Merkley Raises Alarm On House Anti-Volcker Rule Bill

Friday, March 23, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement regarding a House bill, H.R. 4790, that attacks the Volcker Rule by exempting banks under $10 billion from the rule and by eliminating enforcement oversight from four federal regulators, leaving the Federal Reserve as the sole regulator to enforce the rule:

“This bill is a terrible idea. It makes absolutely no sense to shut down the Wall Street Casino in big banks, only to throw the doors back open to risky gambling in our small community banks. Americans want their small community banks to take deposits and make loans investing in their local communities, not make big bets on the future price of stocks, securities and currency.

“It's equally alarming that this bill seeks to take four regulators off the beat and leave the Federal Reserve as the sole regulator in charge of enforcing the Volcker Rule. There’s a reason this change is one of Goldman Sachs’ top priorities: Rules of the road only work if regulators are willing to enforce them. History has proven that the Fed does not actively police Wall Street nor does it have the will to enforce a rule like Volcker – which is exactly why the biggest Wall Street banks are clamoring for this change.”