Seething Banksters Force Their Congressional Stooges To Eat Mini Hot Dogs Instead Of Filet Mignon

You call this party food?

Friday, almost buried in a post about why Tim Canova would be a better Representative for south Florida than Debbie Wassermann Schultz, there was some information about the Federal Reserve, Fed policy and Wall Street's marching orders to the Schumercrats to forbid an audit. There were actually senators who voted for and even cosponsored this bill in previous congresses voting NO this week! Only two Democrats stayed true-- and one, Bernie, isn't technically even a Democrat. The other senator who showed the consistency on the audit was Tammy Baldwin (WI) who had cosponsored the audit the Fed legislation in 2009 in the House. Among the Democrats who have backed it previously as House members but who voted against the audit this time as senators were Chris Murphy (CT), Mazie Hirono (HI), Gary Peters (MI), Joe Donnelly (IN), and Martin Heinrich (NM).

There's a funny-- and little known-- story related to this that I want to share with you. An old friend of mine, Matt Stoller, now a Bernie Senate staffer, but then working in the House on the audit legislation that was was part of Dodd-Frank, noticed an ancient, long-forgotten subsidy that banksters were getting like clockwork for no apparent reason. He persuaded Donna Edwards to suggest cutting that subsidy as part of the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget.

The CPC budget was never adopted by the House but somehow that very sensible provision wound up in last year's Senate Transportation bill, much to the consternation of the banksters. Their lobbyists went crazy when they figured it out but the $17 billion waste was too tempting for Congress to let slide and they wound up compromising with the lobbyists-- who after all bribe almost every senator-- and the subsidy was drastically cut. The banksters were still furious that their bottom lines were hit-- what good is it bribing politicians if they don't even do what they tell you. Don't weep for the banksters, the grotesquely corrupt senators they own-- primarily Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Cornyn (R-TX), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mark Warner (D-VA), Bob Corker (R-TN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN)-- take plenty good care of them all the time. This one just slipped through the cracks. Bloomberg Business tried explaining how the banksters reacted when the money the U.S. was paying them to keep funds at the Fed was slashed to pay for new highways and bridges. The Democrats had strange allies in this fight though:

One reason banks failed to get what they wanted is that members of the House Freedom Caucus, made up of Republicans who are strident small-government conservatives, don’t support the bill that funds most federal agencies. As a result, Speaker Paul Ryan needed to secure votes from some Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. That gave Democrats unusual power to block measures they didn’t like.

Lenders were most upset over the loss of $7 billion that is part of the annual dividends they receive for holding stock in Fed regional banks. One of the most stunning aspects, according to lobbyists, was that the decision to tap banks to help pay for the $305 billion highway bill came courtesy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Wall Street’s typical adversary, Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, didn’t even have to get involved.

After it became clear that Congress was eying Fed payouts to banks for infrastructure projects, JPMorgan Chase & Co. helped lead a campaign to find an alternative solution. JPMorgan presented a revised plan, which entailed using a different pot of Fed money, to McConnell personally in a meeting on Capitol Hill, said two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the talks were private. To banks’ dismay, McConnell ultimately decided to use both.

“While the Senate had many options for funding the highway bill, Senate Democratic leadership nixed nearly all of them,” McConnell’s spokesman Don Stewart said in an e-mail. JPMorgan spokesman Andrew Gray declined to comment.

After the setback, SunTrust Banks Inc. balked at hosting an annual holiday party sponsored by a coalition of regional banks that’s typically attended by members of Congress, their staff, the media and lobbyists.

Other regional banks scrambled to find a new venue, ultimately moving the party from a historic SunTrust branch located across the street from the Treasury Department to the Washington Nationals baseball stadium on the other side of town. Instead of the usual upscale fare, attendees dined on mini hot dogs and hamburgers.