Letter on Amendments Offered by Sens. Carper and Corker to S. 3217, the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010"

May 18, 2010

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, supports amendment SA 4071, introduced by Sen. Carper, and SA 4034, filed by Sen. Corker to S. 3217, the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010," which would maintain current law with respect to limits on state regulation of federally-chartered financial institutions, limits that have been in effect for 150 years. Those limits serve the important purpose of protecting the safety and soundness of these businesses – and of the entire financial system – by preventing state regulation that could interfere, perhaps inadvertently, with safety and soundness.

The longstanding, reasonable limits on state authority in current law have allowed the United States to develop a deep, highly competitive market for credit: One set of national rules permits businesses to offer credit broadly, which means greater choice and lower cost for small businesses and consumers. Also, the creation of a new federal consumer regulator focused on overseeing federally-chartered institutions makes it entirely unnecessary to change the law to impose a new, duplicative layer of state regulation.

The Chamber urges you to support the Carper and Corker amendments to maintain current legal standards regarding state authority to regulate federally-chartered institutions. The Chamber may consider votes on, or in relation to, these amendments in our annual How They Voted scorecard.

Sincerely,

R. Bruce Josten