December 12, 2014

How Citigroup Lobbyists And JP Morgan’s CEO Just Took Public Oversight Of Wall Street Back 14 Years

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/12/12/3603194/dodd-frank-cromulent-phil-gramm/
"The idea was to gain additional leverage for a controversial deregulatory measure by attaching it to much bigger legislation that funds basic government services, in hopes of quieting opponents. Republicans worked with the lobbyists, according to Politico, beginning with a June hearing of the Appropriations Committee.
At that hearing, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) proposed the amendment that would later find its way into the “cromnibus.” When one Democrat objected, asking why a body that has always decried making policy in spending bills would adopt that approach on behalf of Wall Street’s interests, Chairman Hal Rodgers (R-KS) joked, “Just because.” Then Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) pointed out that tucking controversial deregulatory measures into spending bills played a big role in bringing about the financial crisis that had precipitated the reforms Yoder was seeking to undercut.
“I think what the gentleman is trying to do is really dangerous,” Kaptur said, “and it doesn’t belong in this committee.”
Yoder’s amendment was approved without a formal, recorded vote. The success appears to have emboldened lobbyists, who redoubled their efforts to wedge the measure into spending bills beginning in September according to Politico’s sources. Now the Citigroup-written, Yoder-deployed measure is days away from becoming law."