Which 73 Democrats Just Voted to Gut Dodd-Frank Today?

[ProSense]

Which 73 Democrats Just Voted to Gut Dodd-Frank Today?

by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees

While you were reading about the NSA today (and the NSA, of course, was reading along with you), the House of Representatives passed several pieces of legislation with bipartisan majorities.

The House passed the South Utah Valley Electric Conveyance Act 404 to 0. It passed the Rattlesnake Mountain Public Access Act 409 to 0. And it voted to gut Dodd-Frank by a vote of 301 to 124. Thankfully, at least, the big banks aren't as popular as Rattlesnake Mountain.

The Swap Jurisdiction Certainty Act, or--as former Golden Sachs programmer and current Occupy Wall Street activist called it---the "Intimidate the CFTC ACT"--changes how derivatives are regulated. One should immediately see warning lights by the word "certainty" with its echoes of the language that banks and polluters always use when they want to gut regulations--in the name of certainty, never self-interest. The bill first would force the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to "harmonize" their rules governing derivatives, i.e., adopt the weaker rules of the SEC. However, there's more danger in the bill because it would exempt foreign trades from regulation. In an article this morning in the Washington Post, Goldstein explains,

It makes a crucial, and dangerous, blanket assumption: If a U.S. bank does derivatives trading in one of the nine largest swaps markets, that country’s rules are assumed to be as strong as the United States’, so the U.S. rules need not apply.

This is a ridiculous assumption, because if the rules were truly equivalent, there would be no need for this bill in the first place. In fact, this would allow U.S. banks to dodge U.S. rules in favor of weaker rules overseas. Yet as the last crisis showed, even when banks attempt to hide the risk overseas, that risk remains at home. AIG failed because of derivatives traded out of their London office. More recently, JPMorgan Chase lost more than $6?billion last year due to their infamous “London Whale” trades, which were the subject of a devastating report from the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

<...>

Now, let's move to "name and shame" time. Which 73 Democrats voted with Wall Street and put taxpayers at risk for future bailouts? Almost all of the conservative Blue Dogs and corporatist New Dems voted for the bill. Unfortunately, a few members of the Progressive Caucus (including Raul Grijalva?!) also voted for it. Some of the Democrats in this list are pursuing higher office, e.g. Allyson Schwartz in the 2014 PA gubernatorial race, Gary Peters in the 2014 Michigan senatorial race.

