Maryland has joined more than a dozen other states in calling on Congress to pass Glass-Steagall legislation protecting U.S. bank deposits.
Lawmakers in Annapolis introduced House Joint Resolution 8 on Friday. The measure was assigned to the Committee on Rules and Executive Nominations.
The lawmakers call on Congress to “reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking functions in effect under the Glass-Steagall Act and that would prohibit commercial banks and bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting securities, or investing in or acting as guarantors to derivative transactions to prevent American taxpayers from being called upon to fund hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out financial institutions.”
Glass-Steagall bills pending in Congress include H.R. 129, “The Return to Prudent Baking Act of 2013,” and S. 1282, “The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2013.”
The move to reinstate Glass-Steagall protections — disbanded by Congress in 1999 — has been gaining strength in recent months. Other states with recently introduced Glass-Steagall bills include Rhode Island, New Mexico and Arizona.
Read more by Kenric Ward at Watchdog.com.
