This seems to be slipping beneath the radar thanks to 24/7 Trump-fueled distract-o-vision, but…
The Washington Post reports that mega-bank backed Senate Democrats are conspiring with Republicans to undo the meager financial safeguards enacted by Congress after the 2008 financial meltdown. Just a mere eight years after Dodd-Frank was passed, a dozen “Democratic” senators are “ready to give Republicans the votes they need to weaken one of President Barack Obama’s largest legislative achievements.”
The Republicans and their big bank beholden Democratic pals seek to weaken oversight exempting more than “two dozen financial companies with assets between $50 billion and $250 billion from the highest levels of scrutiny by the Federal Reserve.”
Together, these banks that will be deregulated by this legislation hold more than $3.5 trillion in banking assets. A bank holding less than $250 billion in assets would no longer be too big fail and would no longer have to have a “living will” that explains how the bank could be liquidated to prevent financial chaos, according to the AP.
The bill, S.2155, was introduced in November by Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and will undo substantive parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Currently banks with assets of $50 billion are deemed important enough to our financial system that if they got in trouble, our economy would be at risk. Crapo’s legislation moves the threshold to $250 billion! That is eliminating oversight for 25 of our nation’s biggest banks, and leaving only a dozen or so regulated under Dodd-Frank.
These “small” banks included American Express, BB&T Corp., and Sun Trust Banks, Inc.
“On the 10th anniversary of an enormous financial crash, Congress should not be passing laws to roll back regulations on Wall Street banks,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in an interview. “The bill permits about 25 of the 40 largest banks in America to escape heightened scrutiny and to be regulated as if they were tiny little community banks that could have no impact on the economy.
Some of the Democrats that want to prime the nation for another catastrophic financial collapse include Jon Tester of Montana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Jon Donnelly of Indiana, and Tim Kaine and Mark Warner both of Virginia.
Financial firms upped their campaign contributions to key Senate Democrats over the last year, with Heitkamp, Donnelly and Tester becoming the top three Senate recipients of donations from commercial banks so far in the 2018 campaign cycle , according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The senators disputed any connection between the donations and their support for the Dodd-Frank rewrite legislation.
The other Democrats lining up to cosponsor repealing financial oversight are are Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Gary Peters of Michigan, Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Doug Jones of Alabama.
Of course, the Senators in question deny that big bags of campaign contributions have influenced how they intend to vote according to reporting in The New Republic, “How Democrats Are Helping Trump Dismantle Dodd-Frank.”
Kaine’s office said: “Campaign contributions do not influence Senator Kaine’s policy positions. He supports this bill because it provides relief for small community banks and credit unions in Virginia, helps prevent further harmful consolidation in the banking industry, and strengthens consumer protections for all Americans.”
Warner’s office claimed: “Campaign contributions have never influenced Senator Warner’s decision making on policy matters and never will.”
Right. With Dems like these…