Fernand St. Germain

Fernand Joseph St. Germain
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island's 1st district
In office January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1989
Preceded by	Aime Forand
Succeeded by	Ronald Machtley
Personal details
Born	(1928-01-09) January 9, 1928 Blackstone, Massachusetts
Political party	Democratic Party
Alma mater	Providence College Boston University Law School
Occupation	Attorney

Fernand Joseph St. Germain (born January 9, 1928) is a former U.S. Representative from Rhode Island.

Born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, St. Germain attended parochial schools in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He graduated from Our Lady of Providence Seminary High School, 1945, and from Providence College, 1948. He served in the United States Army from 1949 to 1952, and then graduated from Boston University Law School, 1955.

St. Germain was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1952 to 1961. He was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Rhode Island in 1956.

St. Germain was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-seventh and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1989). He served as chairman of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs (Ninety-seventh through One Hundredth Congresses); the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 is named after him.

St. Germain played a role in passing legislation which removed some regulations on savings and loans. The deregulation had the effect of enabling the institutions to engage in risky lending practices, and was the key factor in the creation of the savings and loan crisis. He also snuck in an amendment to raise the FSLIC insurance on S & L accounts from $40,000 to $100,000 (at the time an average account balance was $6,000), bringing the proposal to the floor of the House of Representatives at midnight when only eleven other congressmen were present. It was voted for unanimously. This allowed for a flood of brokered CDs seeking higher interest to move around S & Ls and contributed to the debacle which will cost the taxpayer trillions of dollars and allowed hundreds of frauds to go unpunished. (Pizzo, Fricker, Muolo: Inside Job: The looting of America's Savings and Loans (1989) McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.)

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the One Hundred First Congress in 1988. He was a resident of Newport, Rhode Island.

References

• Fernand St. Germain at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.