The Wall Street Money Ties That Lead to Loopholes
Advocates for financial regulatory reform must be shaking their heads today after watching Rep. Melissa Bean’s (D-Ill.) efforts to weaken a comprehensive
Jul 31, 2020150K Shares2.8M Views
Advocates for financial regulatory reform must be shaking their heads today after watching Rep. Melissa Bean’s (D-Ill.) efforts to weaken a comprehensive financial regulatory reform bill— which have been, all told, pretty effective. As we notedearlier, House lawmakers struck a deal late Thursday night on a modified form of an amendment pushed by bank-friendly Democrats, led by Bean, that would still allow federal laws to override stronger state protections. The House passed the financial overhaul billtoday.
And why would Bean be so interested in protecting big banks from stricter state regulations? One reason may be that, as Mike Elk in The Huffington Post points out,Bean is Wall Street’s favorite Democrat. She has already pocketed $338,125 in campaign contributions from the financial services and banking industries so far this year, accordingto the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. And it’s not like the rest of that committee had huge incentives to push back against Bean’s amendment. The House Financial Services Committee as a whole has benefited greatly from Wall Street’s largesse, taking in a total of $77.6 million in campaign cash since 1989, figures show.CRP’s
Elk clearly has had just about enough:
“„We shouldn’t stand for Democrats doing the work of Wall Street when they are supposed to be doing the work of the American people. We need to get our cops back on the beat protecting Main Street from Wall Street.
But the problem isn’t a lack of cops on the beat – it’s Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) committee, after all. The bigger issue seems to be the money the cops are taking in from Wall Street.
Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
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