To: Representative Jeb Hensarling, Chairman, House Financial Services Committee and Senator Richard Shelby, Chairman, Senate Banking Committee
Schedule a Vote on the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act
Both the Democrats and Republicans made re-instating Glass-Steagall a part of their party’s official platform. Congress must quickly back this up with action.
The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act is a bipartisan bill to restore a modern version of Glass-Steagall. To fulfill the promise of the DNC and RNC platform language, the Chairs of the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees should move this legislation forward as soon as possible.
Why is this important?
The language of the platform of both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions calls for a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, a law that supported a more level economic playing field and a six-decade rise of a more egalitarian financial system and strong middle class. Luckily, there is already a bill in Congress to do just that: The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act (S. 1709)! This bill is a modern version of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall that is sponsored by Senators Warren, Cantwell, King, McCain, Sanders, Baldwin, Whitehouse, Mikulski, Markey, and Merkley.
The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act will help tackle “Too Big to Fail” by shrinking and simplifying the banking system, ensuring that the riskiest banking activities are no longer supported by the public safety net, and regulators can more easily oversee banks that are central to financial stability. Restoring Glass-Steagall wouldn’t just make our financial system safer, it would diminish the influence of big bank money in politics – by introducing more competition among investment banks and commercial banks.
Stability in America depends upon a viable middle class. The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act provided excellent protections for that class and the economy as a whole. Its reinstatement will go a long way to providing a powerful economic safety net that will more reliably limit ongoing risk to the strongest economy in the world.