The Federal Reserve is supposed to be our first line of defense against another financial crisis. But recent whistleblower reports have confirmed our old suspicion: The Fed isn’t doing its job to rein in some of the biggest banks on Wall Street. While Congress is holding a hearing this week to examine what is wrong at the Fed, we know one thing for certain: None of the five sitting members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has a strong background in overseeing or investigating the big banks. President Obama could start fixing the problem right now. No delays, no waiting for a Republican-controlled Congress. The president is responsible for nominating people to serve on the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors, and two of the seven seats are currently vacant. That means the administration has the opportunity to move the board in a new direction. He can appoint some tough overseers – and he can do it now. Join Sen. Joe Manchin and me in calling for Federal Reserve nominees who will hold Wall Street accountable. Lax supervision isn’t an abstract problem – the stakes couldn’t be higher. Just this summer, the Fed and the FDIC determined that 11 of the country’s biggest banks have no credible plan for being resolved in bankruptcy. That means that if any one of these banks makes more wild bets and loses, the taxpayers would have to bail it out to prevent the economy from crashing again. We’re all counting on the Fed to monitor the big banks and stop them from taking on too much risk, but evidence is mounting that the Fed is too cozy with the big banks to provide the kind of tough oversight that’s needed. By nominating two people to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who have strong track records and demonstrated commitment to not backing down when they find problems, the administration can show it is taking the Fed’s supervision problem seriously. Nominating Wall Street insiders for the Board of Governors would send the opposite message. Joe Manchin and I joined the Senate Banking Committee to try to make the banking system work better for American families. Join us in supporting Fed nominees who will fight for Main Street, not Wall Street. Thank you for being a part of this, Elizabeth
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 04:16:53 +0000
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