June, 07 2016, 03:00pm EDT
Hensarling's Plan to Deregulate Wall Street Would Bring Disaster
Statements from Public Citizen Experts
WASHINGTON
This morning, U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) delivered the outline of a major financial deregulation plan, which he has misleadingly named the CHOICE Act.
"Hensarling's plan would be abysmal for the Main Street economy. Eviscerating the most important legacy of the Obama administration, namely U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is but one of the elements that renders this proposal nothing more than a fundraising tool for lawmakers soliciting contributions from Wall Street."
- Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division
"Apparently, Hensarling believes Wall Street needs more ways to block new reforms in the courts and in Congress. The truth is that regulators have been under siege by Wall Street at every turn, and the proof is in the glacially slow pace of rulemaking authorized, and in some cases ordered, by Dodd-Frank. But that appears to be too fast for Hensarling, whose bill would make the financial rulemaking process even longer and more prone to being gamed by Wall Street."
- Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate for Public Citizen's Congress Watch division
"Hensarling's proposal requires banks to maintain a leverage requirement of more than 10 percent. That means the difference between assets and liabilities must be greater than 10 percent of assets. However, the problem revealed by the financial crash is that assets at the big banks were found to be almost 20 percent less than reported on their books. That cuts through a 10 percent leverage ratio with mathematical, painful precision. Asking Wall Street banks to raise more capital would help, but wouldn't eliminate the extraordinary danger these institutions pose to our economy. That's why Hensarling's plan isn't a real choice. It's a retreat from regulating the very firms that brought on the biggest economic crisis in generations."
- Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for Public Citizen's Congress Watch division
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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The United Nations children's agency on Saturday condemned the Israel Defense Forces' "indiscriminate strikes on civilians in the Gaza Strip" after at least 50 children were reportedly among those killed in attacks on Jabalia refugee camp in the northern part of the enclave.
Northern Gaza has been under siege since early October, when Israel resumed its attacks there, claiming it was targeting Hamas militants.
The current situation in northern Gaza has been called "apocalyptic" by leading humanitarian groups in recent days, with women and children making up the majority of the hundreds of people killed, and Israel imposing a near-total blockade on humanitarian aid.
Now, said Catherine Russell, executive director of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), "the entire Palestinian population in North Gaza, especially children, is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine, and the ongoing bombardments."
In addition to the attacks on residential buildings this weekend in Jabalia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that an attack on a healthcare center in Gaza City injured at least six people, including four children. The facility was participating in a polio vaccination drive, the second round of inoculations for children across Gaza.
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Russell said the vehicle of a UNICEF staffer who was working on the vaccination campaign was attacked by "what we believe to be a quadcopter while driving through Jabalia—Elnazla."
The staff member was not injured, but Russell said "the attacks on Jabalia, the vaccination clinic, and the UNICEF staff member are yet further examples of the grave consequences of the indiscriminate strikes on civilians in the Gaza Strip."
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Watch:
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