ASSEMBLYMEMBER TED LIEU
53RD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
For Immediate Release: March 31, 2008
Contact: Sheri Pemberton
Phone: (916) 319-2053

Assembly Banking and Finance Chair Lieu Responds to Bush Administration’s Proposed Federal Monetary Agencies Overhaul

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), who chairs the Banking and Finance and Rules committees, today issued the following statement after U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed a new regulatory restructuring of federal monetary policy:

“The Bush Administration's colossal expansion of federal powers for the Federal Reserve must not come at the expense of states, many of whom have led the way in strong regulatory financial reforms. States such as North Carolina and California have either enacted or are considering some of the strongest consumer protections in the nation when it comes to mortgage and banking reform. The Treasury's Department's current proposals will cut us off at the knees.

“The Bush Administration should not use the proposed Blueprint as a way to forestall far stronger regulatory financial reforms currently being undertaken by states. Not all states have been affected by the mortgage crisis and several states have been affected far worse than others. Those states that decide to enact stronger regulatory reforms should be allowed to do so. The Treasury Department's proposal for direct federal supervision of state chartered institutions--which originated or sold more than half of the nation's subprime loans--must therefore be a minimum standard for regulation that states must meet, not a maximum ceiling that will prevent stronger state action.”