LOS ANGELES, CA - As a financial reform package advances in the Senate and an unrelenting swarm of Wall Street lobbyists descends on Capitol Hill to block it, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today urged senators to preserve a critical portion of the legislation which allows states to join the fight against financial fraud on the front line. At the same time, as a number of Attorneys General and Governors accross the country swarm to challenge the constitutionality of the ObamaCare Bill, Brown refuses to join mostly because doing so "politicizes" the issue.
Provisions of the Senate's current bill restore the authority of attorneys general to prosecute financial crimes at the state level, a move that would safeguard consumers, bolster federal oversight, and halt reckless, quick-money schemes before they spiral into national crises.
"Today, more than two years after the recession began, as thousands more Americans lose their homes, jobs and savings, states remain hamstrung in the fight against financial fraud. Even if a state witnesses a crime on its own front porch, it has limited, if any, authority to act," Brown said. "If Congress is committed to preventing another downturn and enacting robust reform, it must preserve the provisions in the current package that untie states' hands and allow us to join the fight."
To press for these provisions, Brown sent letters today to Senators Reid, McConnell, Dodd, Shelby, Feinstein and Boxer urging them to uphold the role of the states in enforcing consumer protection laws. This follows a letter Brown and 39 other state attorneys general sent in November to members of Congress on the same issue.
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