April 28th, 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 its biggest beneficiary 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 since 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 26th, 2010.
“’Down a Rabbit Hole:’ The Threat Posed by the Dodd Bill to the Private Sector,” April 22nd, 2010, Americans for Limited Government.
Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
###