Urban Caucus Chair Praises Treasury for New Guidelines to Add Minority- and Women-Owned Firms as Troubled-Asset Managers

Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), chairman of the Congressional Urban Caucus, releases the following statement upon announcement by the U.S. Department of Treasury that it has established meaningful partnership roles for minority-, women-, veteran- and small business owned firms in managing assets under the Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and Term Asset Backed Securities Lending Facility (TARP/TALF):

"The economic meltdown crosses all racial, ethnic, gender lines in American society and hammers businesses big and small, and especially in our urban communities. As Congresswoman Maxine Waters spotlighted in the TARP/TALF Access Summit, convened by the Congressional Black Caucus on March 30, 2009, the national effort to repair our economy has all too often excluded those groups in our society -- minorities, women and small business owners in particular -- that are most dramatically affected.

"The original Legacy Securities program required that any asset manager have at a minimum of $10 billion of Eligible Assets under management -- a guideline, as I said during the Forum that automatically locks out all the women and minority asset managers in the country.

"The Department of Treasury has now taken steps to fill that void and it is to be commended for this action. Treasury has changed the rules in a necessary and sensible fashion to allow these firms to meaningfully participate in the country's economic recovery.

"Now Treasury has released a list of firms from these overlooked and excluded sectors of our economy, and is requiring that they must be brought in for meaningful partnership roles with the asset managers selected for the Treasury's Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program.

"Our national economy will rebound -- and it must rebound. That recovery, to be effective and credible, must include the talents, skills and business moxie of leaders from every segment of our diverse society."