POR 2017 #160 · Agenda item attachment · Jun 19 2017

City of Cambridge O-5 ORIGINAL ORDER IN CITY COUNCIL June 19, 2017 COUNCILLOR CARLONE WHEREAS: On June 8, 2017, the House, led by GOP members, voted 233-186 to dismantle Dodd- Frank reforms put into place following the 2007-2010 Great Recession, and did so, with zero Democratic support; and WHEREAS: During the Great Recession, home prices nationally fell an average of 30 percent, unemployment doubled, the Standard & Poor’s 500 lost roughly half its value, and the collective net worth of U.S. households and nonprofit organizations fell by nearly $14 trillion or 20 percent of their total value; and WHEREAS: When the economy began to stabilize in 2010, Congress shifted from economic stimulus and bailouts to establishing a regulatory framework that would prevent another similar financial crisis from occurring; and WHEREAS: The result, led by former Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank, was the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010; and WHEREAS: This act requires large banks to undergo "stress tests" to ensure they have enough capital necessary to absorb losses, puts into place strict limits on how commercial banks can invest capital in speculative investments, establishes a process when the federal government can break-up and wind down a failing financial company whose failure threatens financial stability, and finally, establishes a new agency designed to ensure that banks and financial services companies don't abuse consumers; and WHEREAS: House GOP leadership and the proposed “Financial Choice Act,” erases stipulations for large banks to meet capital requirements, weakens the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and eliminates the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule, which requires brokers to act in the best interest of their clients when providing investment advice; now therefore be it RESOLVED: That the City Council opposes this regressive policy, which historically has jeopardized the financial wellbeing of our country; and be it further RESOLVED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to the United States Congress on behalf of the entire City Council.