Ron Barber (AZ-02) – New Democrat
John Barrow (GA-12) – New Democrat; Blue Dog
Ami Bera (CA-07) – New Democrat
Sanford Bishop (GA-02) – Blue Dog
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
Tony Cárdenas (CA-29)
John Carney (DE-AL) – New Democrat
Andre Carson (IN-07) – New Democrat; Progressive Caucus
William “Lacy” Clay (MO-01) – Progressive Caucus
Jim Clyburn (SC-06) – Assistant Democratic Leader; National Mobilization Chair, DCCC
Gerry Connolly (VA-11) – Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coalition
Jim Cooper (TN-05) – New Democrat; Blue Dog
Jim Costa (CA-16) – Blue Dog
Joseph Crowley (NY-14) – DC Finance Chair, DCCC
Henry Cuellar (TX-28) – Blue Dog
Elijah Cummings (MD-07) – Progressive Caucus
John Delaney (MD-06) – New Democrat
Susan DelBene (WA-01) – New Democrat
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Elizabeth Esty (CT-05) – New Democrat
Bill Foster (IL-11) – New Democrat
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
Pete Gallego (TX-23) – Blue Dog
Joe Garcia (FL-26) – New Democrat
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03) – Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus
Luis Gutierrez (IL-04) – Progressive Caucus
Janice Hahn (CA-44) – Progressive Caucus
Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01) – New Democrat
Denny Heck (WA-10) – New Democrat
Jim Himes (CT-04) – Vice Chair, New Democrat Coalition; National Finance Chair, DCCC
Steven Horsford (NV-04) -- Progressive Caucus
Steve Israel (NY-03) – Committee Chair, DCCC
Hank Johnson (GA-04) – Progressive Caucus
Robin Kelly (IL-02)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06) – New Democrat
Ron Kind (WI-03) – Chair, New Democrat Coalition
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02) – Progressive Caucus
Rick Larsen (WA-02) – Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coalition
Daniel Lipinski (IL-03)
Nita Lowey (NY-17)
Dan Maffei (NY-24) – New Democrat
Sean Maloney (NY-18) – New Democrat
Jim Matheson (UT-02) – Blue Dog
Mike McIntyre (NC-07) – New Democrat; Blue Dog
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Grace Meng (NY-06)
Gwen Moore (WI-04) – Progressive Caucus
Patrick Murphy (FL-18) – New Democrat
Bill Owens (NY-21) – New Democrat
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) – New Democrat
Scott Peters (CA-52) – New Democrat
Gary Peters (MI-14) – New Democrat; Vice Chair of DCCC’s Recruitment Committee; Michigan Senate candidate
Collin Peterson (MN-07) – Blue Dog
Jared Polis (CO-02) – New Democrat; Progressive Caucus; National Chair for Candidate Services, DCCC
Mike Quigley (IL-05) – New Democrat
Nick Rahall (WV-03)
Cedric Richmond (LA-02) – New Democrat
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-46) – New Democrat; Blue Dog
Brad Schneider (IL-10) – New Democrat
Kurt Schrader (OR-05) – New Democrat; Blue Dog
Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) – Vice Chair, New Democrat Coalition; PA Gubernatorial Candidate
Terri Sewell (AL-07) – New Democrat; Vice Chair of Finance, DCCC
Brad Sherman (CA-30)
Krysten Sinema (AZ-09) – New Democrat
Bennie Thompson (MS-02) – Progressive Caucus
Juan Vargas (CA-51) – New Democrat
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Filemon Vela (TX-34) – New Democrat

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/12/1215805/-Which-73-Democrats-Just-Voted-to-Gut-Dodd-Frank-Today

Roll call: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll218.xml

[DJ13]

1. So "New" Democrat = Old Republican

Got it.

[Triana]

3. Yep. And Republicans have gone Taliban. n/t

[octoberlib]

2. This worries me.

Most of these fucks have done absolutely nothing to fix the root causes of the last crash. They're too busy watering down bills at the behest of lobbyists. I'm worried about another big stock market crash. It's inevitable. Another reason why we need campaign finance reform.

[90-percent]

6. Me too

Last edited Thu Jun 13, 2013, 12:33 AM - Edit history (1)

There have not been many systemic changes to avert another crash. It will be completely off the radar until it explodes and then all the pundits will explain why it was obviously going to happen again.

Our government's corrupt legislative processes are not going to prevent another repeat of the 2008-2009 crash. They are not doing much to keep us safe from economic collapse.

The house of cards will collapse once again and everybody will be baffled about why it happened. It will happen again when the time is right to maximize the benefits to the wealthy powerful elites who have engineered so many heinous ways to make money out of human misery.

-90% Jimmy

[octoberlib]

9. They need to break up the big banks and impose tighter regulations

Americans aren't going to be so sanguine if we have to bail them out again.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Well, I'm glad to see that the MA contingent has clean hands.

Now if I could convince our Commonwealth to secede...

[octoberlib]

10. What's this "New Democrat" crap about? Third Way? nt

[russspeakeasy]

5. We aren't still surprised are we ?

They vote for the next election...

[Eleanors38]

7. Someone told me that Ponzi schemes are like bad sex...

You might regret that kind of easy stuff, but after a little time you getta little horny for it again, and realize it's just that easy -- ain't no one stoppin' you -- so you drop trou & wade in again.

[liberal_at_heart]

8. I voted for Delbene. I will let her know she will never get my vote again.

[Lugnut]

11. Allyson Schwartz?

She can hold her breath while she's waiting for me to support her gubernatorial candidacy.

