecting American consumers. With American families struggling in the wake of a crippling financial crisis, they want to know that Washington is doing something to protect consumers from exploitation at the hands of the big banks that got us into this mess. The Senate bill that Republicans are blocking will provide the strongest consumer financial protections in history, while ensuring that American taxpayers are never again forced to bail out a Wall Street firm "too big to fail." Sadly, instead of working to debate and revise the bill, Republicans in the Senate are teaming up with the big banks. In fact, press reports confirm that Republican leaders have been meeting privately all month with Wall Street executives, plotting to weaken the bill. With their votes, it appears they're intent on carrying out that plan. But President Obama has made it clear that any reform bill that doesn't go far enough to rein in the big banks is not acceptable. He's counting on us to speak up. If we turn up the public pressure, we can stop the delay and help President Obama get both sides of the aisle working together again to pass a strong final bill. Write a letter to Sen. Gregg now: http://my.barackobama.com/WallStreetReformLetters Thanks, Mitch Mitch Stewart Director Organizing for America

ALG Conservative Action Project Memo: No More Bailouts for Wall Street

William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government

James C. Miller III, former Reagan Budget Director

Amy Kremer, Director Grassroots & Coalitions, TeaPartyExpress.org

Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring

Andrea Lafferty, Executive Director, Traditional Values Coalition

Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com

Mario H. Lopez, President, Hispanic Leadership Fund

Gene Mills, Executive Director, Louisiana Family Forum

J. Kenneth Blackwell, former Treasurer, State of Ohio

Susan Carleson, Chairman & CEO, American Civil Rights Union

Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform

Jennifer Hulsey, Co-Founder, American Grassroots Coalition

Gary Bauer, President, American Values

Jim Martin, Chairman, 60 Plus Association

Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council

Brent Bozell, President, Media Research Center

Mathew D. Staver, Founder & Chairman, Liberty Counsel

Alfred Regnery, Publisher, American Spectator

Kay Daly, President, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary

David McIntosh, former Member of Congress, Indiana

Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America

Tom Winter, Editor in Chief, Human Events

Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

T. Kenneth Cribb, former Chief Domestic Adviser to President Reagan

MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT

NO MORE BAILOUTS FOR WALL STREET

RE: Senator Dodd's Financial "Bailout" Bill is bad for the American taxpayer and particularly for entrepreneurs.

"The Dodd Bill has unlimited executive bailout authority. That's something Wall Street desperately wants but doesn't dare ask for."

-- Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California

ACTION: We urge you to speak out in opposition to more bailouts and government spending. We need regulation that will not harm the economy and will not institutionalize a bailout culture. Don't let the liberal Democrats tell conservatives that they are "pro-Wall Street" when concerns lie with the American economy as a whole.

ISSUE-IN-BRIEF: The Dodd Bill does not end bailouts. What it does do is restrict credit, which will have negative effects on the economy as a whole and particularly on entrepreneurs. Some aspects of the bill have little to do with financial regulation and much to do with supporting special interests.

The Slush Fund

• The bill gives the administration power to take over companies they believe to be risky. It has a $50 billion fund for this purpose, meaning families on Main Street would be paying to bail out firms on Wall Street.

• This $50 billion fund would in fact be a tax on ordinary Americans, as taxes on banks would be passed on in costs to American depositors and borrowers. Consumers, including families, small businesses and family farms, would pay that $50 billion through higher costs for credit products.

• This slush fund encourages irresponsible behavior because the creditors know that they will be bailed out if they lose on risky bets.

The Fox and the Hen House

• The bill would authorize the Federal Reserve to define what a "nonbank financial company" is and regulate it.

• The bill creates a "Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection", which sounds nice, but the agency has broad power to limit the financial products available to consumers.

• Eric Stein, former leader of the embattled Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), now sits at the Treasury Department and would likely be responsible for shaping this Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The CRL was funded by John Paulson so that it allegedly would harass banks into making loans to unqualified buyers while Paulson shorted sub-prime mortgages for Goldman Sachs. Big Government described Stein's potential regulating on behalf of consumers as a "fox" guarding the "hen house."

• Polling data indicate that only 14 percent of Americans support the creation of a financial consumer protection agency, while 65 percent oppose.

• The bill allows a two-thirds vote of the Financial Stability Oversight Council to say that any financial company can come under its oversight and authorizes the FDIC and Treasury to treat the firm's shareholders and creditors as they choose, with little regard to existing laws.

• Treasury and FDIC are given authority to grant an unlimited amount of loan guarantees to risky firms, without congressional approval.

• The bill gives unions a say on how much pay executives make and gives them a brand-new agency funded directly by the Fed.

• The bill creates "proxy access" whereby a corporation's board of directors are dictated by a majority vote, rather than plurality, which gives incentives for corporate directions to cut deals with unions to avoid a fight.

Killing the Economy

• The Dodd Bill would require start-ups to file with the SEC before seeking investments, which would cause delays while the start-up waits for bureaucrats to review the requests.  So if you have a start-up idea, you have to hope that some foreign firm in a less-regulated country will not beat you to the market during that time the government approves your investments.

• The new regulation would also make it harder to find investors. Accredited investors  would be limited to those with assets of over $2.5 million, previously only $1 million net worth was required,  or a personal income of $ 450,000 (up from $250,000). This extra, and unnecessary, regulation makes it harder for close friends and family members to invest in new ideas.

      Silent on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

• The bill contains no reform of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac—the giant mortgage entities—which for practical purposes are now wholly controlled by the federal government.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON HOW THE DODD BILL HURTS THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER WHILE REWARDING WALL STREET, PLEASE VISIT THESE WEBSITES:

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11707

http://www.aei.org/article/101944

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Gangster-Government-becomes-a-long-running-series-91656284.html

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Commentary/2010/04/Obama-Now-Pushing-Sneaky-Wall-Street-Bailout

http://cei.org/articles/2010/03/16/dodd%E2%80%99s-main-street-punishment-bill

http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/04/16/the-democrats-orwellian-attempt-to-bully-republicans-and-takeover-the-rest-of-the-economy/#more-107718

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-tumlinson/dodds-bill-is-an-angel-ki_b_526040.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704133804575198272155110934.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2Q1ZGZiYjIwMjNjYjMyYmQ5MzliMWNiZGVhYTc3YTA=

http://biggovernment.com/libertychick/2010/04/16/cfpa-czar-or-fox-in-the-hen-house-you-decide/

4/27/10

(All organizations listed are for identification purposes only)

NRN - Must Reads for April 26, 2010

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson's quote of the day in reference to the Chris Dodd Financial Takeover Bill: "This legislation has got to be one of the most egregious violations of property rights in American history. It will give to government the means to consolidate the economy, pick winners and losers, centralize credit, and eliminate entrepreneurship — all by faceless bureaucrats who nobody will ever see."

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