| The Restore Integrity To Credit Ratings amendment (S. Amdt. 3991) passed today on a 64-35 vote, and became a part of the financial reform legislation being debated in the U.S. Senate.
According to a press release, this amendment, authored by our own Al Franken, "cleans up the system by making sure a bank or financial institution can't shop around among credit rating agencies to get a product's initial rating. The bipartisan proposal creates a board, overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will assign credit rating agencies to provide initial ratings in order to eliminate inherent conflicts of interest." "Today is a major victory for Main Streets all over America," said Sen. Franken. "We're cleaning up Wall Street's dishonest system and replacing it with one that rewards accuracy instead of fraud. My proposal wasn't conservative, or liberal, or even moderate. It was just plain common sense. That's why I had the support of colleagues on both sides of the aisle and why we were able to win today." The amendment is one of four major amendments being considered in floor debate that are favored by progressive economists and financial analysts; however, as Sen. Franken noted in the release, it's a common-sense measure that represents a big step toward true accountability on Wall Street.
One wonders why 35 U.S. Senators would vote against such a measure.
Anyway, the bill was cosponsored by numerous Senators on both sides of the aisle, including fellow Minnesota DFLer Amy Klobuchar. |
