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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, An effective money and banking system is essential | ||||||
3 | to the functioning of the economy; and
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4 | WHEREAS, Such a system must function in the public | ||||||
5 | interest, without any bias; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Since 1933, the Federal Banking Act of 1933, also | ||||||
7 | known as the Glass-Steagall Act, protected the public interest | ||||||
8 | in matters dealing with the regulation of commercial and | ||||||
9 | investment banking, in addition to insurance companies and | ||||||
10 | securities; and
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11 | WHEREAS, The Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, | ||||||
12 | partially contributing to the greatest speculative bubble and | ||||||
13 | worldwide recession since the Great Depression; and
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14 | WHEREAS, The worldwide recession has left millions of homes | ||||||
15 | in foreclosure; and | ||||||
16 | WHEREAS, The worldwide recession has caused the loss of | ||||||
17 | millions of jobs nationwide; and
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18 | WHEREAS, The recession has also put severe financial | ||||||
19 | strains on states, counties, and cities, exacerbating |
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1 | unemployment and loss of civil services; and
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2 | WHEREAS, The United States Senate and the United States | ||||||
3 | House of Representatives have been making efforts to restore | ||||||
4 | the protections of the Glass-Steagall Act; and
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5 | WHEREAS, United States Representative Marcy Kaptur has | ||||||
6 | introduced H. Res. 129 (sic H.R. 129), known as the Return to | ||||||
7 | Prudent Banking Act of 2013, reviving the separation between | ||||||
8 | commercial banking and the securities business in the manner | ||||||
9 | provided in the Glass-Steagall Act; and
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10 | WHEREAS, The Glass-Steagall Act has widespread national | ||||||
11 | support from prominent economic and business leaders and | ||||||
12 | national publications, including Thomas Hoenig of the FDIC, | ||||||
13 | Sanford Weill, former CEO of Citigroup, economist Luigi | ||||||
14 | Zingales, the New York Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the | ||||||
15 | Los Angeles Times, and many others; and
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16 | WHEREAS, As of now, 16 states have filed resolutions | ||||||
17 | demanding immediate action on HR 129 to return to | ||||||
18 | Glass-Steagall; two of those states, Maine and South Dakota, | ||||||
19 | have passed those resolutions through both houses of their | ||||||
20 | legislatures; in the remaining states, legislative action is | ||||||
21 | still pending; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, Overwhelming pressure must be brought to bear on | ||||||
2 | members of the U.S. House of Representatives to add their names | ||||||
3 | as co-sponsors to HR 129, the bill to restore Glass-Steagall, | ||||||
4 | as well as on members of the U.S. Senate, where, as of now, no | ||||||
5 | companion bill has yet been introduced; therefore, be it | ||||||
6 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
7 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
8 | we urge Congress and the President to enact legislation that | ||||||
9 | would reinstate the separation of commercial and investment | ||||||
10 | banking functions in effect under the Glass-Steagall Act, | ||||||
11 | prohibiting commercial banks and bank holding companies from | ||||||
12 | investing in stocks, underwriting securities, or investing in | ||||||
13 | or acting as guarantors to derivative transactions, in order to | ||||||
14 | prevent American taxpayers from being called upon to fund | ||||||
15 | hundred of billions of dollars to bail out financial | ||||||
16 | institutions; and be it further
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17 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
18 | delivered to the President of the United States, the President | ||||||
19 | Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the | ||||||
20 | United States House of Representatives, the members of the | ||||||
21 | Illinois congressional delegation, and United States | ||||||
22 | Representative Marcy Kaptur.
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