In their own words..some of the 12 Democrats who voted FOR the banks speak out.

madfloridian

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun May-03-09 12:37 AM
Original message

In their own words..some of the 12 Democrats who voted FOR the banks speak out.

Edited on Sun May-03-09 01:19 AM by madfloridian

And they say absolutely nothing. Nothing meaningful at all. There is nothing they can say that would ease the pain or the 2 million or so who could have been helped.

In Their Own Words: Why Dem Senators Screwed Homeowners

Earlier in the week, the measure's lead proponent, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), concluded that banks "frankly own the place."

Of course, the 12 Democrats who voted "no" have a more charitable view of their own motivations. So we asked them what their reasoning was. In their own words, here is how (those we could find) explained their vote:

..."Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.): "A number of things. I thought the 31 percent is an arbitrary number. I think there are a whole lot of folks, are likely folks, out there who have little debt outside their home who could -- I just thought it was an arbitrary number and I didn't like the way it was constructed. Dorgan is referring to the percentage of a person's income that a judge could determine should be dedicated to paying the monthly mortgage. The figure is roughly in line with what financial analysts agree is appropriate.

More meaningless words from some the 12..the one they could find to speak.

Ben Nelson (D-Neb.): "I've not supported the cramdown for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I hate to see that authority to determine what the future contract is ceded to the court."

Tom Carper (D-Del.): "One of the reasons why usually mortgage rates are cheaper for primary homes is that the markets have the certainty that the judge won't be invited to come in and change the terms of the mortgage."

Any excuse is a good one when you screw your constituents.

Jon Tester (D-Mont.): "I just think a deal's a deal. I have a lot of empathy for folks who tend to get led astray, but I just think it's going to create some problems -- pretty obvious, actually. I don't have to list them. I'm generally opposed. I don't think it works well."

Mary Landrieu (D-La.): "My community bankers are really opposed to it and I think it's important for people to realize there is a big difference right now in the country between the health of these large international financial institutions and our local community banks...I think we gotta be careful about adopting processes and procedures that would really hurt our community banks.

And if their constituents vote for them again they will get the same stuff all over again. That's how it works. That old excuse of having to vote for near Republicans in conservative districts is BS....it is time to stop it.

Meteor Blades had diary about this at Daily Kos.

Getting worse before getting better...Senate and Specter fail to help

The Senate on Thursday handed a victory to the banking industry by defeating a Democratic proposal that would have given homeowners in financial trouble greater flexibility to renegotiate the terms of their mortgages.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, overwhelmingly approved a bill backed by the Obama administration that would limit the ability of credit card companies to charge high fees and penalties. The bill, approved 357 to 70, still faces obstacles in the Senate, where � as the action on Thursday illustrated � the industry has more clout, particularly among Republicans and moderate Democrats. In recent days the White House, partly in response to polls showing the significant public disgust with high fees charged by credit card companies, has begun to work for its passage.

The mortgage provision garnered only 45 votes in the Senate, falling well short of the 60 votes necessary to break a threatened filibuster to a measure sponsored by Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, that would give bankruptcy judges greater flexibility to modify mortgages. In recent weeks, major banks and bank trade associations worked closely with Senate Republicans to beat the measure. Twelve Democrats joined all the Republicans in voting against the measure.

Here are the 12 Democratics who sold out to the banks rather than help those in great need. There is no excuse for this.

Baucus (D-MT)
Bennet (D-CO)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Johnson (D-SD)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Specter (D-PA)
Tester (D-MT)

They have other goals than helping the 2 or so million about to face foreclosure.

They should answer for their vote.