Dorgan's Taxpayer Protection Act
Senator Dorgan voted against legislation to bail out the financial industry in the fall of 2008 because it did not include proper oversight or restrictions on how the funds were used. To ensure the problems with the Bush Administration's bailout efforts are not repeated, Senator Dorgan introduced financial reform legislation that would protect taxpayers, boost consumer confidence, strengthen the economy, and restore accountability to the nation's broken financial system.
Dorgan's legislation, called the "Taxpayer Protection Act," requires that all private entities receiving federal bailout funds be subjected to the same set of rigorous oversight rules. It also sets strict conditions on all those who receive bailout funds, including cracking down on lavish executive payments, establishes a national task force to prosecute financial fraud that contributed to the financial collapse, and creates a commission to investigate what caused the economic collapse.
Dorgan believes that with trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds having been put at risk, mostly to bail out Wall Street from its reckless lending and investment decisions, it is time for common-sense taxpayer protections and reforms.
Dorgan's legislation would:
- Expand oversight, accountability and transparency. While one part of the bailout of the financial industry, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), contains some important provisions related to oversight, accountability, and transparency, none of them are applicable to the trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds that have been given out or pledged during this financial crisis through other programs. Dorgan's legislation would require all government agencies providing financial assistance to private firms to follow the same set of rules, including monthly reports to Congress detailing how the taxpayers' money is being spent.
- Require all firms receiving emergency financial assistance to be subject to the same conditions as the recent automotive rescue initiative. Dorgan's legislation would require any private company that receives government assistance during the financial crisis to prohibit executive bonuses or golden parachutes for top executives, prohibit the payment of dividends, and make reforms so that they cannot engage in the reckless actions that caused this crisis. If these conditions are not followed, then companies would have to immediately pay back all loans and government assistance.
- Create a Taxpayer Protection Prosecution Task Force. The financial crisis has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars. Any person, company or entity that has benefited from financial wrongdoing must be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The legislation would require the Attorney General to immediately establish this task force to prosecute and recoup money from financial fraud cases that contributed to the collapse of the financial markets.
- Establish a Financial Market Investigation and Reform Commission. Modeled after the 9/11 Commission, this commission will examine how the financial collapse and credit crisis happened, and report back to Congress with recommendations on how a crisis of this magnitude can be prevented in the future.
