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Historic Wall Street reform passed

Washington: After months of Congressional wrangling and in the face of relentless lobbying by Wall Street banks, the United States Senate finally passed an unprecedented and game-changing package of financial reforms on Thursday.

The reform bill passed by a 60-39 margin, with three crucial Republican “aye” votes handing President Barack Obama his first major policy victory since the passage of the healthcare bill earlier this year.

Speaking after the passage of the bill, Mr. Obama said: “Congress has now passed a Wall Street reform bill that will bring greater economic security to families and businesses across the country.”

Mr. Obama touched upon what this meant for the common man, saying it would bring greater security to families looking to buy their first home or send their kids to college; to taxpayers who should not have to pay for somebody else's irresponsibility; to small businesses, community banks and credit unions who played by the rules; and to shareholders and investors who wanted to see their companies grow and thrive.

However, Mr. Obama was quick to dispel any notion of a zero-sum game with negative consequences for banks and other financial institutions, noting that the financial industry was central to the U.S.' ability to grow, to prosper, to compete and to innovate and the reform would foster that innovation, not hamper it.

Yet, he said, it was designed “to make sure that everyone follows the same set of rules, so that firms compete on price and quality, not on tricks and traps”. It demanded accountability and responsibility from everybody, he added, arguing that “unless your business model depends on cutting corners or bilking your customers, you have nothing to fear from this reform”.

After the passage of the bill, both Mr. Obama and senior Democrats criticised the Republican Party for opposing the reform. Mr. Obama said: “Already, the Republican leader in the House has called for repeal of this reform. I would suggest that America can't afford to go backwards, and I think that's how most Americans feel as well.”

On a similar note, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: “The ink hasn't even dried yet on our bill that takes away big banks' ability to gamble away our jobs, savings and houses, and Republicans already want to give it back.”

In a sharply-worded statement, he added this was the Republican job-killing agenda in full effect and that that party wanted to go back to the system that cost 8 million Americans their jobs “because that is what [the Republicans'] friends on Wall Street want, and that's who they're looking out for.”

Welcoming the reform, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said: “The financial reform legislation approved by the Congress today represents a welcome and far-reaching step toward preventing a replay of the recent financial crisis.”

He explained that the reform strengthened the consolidated supervision of systemically important financial institutions, gave the government an important additional tool to safely wind down failing financial firms, created an interagency council to detect and deter emerging threats to the financial system, and enhanced the transparency of the Federal Reserve while preserving the political independence that was crucial to monetary policymaking.

According to a statement by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Mr. Obama hoped to sign the bill as soon as possible, possibly towards the latter half of next week.

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