Sioux Falls, SD—U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) called on his colleagues in the U.S. Senate to move quickly and pass the Wall Street Reform bill so that protections are put in place to ensure that the financial crisis of the last two years never happens again. Johnson is a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee and served as a negotiator on the conference committee.

“This legislation is an important and long-overdue measure that will help to safeguard the long-term stability of our economy. The kind of free-wheeling, self-regulating, anything-goes environment that we had before the crisis is simply not an option,” Johnson said.

This bill will create a mechanism to monitor systemic risk in the financial sector; create a way to unwind large financial firms without having to bail them out; regulate risky derivatives, credit default swaps and other complicated products that were not transparent and unregulated, and provide consumers with better protections governing the products they use, as well as better information about those products.

“A young South Dakotan told me that South Dakotans are taught to be careful with their own money, but even more careful with someone else’s. The lack of those values on Wall Street is what contributed to this crisis. The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will help to restore those values, and I am pleased to support this legislation,” Johnson continued.

The final bill is expected to pass the Senate in mid-July

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For more information on Senator Tim Johnson visit his website at http://johnson.senate.gov.