| Debit card swipe fees - Big credit card companies like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express will no longer be able to charge small businesses whatever they want to process debit card transactions. This will not only reduce fees on small businesses that inevitably get passed on to consumers, but will also give many small businesses who now only take cash transactions the opportunity to accept debit cards without having to pay massive fees to the credit card companies. This provision benefits both small businesses AND consumers in a big way.
Ending taxpayer bailouts - The FDIC now has the ability to liquidate failing financial firms and apply a provision to make them pay the money back. It prevents huge companies from crashing the financial sector and won't cost taxpayers a single dime. This allows us to deal with the problem before firms fail so our economy doesn't tank if another company like Lehman Brothers fails.
Mortgage reform - Lenders will now only be able to give mortgages to people that have the ability to pay them back, and it eliminates fees like "prepayment penalties" which penalize people for paying off mortgages too early. This eliminates the core subprime mortgage problem that led to sweeping foreclosures across the country.
Eliminate credit ratings agency conflict of interest - The bill reforms the credit rating agencies that delivered many of the favorable AAA ratings to many of the mortgage-backed securities that didn't deserve them shortly before the crisis. Currently, these companies are the ones that pay for the ratings, but this bill forces the SEC to create a new, independent board to rate asset-backed securities, or figure out a better way.
The list goes on, including a new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to watch out for consumer abuse among others.
Jim released the following statement today in regards to the legislation:
"Changing the rules on Wall Street will be a major step forward in the effort to rebuild our nation's economy. While it's not perfect, the bill will go a long way toward protecting families and small businesses while increasing government transparency, preventing future taxpayer-funded bailouts, and forcing Wall Street to play by some common sense rules.
Paulsen's vote against this bill is truly astonishing. By voting no, Congressman Paulsen voted directly against the interests of nearly everyone in our district: from families who want a fair mortgage to consumers facing credit card rate gouging, to the one in three businesses still struggling to get credit at their local bank.
In fact, Paulsen's vote against financial reform may hurt businesses most of all. By opposing this bill, Paulsen stood directly in the way of limiting the huge swipe fees that big banks and credit card companies have imposed on retailers for years.
Paulsen talks a good game about supporting Minnesota businesses, but when it comes time to voting for what they actually need, once again he's nowhere to be found. You can be sure that when I am in Congress, I will cut through the excuses and get something done for the businesses in our district."
As Jim says, this bill isn't perfect, but it does more good than harm for consumers and businesses alike. Erik Paulsen opposed every single provision in this bill when he voted against this bill, and his vote against it is yet another example of him putting big special interests who throw money at him him in front of the interests of his constituents. |
