TPMDC
Sanders' Fed Audit Amendment Likely To Prevail
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
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Could Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) shake off powerful opponents of his proposal to audit the Federal Reserve? It looks like he's about to do just that. By making a few changes to his financial reform amendment, Sanders has won support from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, and Majority Leader Harry Reid, and seems more poised than ever to prevail. The Senate should vote on his amendment later today.
In order to allay some of the White House's and the Fed's concerns, Sanders has agreed to limit the scope of what the Government Accountability Office would be allowed to audit--but his plan will still require thorough review of all the Fed's emergency lending, beginning December 1, 2007.
"The way you would do it is to make sure that the audit is not looking at the open market policy, where you're not looking at how interest rates are set," Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said in response to a question from TPMDC, after a floor vote on a different amendment. "What you're doing is looking at the actual financial transactions that the Fed is involved in."
"It's my understanding he's working very closely--I've talked to him on the floor--with the Fed to try to get that part right," Corker said.
Moments later, Sanders announced the changes on the Senate floor--and they were sufficient to win Dodd's support.
The amendment will still "allow the GAO to conduct a top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve's emergency lending activities since December 1, 2007," Sanders said on the Senate floor this evening. "In addition, the modifications require the Fed to put on its website all of the recipients of over $2 trillion in emergency assistance since December 1, 2007."
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calchala
May 6, 2010 4:35 PM
These are technical questions that appeared to have been resolved. It's good that the WH and Sanders came to some agreement on the measure.
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Nutter
May 6, 2010 4:46 PM in reply to calchala
But you will still hear Obama haters pretend that he vetoed it before he even made a statement on it.
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hunter
May 6, 2010 5:18 PM in reply to calchala
Yep, it looks like they probably got it right. If Dodd's on board you can bet the Fed told him that an audit done this way won't be dangerous. Now in all likelihood that's because the parts they exempted are where the real bodies are buried...but frankly, they need to stay buried long enough for the Fed to slowly clean up whatever toxicity they represent.
Anyway, this sounds like it's better than no crisis audit at all, and it's definitely far superior to the House's amendment, which opened up the whole open market regime to the same biannual audits the rest of the Fed gets. Everybody got something; good job guys.
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Shrubbit
May 6, 2010 4:35 PM
Bernie Sanders, you're the greatest.
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tiowally
May 6, 2010 5:21 PM in reply to Shrubbit
Second. Yea, Bernie!
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AbqMike
May 6, 2010 5:55 PM in reply to Shrubbit
Third. Yeah, Bernie!!!
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UTMark
May 6, 2010 7:02 PM in reply to Shrubbit
Agreed. And Al Franken's pretty gosh darn good too. Now if the Senate would pass his amendment to this bill it would be another significant improvement.
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andrew
May 6, 2010 7:05 PM in reply to UTMark
Son't forget Brown(OH) Merkly and Fiengold. And my Senator Whitehouse too.
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Indie Pro
May 6, 2010 4:36 PM
The amendment will still "allow the GAO to conduct a top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve's emergency lending activities since December 1, 2007. In addition, the modifications require the Fed to put on its website all of the recipients of over $2 trillion in emergency assistance since December 1, 2007."
that seems to be the most important part, as well as the terms. as long as there aren't many surprises, this is all good news for the Senate bill.
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hunter
May 6, 2010 5:26 PM in reply to Indie Pro
Agreed. And for what it's worth, I doubt there will be anything Earth-shattering in the disclosure; I'm betting that's what Corker means by "[Sanders is] working...with the Fed to try to get that part right."
I guess I should note that I mean "Earth-shattering" in an economic sense. The audit could easily lead to a bunch of corruption charges, etc. related to Fed officials "picking winners" (e.g. Goldman and Chase) which certainly would be a Very Big Deal. But that sort of thing is healthy for the economy at large. The dangerous thing would be revelations like you linked to earlier.
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BronxInTN
May 6, 2010 4:37 PM
Unless those various Fed directors named by Sanders recused themselves in the votes affecting the Wall St. banks on which they also serve as directors, that is a clear conflict-of-interest. Most Universities have stronger guidelines than what the Fed could be doing. And if you have multiple bank directors sitting on the Fed, then even recusal is not good enough. There too much possibility for "I'll vote your way if you vote my way" connivance.
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dustbunny44
May 6, 2010 4:46 PM
Thank you Bernie. In government (at least ours), no one should be above accountability and some kind of transparency. You want secret and unquestioned hierarchies, and unchallenged risk-taking, that's what corporations are for.
Non-accountability always results in abuse.
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CranialRectalLoopback
May 6, 2010 4:50 PM
Doesn't matter. If Obama doesn't want it (and he doesn't, for some inexplicable reason) it won't happen. Just like the Public Option in healthcare deform.
