Big Day For Wall Street Yesterday, Thanks To 102 House Democrats

Yesterday, as rumors of corporate Democrat Joe Biden running in 2020 swept Capitol Hill, there was a real clear policy fault-line vote developing in the House. A Wall Street-backed bill introduced by Randy Hultgren (R-IL), H.R. 1343 (Encouraging Employee Ownership Act) passed 331-87. This is the kind of vote the separates the wheat from the raw stinking sewage. A friend of mine in Congress told me that Wall Street lobbying was intense. Bankster crooks John Delaney (New Dem-MD), Steve Stivers (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ), Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ) and David Trott (R-MI) were the co-sponsors. This was each of their hauls from Wall Street (just) this past cycle:

• Steve Stovers (R-OH)- $1,164,620
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)- $1,007,440
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- $888,994
• John Delaney (New Dem-MD)- $674,000
• Randy Hultgren (R-IL)- $545,250
• David Trott (R-MI)- $245,415

One member, who asked not to be identified, told me the bill showed "where folks stand on the Wall Street divide inside the party." Basically, the bill directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to increase from $5 million to $10 million the annual threshold of securities a privately held company can sell for employee compensation before being required to provide enhanced disclosures. It indexes the threshold for employee sales to inflation, requiring that it be adjusted every five years, rounding to the nearest $1 million. The Congressional Progressive Caucus opposed it. "The bedrock of employee ownership, which seeks to give employees a stake in a company or business, must be trust and transparency," wrote co-chairs Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison. "Unfortunately, H.R. 1343 threatens to weaken these fundamental principles by exempting multimillion-dollar companies from compliance with basic, S.E.C.-required financial disclosures to their own employees." They continued in their argument:

Currently, private companies that compensate their employees with more than $5 million in company stock over a twelve-month period must provide those employees with relatively simple disclosures, including two years of financial statements (which do not need to be audited) and information about the risks associated with investment in the securities. Such information is essential for employees, just like any other investors, to understand the value of their stake in a company—perhaps more so, as they may be more susceptible to suggestion and coercion from their employer and may have fewer resources than private investors to carefully evaluate the risks and benefits of their securities.

H.R. 1343 aims to amend the S.E.C.’s rules by raising the threshold for disclosure from $5 million to $10 million. This means that in order to take advantage of the increased threshold, a company would need to have over $34 million in total assets. Requiring such large companies to provide basic disclosures to their workers cannot be considered onerous.

We believe that employee ownership is an essential strategy in helping to reverse decades of stagnating incomes for working families, safeguarding American jobs from being offshored, and reducing turnover and layoffs. But the basic rights of employee-owners must not be allowed to be eroded under the guise of promoting employee ownership. For these reasons, we oppose H.R. 1343.

86 Democrats and Walter Jones (R-NC) voted against it. Every other Republican plus 102 Democrats voted for it. Did you know there were so many Wall Street whores among the House Dems? Among the stand-out no votes, here are a dozen we've asked you to support in the past:

• Nanette Barragán (D-CA)
• Judy Chu (D-CA)
• Keith Ellison (D-MN)
• Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
• Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
• Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
• Barbara Lee (D-CA)
• Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)
• Jerry Nadler (D-NY)
• Mark Pocan (D-WI)
• Jamie Raskin (D-MD)
• Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)

Surprise "no" votes included New Dem Adam Schiff, who appears to be getting more in tune with normal Democrats now that he's been putting so much into fighting the Trump Regime; Charlie Crist (FL), who always votes with the GOP on this kind of thing but somejow stumbled into a no vote and both Jim Clyburn (SC) and Ben Ray Lujan (NM), the only members of the House leadership to vote no.

The yes votes not only included all the Blue Dogs and almost all the New Dems but also Pelosi and, less surprisingly, Hoyer, Crowley, and Wasserman Schultz. This was a bad vote and I'm embarrassed that so many people I like and respect voted for it. Can't wait to see how the vote goes in the Senate.

One Democratic congressional candidate who followed this bill closely, Tom Guild in Oklahoma's 5th district, told us he didn't want anything to do with it. "My opponent, Rep. Clyde “Steve” Russell, voted with Wall Street and against employees when he voted for H.R. 1343," he told us this morning."Big Wall Street Corporations lobbied heavily for H.R. 1343. The bill addresses the amount in securities a privately held company can sell for employee compensation before being required to provide disclosures. The bill increases from $5 million to $10 million the threshold amount for Wall Street Companies to provide such disclosures to their own employees to inform workers about the risks associated with investments in securities. The basic rights of employee-owners should not be eroded under the guise of promoting employee ownership. It is not surprising, but disappointing nonetheless, that Russell continues to vote with Wall Street, Big Corporations, and Billionaires and continually fails to represent rank and file employees. Oklahomans are tired of being hoodwinked by Russell and others, who pretend to care about working people and the middle class, while voting to give away the store to Wall Street and the Big Boys while voting on the floor of Congress. It is time to put Clyde out to pasture in November of 2018." It's good to know where candidates standoff the fine points. If you'd like to contribute to Tom's campaign, you can do it here.