[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 165 (Thursday, November 5, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H8145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE RETURN TO PRUDENT BANKING ACT

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise to encourage you to join with me and 
69 of our colleagues, a total of 70 already, who have signed on to 
cosponsor H.R. 381, the Return to Prudent Banking Act. This bipartisan 
bill would restore the provisions of the Glass-Steagall banking law 
that separated prudent banking from wild speculation in the financial 
realm.
  Yesterday marked the 16th year, to the day, that Congress repealed 
the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, bestowing on financial institutions and 
investment firms the ability to put the life savings and deposits of 
the American people at greater risk.
  I was one of the 57 Members of this Congress who voted against that 
repeal of Glass-Steagall. At that time, my colleagues and I were told 
by Wall Street that the banks were strangled by outdated restrictions, 
that the repeal was a modern experiment in deregulation; so Congress 
repealed this bedrock law, over our objections.
  Look where that decision took America. We witnessed a terrible market 
crash in 2008; now, slow growth and the outrageous enormous 
accumulation of banking assets in a handful of institutions like JP 
Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America. They are raking in 
record-shattering profits while paying depositors almost nothing on 
their interest or on certificates of deposit as wages for working-class 
Americans continue to flatline.
  The original Glass-Steagall Act served our country well. It laid the 
foundation for an unprecedented half century without financial panics 
or crises. Just as important, it contributed to a right-sized banking 
system focused on serving our economy and society as a whole rather 
than enriching itself at everyone else's expense.
  This Congress must reinstate the regulatory prudence of the Glass-
Steagall Act. Without these proper safeguards, it is only a matter of 
time before Wall Street's greedy operatives once again steer the 
American economy over the precipice.
  Therefore, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 381, the Return to 
Prudent Banking Act of 2015. Help restore prudence, discipline, and 
sanity to our financial system and, in turn, real economic growth to 
America.

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