2014 -- H 7650

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LC004926

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING CONGRESS TO RE-ENACT PROVISIONS OF THE

GLASS-STEAGALL BANKING ACT

     Introduced By: Representative Gregg Amore

     Date Introduced: February 27, 2014

     Referred To: House Corporations

     (by request)

     WHEREAS, From 1933 to 1999, the Federal Building Banking Act of 1933, known as

the Glass-Steagall Act, worked effectively to protect the public interest by separating the

functions of commercial banking from investment banking, insurance, and securities trading; and

     WHEREAS, The Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, expanding the ability of

financial entities to exploit the financial system for their own gain in disregard of the public

interest, and contributing to the greatest speculative bubble and subsequent worldwide economic

distress since the Great Depression; and

     WHEREAS, Many of the financial services entities were saved by the United States

Treasury at a cost of billions of dollars to American taxpayers; and

     WHEREAS, The Federal Reserve continues the bail-out process today, issuing $85

billion per month in cash throughout 2013 to the "too big to fail" Wall Street banks, to buy their

devalued derivatives securities; and these banks have used the money to increase their speculation

in financial derivatives, and have decreased lending to Main Street by $700 billion since 2008;

and

     WHEREAS, Within the thousands of pages of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act,

there are no prohibitions preventing "too big to fail" financial services organizations from

investing in or undertaking substantial risks in hundreds of trillions of dollars of derivative

contracts; and

     WHEREAS, A new set of financial bubbles are in full swing, and the American taxpayers

are at renewed risk of being forced to cover for losses incurred by derivatives gambling of the

financial services conglomerates; and

     WHEREAS, Re-enactment of the Glass-Steagall provisions would protect the public

from these bail-out costs, and free credit resources to be directed into large-scale infrastructure

and other physical economic investments, with attendant restoration of skilled employment and

the tax base; and

     WHEREAS, A bi-partisan resolution urging the United States Congress to re-enact the

Glass-Steagall banking provisions have been introduced into 26 state legislatures as of December

2013, and these resolutions have passed in four states thus far; and

     WHEREAS, In the United States House of Representatives, Congresswoman Marcy

Kaptur has introduced House Resolution 129, known as the Return to Prudent Banking Act of

2013, to reinstate the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act, with 80 bipartisan cosponsors as of

December of 2013; and Representatives Walter Jones and John Tierney have introduced House

Resolution 3711, the "21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2013"; and

     WHEREAS, In the United States Senate, Senator Tom Harkin has introduced Senate Bill

985 to restore Glass-Steagall provisions; and Senators Elizabeth Warren, John McCain, Maria

Cantwell and Angus King have introduced Senate Bill 1285, the "21st Century Glass-Steagall Act

of 2013", with ten co-sponsors as of December of 2013; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to

enact Glass-Steagall inspired legislation currently before Congress, and prohibit commercial

banks and bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting securities, or investing

in or acting as guarantors to derivatives transactions; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution shall be sent to the President of the United

States, to the presiding officers of each house of Congress, and to each member of the State of

Rhode Island Congressional Delegation.

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LC004926

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