Today, Americans for Tax Reform and 20 other broad based center-right coalition members joined together in an open letter to the US Senate urging all members to "Reject Bailouts, Taxes, and Onerous Regulations in S. 3217!"
 
Coming together with other limited government advocates such as NTU, ACU and the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the coalition letter states:
 
 
Dear Senator:

    On behalf of the millions of members of the undersigned organizations, we urge you to oppose S. 3217, the so-called “Restoring American Financial Stability Act.” Introduced by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), this legislation represents a flawed and incomplete approach to the necessity of reforming America’s financial system. This bill, even in amended form after Senate debate, is an unacceptable exercise in expanding the size and scope of the federal government while ignoring the restoration of fundamental free market principles that must take place if our economy is ever to experience lasting stability and prosperity.

    The legislation is flawed because it contains several damaging provisions that will increase costs and do little to mitigate risks to taxpayers. For example, the bill creates the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, which will have the power of regulating an extremely wide variety of financial products offered to consumers. It also creates the Financial Stability Oversight Council to serve as a regulator of systemic risk, and then anoints as council members the heads of the very entities that failed to protect taxpayers from the crisis the first time around. In addition, the legislation essentially codifies into law the notion of an entity being “too big to fail” by allowing regulators to determine which institutions are systemically important.

    The legislation is incomplete because it does virtually nothing to deal with the elephant in the room: housing. The crisis can be traced back to unwise and unscrupulous home loans, and much of that frenzy was fomented by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which utilized implicit taxpayer backing to tear a path of destruction through the housing market (not to mention the federal government’s finances). Despite the fact that these now-nationalized entities account for the vast majority of current losses associated with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, this legislation is shamefully devoid of an honest attempt at disclosing and divesting taxpayer dollars from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s balance sheets. Furthermore, it does nothing to rein in abuses in municipal bond markets, protect taxpayers from further losses from the bailouts of automotive companies, or address serious ongoing problems with credit rating agencies.

    This wrong-headed approach would raise costs, empower Washington, and do precious little to address systemic problems in the financial system – many of which stem from government manipulation of markets. The time to reform Wall Street is now, but there is never a right time for the wrong solutions. We urge you to oppose this bill and return to the drawing board to draft a comprehensive and measured approach to financial reform.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned
 

Duane Parde
President, National Taxpayers Union
 
Jim Martin
Chairman, 60 Plus Association
 
David A. Keene
Chairman, American Conservative Union
 
William Wilson
President, Americans for Limited Government
 
Tom Jenney
Arizona Director, Americans for Prosperity
 
Grover Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform
 
Ryan Ellis
Executive Director, American Shareholders Association
 
Jeffrey Mazzella
President, Center for Individual Freedom
 
Barbara Anderson
Executive Director, Citizens for Limited Taxation
 
Chris Chocola
President, Club for Growth
 
John Berlau
Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, Competitive Enterprise Institute
 
Thomas A. Schatz
President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
 
Matt Kibbe
President and CEO, FreedomWorks
 
Mario H. Lopez
President, Hispanic Leadership Fund
 
Andrew Langer
President, Institute for Liberty
 
Colin Hanna
President, Let Freedom Ring
 
Dee Hodges
Chairman, Maryland Taxpayers Association
 
ForestThigpen
President, Mississippi Center for Public Policy
 
Lew Uhler
President, National Tax Limitation Committee
 
Doug Kagan
Chairman, Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom
 
John W. Whitehead
President, The Rutherford Institute