releases: http://bit.ly/2B98614
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| http://bit.ly/2B98614 | Following Statement by Treasury Secretary on "Too Big To Fail"; Brown Vitter Release Statement Urging the Administration to Continue Efforts to End "Too Big To Fail" Policies | 2013-12-05 | 2013 | 2013-12 | Democrat | House | OH | Sherrod Brown | B000944 | bit.ly | legacy | Sens. Brown and Vitter Introduced Legislation that Would Eliminate Government Subsidies for Wall Street Megabanks Thursday, December 5, 2013 WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following today’s comment by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew that “Too Big To Fail” policies are being corrected by Administrative action, U.S. Sens. Brown (D-OH) and Vitter (R-LA), authors of the Terminating Bailout for Taxpayer Fairness Act, legislation that would end “Too Big To Fail” policies by require the largest and most interconnected financial institutions to maintain a 15 percent capital ratio to ensure taxpayers will not serve as the backstop for risky investments, released the following statements: “It is premature for anyone to take a victory lap when ‘too big to fail’ policies are still alive and well,” Brown said. “Despite what some on Wall Street and in Washington may say, our work is not finished. Regulators have failed to finalize key rules to address the issue – including orderly liquidation rules, enhanced capital and leverage rules for systemically important institutions, limits on the Fed’s emergency lending power, and pushing risky derivatives out of federally insured banks. As long as the market believes that certain institutions have the implicit support of taxpayers, and provide a funding advantage based upon that support, Sen. Vitter and I will continue fighting to hold megabanks accountable for their risky investments.” “If Lew thinks he can claim victory over ‘too big to fail’ today, I’d tell him he’s living on another planet. Independent study after independent study shows that too big to fail is alive and well with the Wall Street megabanks and they still enjoy a cost of funding advantage over their smaller competitors,” Vitter said. “Eliminating the megabanks federal handouts – and addressing the problem of ‘too big to fail’ financial institutions – is a simple matter of common sense, and it absolutely still needs to be addressed. The megabanks have been growing at a rapid pace since the financial meltdown – largely on the backs of U.S. taxpayers. I’ll continue fighting to protect the taxpayers from financial risks by implementing a systemic solution, increasing the minimum amount of capital the megabanks are required to have.” In November, Brown and Vitter released the first of two reports by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the federal government’s bailout of large financial institutions during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The GAO report found that Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo & Co were able to borrow below-market interests rates, demonstrating yet another economic benefit of being “Too Big to Fail.” Additionally, the report confirmed that banks and bank holding companies with assets over $50 billion were the predominate beneficiaries of taxpayer funded bailouts and relied more heavily on short-term funding markets compared to small or community based banks. Despite receiving assistance from taxpayers in 2008, today, the nation’s four largest banks—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo—are nearly $2 trillion larger today than they were before the crisis. Their growth has been aided by an implicit guarantee—funded by taxpayers and awarded by virtue of their size—as the market knows that these institutions have been deemed “too big to fail.” Brown and Vitter have asked the GAO to investigate whether this allows the nation’s largest megabanks to borrow at a lower rate than regional banks, community banks, and credit unions. Brown and Vitter’s Terminating Bailouts for Taxpayer Fairness Act (TBTF Act) would eliminate government subsidies to megabanks, ensuring financial institutions have adequate capital to protect against losses. The TBTF Act would additionally set reasonable capital standards that reflect the size and complexity of the institution and provide regulatory relief for community banks. The second part of the study will be released in 2014 and will focus on the funding advantages enjoyed by the largest banks, by virtue of their “Too Big to Fail” status. A link to the GAO report is: HERE. A summary of the GAO report can be found: HERE. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |