Banking/Glass-Steagall act

TO THE HONORABLE DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1
AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF 2
REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF 3
THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED: 4
We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of 5
the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, 6
respectfully represent and petition as follows: 7
WHEREAS, An effective monetary and banking system is essential to 8
the functioning of the economy; and 9
WHEREAS, Such a system must function in the public interest, 10
without bias; and 11
WHEREAS, Since 1933, the federal banking act of 1933, known as 12
the Glass-Steagall act, protected the public interest in matters 13
dealing with the regulation of commercial and investment banking, in 14
addition to insurance companies and securities; and15
WHEREAS, The Glass-Steagall act was repealed in 1999, partially 16
contributing to the greatest speculative bubble and worldwide 17
recession since the great depression of 1933, leaving millions of 18
homes in foreclosure, causing the loss of millions of jobs 19
nationwide; and 20
WHEREAS, The worldwide recession put severe financial strains on 21
states, counties, and cities, exacerbating unemployment and the loss 22
of civil services; and 23
H-1332.1
HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4006
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Chase, Gregerson, Street, Ormsby, and Nance
Read first time 02/24/25. Referred to Committee on Consumer
Protection & Business.
p. 1 HJM 4006
WHEREAS, The United States senate and house of representatives 1
have been making efforts to restore the protections of the Glass-2
Steagall act; and 3
WHEREAS, Many banks have amassed so much money that they have 4
been arbitrarily determined to be "too big to fail" by federal 5
politicians, which has resulted in United States taxpayers having to 6
bail them out with hundreds of billions of hard earned taxpayer 7
dollars for the overreach in speculative investments that are now 8
permitted due to the lack of Glass-Steagall restrictions against such 9
investments using depositors' money; and 10
WHEREAS, In 2017, a bipartisan group of United States senators, 11
including Elizabeth Warren and John McCain, introduced S.881-21st 12
Century Glass-Steagall Act to restore the complete separation of 13
risky investment banking from straightforward commercial banking 14
activities; and 15
WHEREAS, In 2023, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur introduced H.R. 16
2714, known as the return to prudent banking act of 2023, which 17
revives the separation between commercial banking and the securities 18
business in the manner provided in the Glass-Steagall act; and19
WHEREAS, The Glass-Steagall act has widespread, bipartisan 20
national support from such organizations as the democratic national 21
committee party platform, the republican national committee party 22
platform, the American federation of labor and congress of industrial 23
organizations (AFL-CIO), the American federation of teachers, and the 24
international association of machinists, as well as from prominent 25
economic and business leaders, including Thomas Hoenig of the FDIC, 26
Sanford Weill, former CEO of Citigroup, economist Luigi Zingales, the 27
New York Times, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Los Angeles Times, 28
and many others; 29
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress 30
enact H.R. 2714 or S.881, or any subsequent legislation that would 31
reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking 32
functions that were in effect under the Glass-Steagall act, 33
prohibiting commercial banks and bank holding companies from 34
investing in stocks, underwriting securities, or investing in or 35
acting as guarantors to derivative transactions, in order to prevent 36
American taxpayers from being called upon to fund hundreds of 37
billions of dollars to bail out financial institutions;38
p. 2 HJM 4006
BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately 1
transmitted to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of the United 2
States, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, the President of the United 3
States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each 4
member of Congress from the State of Washington. 5
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p. 3 HJM 4006