Casey: Currency Bill Aimed At Punishing Cheating China
Monday, October 3, 2011 at 1:24PMSen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) spoke to reporters ahead of a key vote later today in the Senate on a bill to crack down on alleged currency manipulation by the Chinese government.
Casey said that Chinese officials must learn that they won’t get away with devaluaing their Yuan.
“It’s time to vote and act to let the officials in China know there are consequences to cheating,” Casey said during a conference call.
Proponents of the legislation argue that over the past decade China has manipulated its currency and maintained trade policies that have harmed the U.S economy.
“We’ve lost hundreds and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the past decade and many are attributable directly to China’s currency policies,” Casey said.
The Senate bill, which has bipartisan support, would impose tariffs on Chinese imports and allow easier investigations into currency manipulation.
Not everyone is happy with the bill, however.
Around 50 U.S industry groups have vocally protested it and the White House has yet to endorse it.
Some are worried that the legislation would lead to a trade war with China.
Casey, however, has no such concern.
“China would be wise to play by the rules,” he said. “The United States still has quite a mark on China, which they’re interested in so I would hope they wouldn’t overreact to it. I am not concerned by that. I am more concerned that we do nothing.”
Congressmen Ask Geithner To Resign
Hopefully, no one told U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that pitching the Obama administration’s financial reform plan to Congress was going to be painless. During a heated Joint Economic Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Republican Reps. Michael Burgess (Texas) and Kevin Brady (Texas) called on Geithner to step down, telling him that his work is not adequately serving Americans.
“Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed,” Brady argued. “Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. Poll after poll shows the public has lost confidence in this President’s ability to handle this economy... for the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?”
Geithner responded to Brady by saying he’s privileged to serve in his position, but did not give the Congressman an answer. Responding to Brady’s concerns over unemployment and the types of jobs lost, Geithner remarked, “Almost nothing in what you said represents a fair and accurate perception of where this economy is today.”
The purpose of Geithner's visit to the Hill, his second in as many days, was to encourage lawmakers to include four elements that he argued, “are critical to a strong package of [regulatory reform] legislation.”
Among them: Forcing non-banks who act as banks to be subjected to the same safeguards as recognized monetary institutions; accountability that includes a proposed council that will ensure that banks, regardless of size, work on a level playing field; a more capable financial system that will better absorb shocks and failures and adoption of a “no institution should be considered too big to fail” motto, which Geithner explained would be enforced by the government under “resolution authority.”
“This emergency authority, what we call resolution authority, has to be designed to facilitate the orderly demise of a failing firm...not ensure its survival,” he said. "Any risk of loss, must be recouped from the largest institutions, in proportion to their size. The financial industry, not the taxpayers, need to be on the hook.”