In an effort to protect consumers and never again put taxpayers in the position of bailing out abusive banks deemed “too big to fail,” U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today voted with the House majority in favor of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which passed with a vote of 237-192.

“The lack of regulation on Wall Street during the past 10 years put this nation on a course toward financial catastrophe. This legislation provides working families with the protection they need to keep their homes, jobs and futures more secure,” said Pascrell, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “It is my hope that the Senate will work quickly to approve this bill. The nation needs to be on a path to the kind of economic prosperity rooted in reliable service for consumers and profits that are earned, not swindled, by Wall Street titans.”

The American people paid a heavy price during the last recession, with 8 million jobs lost and $17 trillion in retirement savings and net worth vanquished.

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new consumer watchdog devoted to protecting Americans from unfair and abusive financial practices.  This independent bureau will provide clear and accurate information to families and small businesses to ensure that bank loans, mortgages, and credit cards are fair and affordable.  Just like the FDA does for medical safety, the CFPB will set safety standards to prevent practices such as hidden credit card fees, deceptive “fine print,” and other financial abuses that have escaped oversight so far.

The bill will help prevent the risky financial practices that led to the financial meltdown and stop large financial firms from gambling with Americans’ retirement and college savings and home values. In addition, taxpayers will no longer pay the price for Wall Street’s irresponsibility.  The bill creates a process to shut down large, failing firms whose collapse would put the entire economy at risk.  After exhausting all of the company’s assets, additional costs would be covered by a “dissolution fund,” to which all large financial firms would contribute.

The bill has been called the “strongest set of Wall Street reforms in three generations” by Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the nonpartisan Congressional Oversight Panel, and has been endorsed by the AARP, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Council of Institutional Investors, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Restaurant Association, Public Citizen, SEIU, and US PIRG, among other organizations. The bill was publicly debated for more than 50 hours, and includes over 70 Republican and bipartisan amendments.

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