Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) – the leading Democrats on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees – issued the following statement after the U.S government removed GE Capital’s designation as “systemically important” to the financial system. The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), which includes the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve, rescinded GE Capital’s designation for stricter oversight after the firm made changes to reduce its threat to financial stability.

“The Council’s action shows that ‘systemically important’ firms have a clear choice between stricter oversight or reducing their threat to taxpayers and financial stability. FSOC is working just as Wall Street Reform intended: to protect working Americans from once again bailing out ‘too-big-to fail’ institutions. Any legislative or legal actions to hamstring that essential oversight mission could threaten our ability to address risky Wall Street practices in the future, leaving taxpayers and our economy exposed to another crisis.”

###