Washington, D.C. — At noon on Wednesday, October 3, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) will be joined by experts from Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Education Fund and the Center for American Progress (CAP) to discuss the importance of the Volcker Rule to the U.S. economy and the threat presented to financial stability by the Trump administration’s so-called Volcker 2.0 proposal. Along with former Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Merkley was the key congressional drafter and champion of the original Volcker Rule legislation in 2010.
Both CAP and AFR Education Fund will release reports on the Volcker Rule and its significance. The upcoming CAP report, “Hollowing Out the Volcker Rule,” analyzes how regulators’ current proposed changes to the Volcker Rule would severely undermine the effectiveness of this critical financial stability measure. If the proposal is finalized, banks will have far more leeway to engage in speculative trading activities, inviting more risk into the banking system just as regulators have begun rolling back other post-Great Recession safeguards. The AFR Education Fund report, “The Volcker Rule: Its Past, Present, and Uncertain Future,” analyzes the origins of the Volcker Rule as a direct response to the Great Recession and assesses the long-term Wall Street effort to weaken the rule—an effort that may now be successful.
WHO:
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Gregg Gelzinis, Research Associate, Center for American Progress
Marcus Stanley, Policy Director, AFR Education Fund
WHAT:
Call to discuss the importance of the Volcker Rule and issues with the current Volcker 2.0 proposal
WHEN:
Wednesday, October 3, at 12:00 p.m. EST
RSVP:
To receive dial-in information, please RSVP to Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.