Now Boehner Has Something Else To Campaign About Besides Repealing Healthcare-- The Republicans Want To Repeal Wall Street Regulations Too!

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Yesterday at 11AM the Senate voted to shut down the Republican Party filibuster against the far too modest Wall Street regulatory bill. But Republicans weren't trying to kill it because it was too modest. They oppose it-- and now pledge to repeal it if they win the midterms-- because they think Wall Street can handle its own business without government interference. Apparently they missed just how that worked out last time it was tried-- under Bush-Republican rule. We haven't dug out from under that mess yet.

The vote for cloture was 60-38, every Democrat except Russ Feingold (who did oppose it because the legislation isn't strong enough) voted to shut off the filibuster and all the Republicans except mainstream conservatives Scott Brown (R-MA), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) voting in favor of Wall Street banksters. A couple of hours later the Senate passed the reform bill 60-39 and the GOP moved into high gear to reassure Wall Street donors that they have a friend on Capitol Hill.

"I think it ought to be repealed," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, in response to a question from TPMDC, at his weekly press conference this morning.

One of his top lieutenants, Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence agrees. "We hope [the Senate vote] falters so we can start over," Pence told TPMDC yesterday. "I think the reason you're not hearing talk about efforts to repeal the permanent bailout authority is because the bill hasn't passed yet."

GOP leaders can throw around silly "repeal" rhetoric when it comes to health care reform, in large part because an aggressive and dishonest campaign had made the Affordable Care Act controversial. The Republican base is pleased with the boasts, and most of the political mainstream doesn't take the promises seriously anyway.

But talking about repealing Wall Street reform is much dumber, since the effort is far more popular. Boehner & Co. consistently forget this, but Americans still tend to be pretty annoyed with the financial industry that nearly destroyed the global economic system, and which was bailed out by taxpayers. The available evidence suggests voters want the new reform measures, if only to help keep the industry that ran wild in check.

Arguing that new safeguards and accountability measures should be "repealed," before they even pass, makes it sound as if Republicans-- if given a chance by voters-- plan to go out of their way to look out for the Wall Street lobbyists and hedge fund managers that brought the system to the verge of collapse. (Those would be, by the way, the same Wall Street lobbyists congressional Republicans huddled with when plotting how best to kill reform legislation.)

Boehner's remarks aren't surprising, of course. He did, after all, recently suggest accountability measures are a "nuclear weapon," being used to kill "an ant." But it's nevertheless a message Republicans may not want to take to the public: "Vote GOP: We'll put Wall Street safeguards back to 2008 levels!"

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall sent out a very clear message to North Carolina voters about her opponent's decision to filibuster against reform:

It's high time Washington reign in Wall Street, and I'm happy to hear that the Senate will finally vote to move forward on legislation today. Unfortunately, Senator Burr has made it quite clear where he stands: on the side of Goldman Sachs and Citibank.

While Burr continues to fight against extending aid to the jobless, he is bowing to big banks by voting against reforming Wall Street. It's time for North Carolina to elect a U.S. Senator that will stand up for the people of our state, not Wall Street executives.

Why is Burr siding with Wall Street over North Carolina?

Because in Washington, it makes it easier to get reelected.

The truth is the unemployed don't have lobbyists, and they don't make campaign contributions. In Senator Burr's Washington that means they cannot afford a seat at the table-- but Wall Street executives can and have spent millions to buy his vote.

As we pointed out yesterday, Obama's glass house-- and his support for corrupt corporate whores like Blanche Lincoln-- doesn't allow him to speak out as convincingly and as forthrightly as someone like Elaine Marshall. It helps explain why Blue America is so enthusiastic about supporting her. She continued:

This historic bill will strengthen consumer protections, and help to end taxpayer-funded bailouts. It even helps small businesses by cutting the transaction fees they pay to the credit card companies. The reform bill will also make great strides in ensuring another financial disaster doesn't drag the U.S. economy into recession.

That alone makes it worth supporting.

But for a campaign bankrolled by corporate lobbyists, Burr has agreed to say 'no'.

That is exactly what's wrong with Washington.

There aren't that many in the Senate I trust when it comes to Wall Street reform, but Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is one. His statement accentuated the positive without trying to claim everyone's getting a pony now:

“Today the Senate sent a clear message that the financial security of families and businesses on Main Street must always come before the short-term profits of Wall Street. For decades, we let rampant deregulation and deceptive lending practices undermine families’ well-being, poison our financial system and ultimately bring the economy to its knees. This bill will help restore safety and soundness to our financial system and ensure that working families get a fair deal in their everyday financial transactions. 

“I am pleased that the final bill includes the Merkley-Levin amendment that will ban high-risk trading inside the banks and put an end to conflicts of interest, where giants like Goldman Sachs bet against the very securities they were selling to their customers. This provision will encourage banks to return to the days where their main focus was lending. I can’t thank Senator Carl Levin enough for his tireless work to ensure that our banks won’t engage in high-risk trading and put our entire financial system at risk.

“In addition, I’m pleased that the bill includes provisions I championed to end some of the most egregious mortgage practices that led to the housing crisis and cost millions of families their homes. The bill will ban steering payments, liar loans, and prepayment penalties and give Americans the transparency they deserve when purchasing their own home. It will also create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dedicated to protecting consumers from financial tricks and traps, such as unfair overdraft fees and exploding interest rates.

“Now, this bill will not solve every problem in our financial system, and from my perspective, could be stronger in significant ways. Regulators have been given an enormous amount of responsibility to implement the bill as intended. In order to ensure that they hold up their end of the bargain, Congress needs to conduct vigorous oversight of government regulators and our financial markets.