Vitter Criticizes Dodd Bailout Bill, Outlines Alternative Approach

              (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter today offered a stinging critique of the financial reform bill offered by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and outlined an alternative approach that he said would ensure true bipartisan support while addressing the key issues that led to the recent financial crisis.

 “The bill that the president and Chairman Dodd and others are trying to push to the Senate floor is a purely partisan approach that gets a lot of the bigger issues wrong.  We need regulatory reform, but we need it zeroed in on the real problems, and we need strong bipartisan support.

“Such an approach would include ending federal bailout authority and the ‘Too Big to Fail’ mentality, enhancing consumer protection without creating a micromanaging ‘super-bureaucracy,’ addressing the systemic risk posed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and careless mortgage lending policies, and improving coordination and communication among regulators.

“This would be an approach targeted on the real problems, not a bill using the last financial crisis as an excuse to reach another pre-existing agenda. It would be a bipartisan bill the American people can support, and I hope it becomes the outline of the approach the Senate adopts as we move forward,” said Vitter.

            Attached are slides with additional details of Vitter’s alternative approach for bipartisan regulatory reform.  Video excerpts of Vitter’s speech on the Senate floor are here.