WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) issued the following statement after the Senate voted down an amendment to the financial reform effort that would have protected Wall Street businesses, allowing banks to continue to take advantage of consumers.  In recent days, such national organizations as the AFL-CIO, AARP and Americans for Financial Reform have come out against the amendment. It failed by a vote of 38 to 61.

"One of the key causes of the financial crisis was the complete lack of adequate consumer protection, especially in the area of mortgages.  To help prevent this from happening again, Senator Dodd drafted a bill that includes real protections from unfair and abusive financial products ranging from credit cards, to mortgages, to high interest pay day loans.  The amendment just voted down would have gutted those improvements by keeping those who failed to protect consumers in the run up to the financial meltdown in charge of consumer protection. This is nothing more than a case of the fox guarding the henhouse," said Harkin.

"We must restore a balance between the financial industry and consumers in this country. For too long, our financial system and its regulators have fundamentally failed to protect the hardworking families on Main Street from unfair and abusive practices.  This amendment would have tipped the scales even farther toward the financial sector.  I will continue to oppose all efforts to weaken the protections like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

Davenport, IA - The Ad Group today announced that the company has changed its name to TAG Communications, Inc.

The change was made in response to the company's growth in recent years, both in terms of the range of services offered and the geographic regions of clients served.

Mike Vondran, President and CEO, states that the new name doesn't mark a dramatic change in direction for the company, but rather an acknowledgement that client needs and expectations have grown. "Our industry has gone through significant changes in recent years," he notes. "The rise of fact-based marketing, increased understanding of brand dynamics and, of course, the e-media revolution; all demand a wider range of expertise. These changes call for a greater understanding of our clients' overall business as well as a new set of tools. The name change reflects the steps we've taken to meet the resulting needs."

In the past year, the company has added a level of senior management with broad experience, both in the region and with the range of industries served. A new healthcare marketing division was formed, both to acknowledge The Ad Group's longstanding service to the healthcare industry and to address growing industry needs. New media management tools have been added and, more recently, the addition of an in-house Web Services department that incorporates social media and addresses the demand for integrated e-media in the marketing mix.

Vondran stresses that current clients figured heavily in the improvements made. "I'm proud to say that a number of clients have been with us since our founding in 1990," he says. "You don't keep a client relationship for 20 years by staying in one place. Our primary mission is to help them reach their goals and these changes are critical to staying true TAG Communications, Inc. is a full service marketing communications company headquartered in Davenport, Iowa.

Founded in 1990, the company serves consumer and business-to-business clients in local and regional markets nationwide. TAG also provides specialized marketing expertise through its TAG Healthcare, TAG Legal, TAG Yellow Pages, and TAG Automotive divisions.

WASHINGTON -Chuck Grassley this week continued his efforts to protect those who stand up to blow the whistle on wrong doing, even when it's unpopular, for fear of retaliation.

Grassley and Senator Ben Cardin filed an amendment to the banking bill that would make the employees of Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations - such as Moody's Investor Service, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings - eligible for protection under whistleblower protections signed into law in the Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency Act of 2002.

"People who know of wrong doing should feel comfortable to come forward without fear of retaliation," Grassley said.  "Providing whistleblower protection to credit rating agency employees is another way to shore up public trust in our financial system and help prevent history from repeating itself by ensuring those who know of problems feel free to speak up."

Grassley secured the provisions in the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law after the fall out of several Enron-like scandals led to a crack down on corporate fraud and abuse.  The provisions made federal whistleblower protections available to employees of publicly traded companies for the first time ever.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) applauded this morning's passage of an amendment he cosponsored with Senator Jon Tester (D-MT)  and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) that changes the way the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) charges banks for deposit insurance to ensure that banks are assessed at a level commensurate with their risk.  The amendment, which passed 98 to 0, will be included in the financial reform bill.

"As we take up legislation to hold Wall Street accountable, it is crucial that we avoid placing an undue burden on Iowa's community banks," said Harkin. "This amendment will help ensure that Iowa's community banks can compete on a level playing field with the largest banks who engage in the most hazardous behavior.  It also provides community banks with additional capital they can loan to Iowa's communities, which will give our local economies a boost."

Under current law, the FDIC charges banks a fee related to their percentage of domestic deposits to cover the cost of winding down a failed bank.  But by only using deposits to calculate the assessment, FDIC assessments neglect the non-deposit assets used by the very large banks to fund the riskiest types of activities that the larger banks engage in that could cause a bank to fail.  The existing system discriminates against community banks, which typically engage in low-risk lending in their local communities, rather than riskier trading carried out by larger banks, which is not calculated in FDIC deposit insurance.  As a result, community banks that serve Main Street across the country pay 30 percent of all FDIC premiums even though they only hold 20 percent of the nation's banking assets.

To change this system, the amendment requires the FDIC to base these fees on the amount of a banks' total assets, not just deposits. This change ensures that FDIC assessments reflect the risks that the largest banks that are engaged in the riskiest activities pose to the Deposit Insurance Fund.  Harkin's history of work in this field goes back to 2009, when the FDIC issued a special assessment and Harkin successfully wrote to the FDIC urging that it be based on the formula established in this amendment.

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