Patrick McHenryChairman

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2009 -

Plan Presents A Clear Exit Strategy From Taxpayer Funded Bailouts, While Modernizing the Financial Services Regulatory Structure

Financial Services Committee Republican Leadership, led by Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (AL), unveiled their comprehensive plan to modernize the regulatory structure of the financial services industry during a press conference today. The Republican plan will protect investors, taxpayers, and consumers, and make Wall Street responsible for its actions.

The Republican plan is guided by three key principles: no more bailouts; getting the government out of picking winners and losers; and restoring market discipline to eliminate the expectation of a government rescue.

Ranking Member Bachus said, "The plan we are announcing today brings a new era of responsibility to Wall Street.  No longer will financial firms be able to hand their losses off to the taxpayer. Restoring market discipline and getting the government out of the bailout business is critical to helping prevent another crisis. Our plan also brings needed reforms to the Federal Reserve to ensure transparency and accountability, and to protect taxpayers who have been forced to pay for Wall Street's mistakes during this crisis." 

Committee Republicans are offering a clear alternative to the failed and often politicized policy of rescuing "too big to fail" institutions that Democrats seek to institutionalize. The Republican plan would end all bailouts and direct all insolvent non-banks to an enhanced bankruptcy process. Bankruptcy is a fair and transparent process to unwind insolvent companies.  The creation of a new chapter in the bankruptcy code will ensure that bankruptcy is efficient at handling non-bank financial institutions and that appropriate regulatory expertise is available to the bankruptcy court when dealing with these failures.

"My constituents and I are very uncomfortable with the idea that our tax-dollars were going to bailing out large financial institutions," noted Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito.  "Thankfully this proposal draws a line in the sand when it comes to bailouts, while protecting taxpayers and creating a renewed sense of stability and certainty in the financial markets that can serve as a sound foundation for growth and market security.  We can't afford to reward failure and we need transparency and accountability, not the government picking winners and losers." 

To fundamentally reform the Federal Reserve, the plan relieves the Fed of its current supervisory duties so that it can refocus on its core mission of conducting monetary policy. To promote accountability and transparency, the Government Accountability Office will conduct audits of the Federal Reserve. The Fed would also be prohibited from using its authority under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act to bail out any specific financial institution. Its remaining section 13 (3) authority would be limited by requiring Treasury approval of -- and giving Congress the ability to disapprove - any action under 13(3). All transactions carried out pursuant to section 13(3) would be brought onto Treasury's balance sheet. 

"These proposals get the government out of the bailout business, prevent it from cherry-picking winners and losers, and send a clear signal that from now on, Wall Street -- not taxpayers -- will be responsible for risky business," said Congresswoman Judy Biggert.  "Our proposals put taxpayers first. They point toward smarter, stronger regulators and regulations that promote transparency, accountability, and competition."

The Republican plan modernizes our banking regulation by consolidating redundant financial regulatory agencies to streamline the supervision of deposit taking entities while preserving charter choice as well as the dual banking system. The Republican plan would streamline the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and also shift the supervisory functions of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to that agency.  The FDIC would retain responsibility for administering the deposit insurance system, including its backup examination authority to protect the Deposit Insurance Fund, and for resolving failed depository institutions.

Congressman Scott Garrett said, "At the core of our plan is a promise to the American taxpayer: no more bailouts. It's time to reject the "too big to fail" logic that has resulted in unprecedented government intrusion into the marketplace and reinstate the free market principles that are the cornerstone of our nation and a healthy financial sector."

During the financial crisis, the regulators' unprecedented action, or inaction, has not addressed the fundamental problem and only further exacerbated the crisis. The Republican plan addresses the causes of the financial crisis, and modernizes the regulatory structure while adopting a new approach to the financial markets, one that no longer includes the taxpayer as the financial backstop of the financial markets. It is the most comprehensive approach to modernize our regulatory structure in decades.

"The collapse of the past requires bold solutions for the future to preserve the market system that made this nation so strong," said Congressman Tom Price. "Today we offer a plan that will restore the market discipline and consumer confidence that is necessary in a 21st century financial system. Our comprehensive solution promises that taxpayers will never again be forced to pick up the tab for the failures of others. Rather than cementing the too-big-to-fail model that has let down so many, we put to bed the federal policies that created our overleveraged financial institutions. Our plan provides a responsible resolution to financial institution insolvency, streamlines our regulators and makes certain they are communicating effectively, and ensures consumers are armed with the decision-making power that will allow them to create their own prosperity. Most importantly, we reject the creation of a new systemic risk regulator which would only entrench us in a political economy where the government picks winners and losers. By returning our financial sector to a system based on risk and reward, rather than backstops and bailouts, we can provide a stable and flourishing financial sector that can benefit all Americans."

The Republican plan establishes a Market Stability and Capital Adequacy Board to monitor the interactions of the financial system, government policies, and practices.  The Board will report on any potential risks that might be looming but will not have independent enforcement authority. In order to address regulatory gaps, each functional regulator would be required to assess the effects of their regulated entities' activities on macroeconomic stability and review how entities under their regulatory purview interact with entities outside their purview. The periodic reporting will help Congress and relevant regulators to decide upon appropriate actions to address threats to financial stability.  The Treasury Secretary would chair the Board, and it will be comprised of outside experts and financial regulators.