Alan Grayson:Lies, Damned Lies, and Rupert Murdoch

Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-8) voted in favor of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act today. The bill implements common-sense rules to ensure that Big Banks and Wall Street can't play Russian Roulette with our economic future ever again.

Congressman Grayson said, “We have never had any regulation of the financial system to protect ordinary people. This bill does extraordinarily important things, including the first-ever audit of the Federal Reserve.”

Congressman Grayson teamed with Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) to shepherd the “Audit the Fed” provision through the Congress. The bill requires an audit of the Federal Reserve for activities dating back to 2007. During the height of the financial meltdown, the Federal Reserve’s bailout-festooned balance sheet swelled from $800 billion to about $2 trillion, which works out to almost $7,000 for every man, woman and child in America.

“Once we see what kind of secret bailouts the Federal Reserve conducted, then we can decide what to do about it. We deserve to know who got our money,” Grayson said.

The Conference Report to accompany H.R. 4173 also:

• Prevents future bank bailouts by establishing a fund (paid for by the banks) to wind up insolvent entities.
• Creates an early warning system to try to detect systemic risk before it destroys the economy.
• Allows consumers free access to their credit score if their score negatively affects them in a financial transaction or a hiring decision.
• Provides shareholders with a “say on pay” with a non-binding vote on executive compensation and golden parachutes.
• Protects investors through tough new rules for credit rating agencies.
• Provides $1 billion to combat the ugly impact of the foreclosure crisis (falling property values and increased crime) by rehabilitating, redeveloping, and reusing abandoned and foreclosed properties.
• Creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to examine and enforce regulations for banks, mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and debt collectors.
• Educates people by creating a new Office of Financial Literacy.