Republic financial reform bill

In 21 BBY, the Galactic Senate of the Republic debated and voted upon a bill that allowed for the government to open new lines of credit with the InterGalactic Banking Clan. The legislation was a reactionary move which would allow for greater defense spending in order to counter the high death toll afflicting the Grand Army of the Republic in its fight against the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. The bill was written and proposed by the Ishi Tib Senator Gume Saam and received wide support, but raised questions regarding the ability of the Republic to receive loans from major galactic financial institutions. As an answer to those questions, Senator Saam included provisions in his bill that would essentially deregulate the institutions, allowing them to grant loans indiscriminately and apply to them high interest rates.

A number of representatives who were well-known for their anti-war stances spoke out against the bill, claiming that taking out more loans and deregulating the banks would ultimately bankrupt the Republic. The deregulation provision was the most heavily debated clause within the bill, but Senator Saam, Senator Lott Dod, and representative Nix Card were determined to see it pass, primarily because they all either represented or profited from conglomerates like the Banking Clan. The three met their staunchest opposition in the form of Naboo's Senator Padmé Amidala, whose call for peace talks nearly derailed the bill.

Saam, Dod, and Card refused to allow Amidala's peace rhetoric to prevail, and so used their covert association with Confederate Head of State Count Dooku to orchestrate an attack on the Republic capital world of Coruscant. Their plan worked, and following a bombing at the hands of Separatist demolition droids, the Senate approved the financial reform bill, thereby deregulating the banking system and rejecting the notion of a peaceful resolution to the Clone Wars. The approval was immediately followed by a successful push for an expansion of the military.

Text and facts from the “Republic financial reform bill/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.