[woo me with science]

12. Gee, I wonder if Obama will veto legislation "gutting Dodd-Frank."

[Union Scribe]

17. When he doesn't

the same poster will be back to tell us it's a good thing.

[ProSense]

20. "When he doesn't the same poster will be back to tell us it's a good thing."

This is not a "good thing," and you should check your crystal ball for cracks.

Remember, "this same poster" strongly supported Wall Street reform.

Report: Wall Street’s Opposition to Dodd-Frank Reforms Echoes Its Resistance to New Deal Financial Safeguards

Bedrock Consumer Protections Once Were Flogged as ‘Exceedingly Dangerous,’ ‘Monstrous Systems’ That Would ‘Cripple’ the Economy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the nation approaches the first anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, opponents are claiming that the new measure is extraordinarily damaging, especially to Main Street. But industry’s alarmist rhetoric bears striking resemblance to the last time it faced sweeping new safeguards: during the New Deal reforms. The parallels between the language used both then and now are detailed in a report released today by Public Citizen and the Cry Wolf Project.

In the decades since the Great Depression, Americans acknowledged the necessity of having safeguards in place to prevent another crash of the financial markets, including the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and laws requiring public companies to accurately disclose their financial affairs. Although these are now seen as bedrock protections when they were first introduced, Wall Street cried foul, the new report, “Industry Repeats Itself: The Financial Reform Fight,” found.

“The business community’s wildly inaccurate forecasts about the New Deal reforms devalue the credibility of the ominous predictions they are making today,” said Taylor Lincoln, research director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division and author of the report. “If history comes close to repeating itself, industry is going to look very silly for its hand-wringing over Dodd-Frank when people look back.”


<...>

In fact, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is designed to prevent another Wall Street crash, which really made it tough on everyone by causing massive job loss and severely hurting corner butchers and bakers, as well as retirees, families with mortgages and others. The Dodd-Frank law increases transparency (particularly in derivatives markets); creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to ensure that consumers receive straightforward information about financial products and to police abusive practices; improves corporate governance; increases capital requirements for banks; deters particularly large financial institutions from providing incentives for employees to take undue risks; and gives the government the ability to take failed investment institutions into receivership, similar to the FDIC’s authority regarding commercial banks. Much of it has yet to be implemented.

- more -

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/07/12-0

Elizabeth Warren Slams ‘Dangerous’ Legislation That Would Weaken Wall Street Reform
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2896060

[ProSense]

19. Yes, it's all about Obama. n/t

[davidpdx]

13. Scharder is my representative in Oregon

I've had it with him. He is a DINO. I'll vote for fucking Mickey Mouse before I vote for him again. The sad thing is he'll probably get reelected easily unless the Republicans find a candidate to run against him. He beat his opponent in 2010 by only 15,000 however in 2012 won by 48,000.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. The "Dimes worth of difference" between the parties is being whittled down to a wooden nickel.

"Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." --Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1795.

[littlewolf]

15. butterfield is usually pretty good, it is not like he is facing a serious challenge from the GOP.

I wonder why he voted for that.

[ReRe]

16. Thank you, ProSense!

And I bet you they are going to get real busy and push more of these mundane innocent-sounding bills through while the M$M has everyone captivated with the NSA story and a gazillion other things. Do you think these Congressmen read the bills? Do they even know what's in half of what they vote on? We're in a world of trouble in this country.

[mick063]

18. Bail out time is coming soon.

Than another round of austerity to pay for it.

Half of America thinks the best way to prepare is buy dehydrated food, boxes of ammunition, and let the governor implement emergency management measures on the cities that go broke because of it.

FOX cheerleads them through the engineered process with chronological precision.

[Laelth]

21. Any chance this bill will pass in the Senate?

Has Obama promised to veto it? Is it for real, or is it just for show?



-Laelth

[LWolf]

22. Not my rep.

And he's a fucking Republican.