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VICTORY: JPMorgan Loophole Defeated

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In 2010, progressive champions in the Senate, including Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, fought to pass the Volcker Rule firewall, which restricts high-risk trading by big banks. The rule, which is meant to protect taxpayers if Wall Street’s bad bets blow up, was met with massive opposition and political maneuvering from big bank lobbyists. That’s why Sen. Merkley started a MoveOn Petition telling Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to keep the so-called “JPMorgan Loophole,” which would blow holes in the firewall, out of the law. More than 77,000 people signed the petition, and on December 10, five regulators—including the Federal Reserve, the Securities Exchange Commission, and the FDIC—approved a strong Volcker Rule firewall. That means that going forward, Wall Street banks will be unable to gamble like high-risk hedge funds, protecting consumers from these “swing-for-the-fences” bets that crashed the economy and caused the Great Recession.