Brooklyn Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns voted recently to help restore common sense to Wall Street with the largest reform of our nation’s financial regulations since the New Deal.

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will end taxpayer-funded bailouts and ‘too big to fail’ financial institutions, protect consumers from predatory lending, safeguard our retirement and college savings from unnecessary risks, and inject transparency and new accountability into a financial system run amok.

“For eight years, President Bush and his Republican allies looked the other way as Wall Street and big banks exploited loopholes and gambled with our money – compromising our savings, our future, and the American Dream,” Towns said. “Risky and irresponsible behavior, and the failure to regulate the financial industry led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. But it stops now. This bill will hold Wall Street and the big banks accountable. We are ending taxpayer bailouts once and for all.”

The legislation will create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect families and small businesses by ensuring bank loans, mortgages, and credit cards are fair, affordable, and understandable.

For the first time, the new agency streamlines into one place the role of protecting ordinary Americans’ financial security.

“Consumers should have the peace-of-mind of knowing that they are not going to be tricked by their banks and credit card companies,” Towns said. “We don’t let companies sell faulty toasters that can burn down our homes, and we shouldn’t let the financial industry offer mortgage loans to people who can’t afford repayment.”

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ends “too big to fail” financial firms before risky and irresponsible behavior threatens to bring down the entire economy.

It also strengthens government oversight over large banks and financial firms, including new regulation of credit rating agencies and riskier hedge funds, derivatives, and other complex financial deals.

This bill includes tougher enforcement and oversight of existing protections. It gives the Securities and Exchange Commission new enforcement powers, including requiring hedge funds and private equity funds to register.

It enhances the oversight and transparency of credit rating agencies whose seal of approval gave way to many of the excessively risky practices that led to a financial collapse. It also addresses egregious executive compensation, allowing shareholders to have a ‘say on pay,’ requiring independent directors on compensation committees, and limiting the risky pay practices of bank executives that jeopardized banks’ soundness.

“Wall Street reform is the next critical step to create jobs and grow our economy,” Towns said. “As we rebuild our economy, we must put in place common-sense rules to ensure big banks and Wall Street can't jeopardize our recovery and hurt hard-working families and small businesses. Wall Street may be bouncing back, but we know from experience, they’re not going to police themselves.”