#dodd frank

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, 12 Democrats are reaching across the aisle to help Republicans loosen regulations on certain banks.

Even though former President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial reform act into law just eight years ago, a dozen members of his party are now helping Republicans torpedo it for mid-size banks with assets ranging between $50 billion and $250 billion. To put that in perspective, Lehman Brothers — whose failure was arguably the domino that started the 2008 financial crisis — had liquid assets of $50 billion.

According to an IMF economist’s report published earlier this year, politicians undoing financial regulations that were put in place following a financial crisis often end up causing future financial crises.

Several of the 12 Democrats who are helping Republicans pave the way for the next financial crisis are up for re-election this year. One of these 12 is Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) — Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 presidential election — who promised to rein in Wall Street if elected.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Senators up for re-election in 2018 have their names in bold. Senators with no primary opponent have as asterisk next to their name.)

Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado)

Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware)

Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware)

Senator Joe Donnelly* (D-Indiana)

Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota)

Senator Doug Jones (D-Alabama)

Senator Tim Kaine* (D-Virginia)

Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri)

Senator Gary Peters (D-Michigan)

Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana)

Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia)

While everyone watched Comey, The House voted to kill Wall Street reform and the Senate made moves to fast-track the AHCA

While former FBI Director James Comey's Thursday testimony blanketed the news congressional Republicans quietly moved forward some of their major agenda items.

The House debated the Financial Choice Act — a bill that would kill many of the Wall Street regulations created following the 2008 financial crisis.

The House ultimately passed the bill along party lines Thursday afternoon, sending it to the Senate.

Dodd-Frank Gutted, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Might Answer To Trump

On June 8, House Republicans passed a bill called the “Financial CHOICE Act” that started the process of repealing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. They happened to do it right as all of America was watching the Senate grill former FBI Director James Comey.

The So-Called Facts

The Dodd-Frank Act was passed under President Barack Obama in order to prevent a repeat of the 2008 recession by “stress…

Handing President Donald Trump a major legislative victory and delivering a huge gift to Wall Street banks on the very same day they reported record-shattering profits, 33 House Democrats joined nearly every Republican late Tuesday in passing a deregulatory measure that independent analysts say will significantly increase the risk of another financial crisis.

“Remember these names the next time Wall Street tanks our economy and taxpayers are left to bail out the big banks,” Public Citizen wrote on Twitter following Tuesday’s vote, urging Americans to hold their representatives accountable.

Shown above are the 33 Democrats who voted with every Republican but one—Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.)—to reward big banks on the ten-year anniversary of the 2008 Wall Street collapse.

“This bill will enrich banking giants like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase that are already enjoying record profits. Meanwhile, it will make it harder for black and brown people to become homeowners, and will increase the chances of another taxpayer bailout,” Rep. Keith Ellison, who voted against the bill and denounced it forcefully on the House floor, wrote after the bill passed. “Disgraceful.”

In a strong indication that they are well aware of how politically toxic a vote to reward big banks is in the eyes of the American public, not a single one of the 33 Democrats who voted for the bill—many of whom have received substantial sums of campaign cash from big banks—had the courage to speak in favor of it on the House floor.

By approving the deregulatory measure, which weakens oversight of 25 of the nation’s 38 largest banks, the House cleared the final obstacle on the bill’s path to Trump’s desk. In a tweet early Wednesday, the president applauded the measure’s passage and vowed to sign it into law “shortly.”

“It is reprehensible that our Congress has abdicated this responsibility in a clear move to cater to Wall Street,” Morris Pearl, chair of Patriotic Millionaires, said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is bipartisanship at its worst—members of both parties coming together to bow down to their wealthy donors on Wall Street instead of protecting their constituents. 2008 was just a decade ago, have we already forgotten the lessons we learned?”