And just like healthcare deform, Sanders will abandon the audit in the end just as he abandoned the Public Option.
Everyone let's the shit be the enemy of the good.
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Nutter
May 6, 2010 4:54 PM in reply to CranialRectalLoopback
You hate Obama so blindly that you can't even read the screen, can you?
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Max Thrax
May 6, 2010 5:19 PM in reply to CranialRectalLoopback
This country isn't a blank slate, there are political considerations. I think opening up the Fed to the same kind of debate we saw during HCR is the greater of two evils probably. We'll see. I do trust Sanders completely, I'm just afraid in today's factless world, this will just be one more brick in the culture war. Then again, it's a war I'm completely read to have.
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andrew
May 6, 2010 7:00 PM in reply to CranialRectalLoopback
Okay so its in the house bill and Obama supports it in the senate bill. Who's taking it out? Tell me who? Stop complaing about Obama. Who are u gonna get elected president? Huh? The argument that hes not hitting them hard enough makes him a corprut whore is sad. Some good things in the bill equals a sellout now apparently.
The battle to get real progressive change acopmlished is fought moving the ball down the feild yard by yard, foot by foot, inch bt inch, bill by bill, ammendment by ammendment. Fighting for progressive change is the job of our generation but it was a job of the one before us and it will be the job of generations long after us as well.
If you can't stomach that and your gonna whine then sit down and keep your negitiveity too yourself.
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Cornelius
May 6, 2010 7:14 PM in reply to andrew
get over yourself.
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Nutter
May 6, 2010 8:27 PM in reply to CranialRectalLoopback
Obama made a deal with Sanders where you got where you want. He never vetoed it or even threaten to veto it.
Where is your apology?
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traitorjoe
May 6, 2010 4:57 PM
Super Bernie to the rescue! Wish we had the audit while Alan Fraudspan was in charge.
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hollywood
May 6, 2010 5:13 PM
Thanks Bernie! and thanks Vermont! I love this guy and I am thrilled to see him moving this country to a smarter better place.
There is a reason that American democracy began in the New England states and spread south and west. There is a reason that the south tried to break away and still drags us all down. The people of Vermont elect Sanders and the people of South Carolina elect Jim DeMint. That tells you all you need to know about the difference between regional cultures in America.
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andrew
May 6, 2010 7:02 PM in reply to hollywood
This Rhode Island progressive whole heartedly agrees. New England rocks!
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oleeb
May 6, 2010 5:25 PM
Bernie for President!
If we elect Bernie for the top job and the Republicans howl that he's a socialist we can just chant right back at them: "damn right he is!"
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Eric Jaffa
May 6, 2010 5:28 PM
Is there going to be an audit of "emergency lending activities" but not "non-emergency lending activities"?
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andrew
May 6, 2010 6:50 PM in reply to Eric Jaffa
Doubt it. I think it will be everything. I think Bernie just mentioned the emergency activities because thats where we will see the deals cut.
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tytester
May 6, 2010 5:29 PM
The fix is in! Someone explained to Bernie who will be affected and what will be the consequences, so he caved.
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hunter
May 6, 2010 6:43 PM in reply to tytester
Yep, and good thing too. It could have been a real disaster.
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expat46
May 6, 2010 6:55 PM in reply to hunter
Somebody better tell Grayson.
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tytester
May 6, 2010 7:11 PM in reply to hunter
Nope, not a good thing at all. I bet the change to which Bernie agreed will allow the Fed/WH to hide what they think we do not need to know. I bet after the law passes, the Fed will write a rule to implement the law, and the rule will say "all transactions, except transactions directly related to making open market policies." And guess what, all the dirty laundry of the Fed will fall within this exception.
BTW, hunter, you seem to be unusually active on anything and everything that has to do with Bernie's amendment......
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Cornelius
May 6, 2010 7:42 PM in reply to hunter
"Yep, and good thing too. It could have been a real disaster".
Who and what made you the fucking authority on the Fed? Get over your self-importance. I prefer Simon Johnson's at baselinescenario.
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andrew
May 6, 2010 7:03 PM in reply to tytester
You trolls ruin all the fun.
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TPD forever
May 6, 2010 5:45 PM
Hey guys, check out this crazy political forum. Register to post and Tell the other party whats up.
http://www.thepartisandialogues.com
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mwfolsom
May 6, 2010 6:13 PM
Sadly Sanders has caved -
Lets see what other little things got taken off the table? We start with nothing before Dec 1, 2007 - wonder what else will be out of bounds?
Obama is just doing what he always has done - protect the Corporations and Banks that own him.
Sadly when I gave money, time and my vote to the Big O I didn't know what a jerk he really is. I won't make that mistake again.
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andrew
May 6, 2010 6:48 PM in reply to mwfolsom
Can you read? This is not a full on audit it just takes audits the bail out period which is frankly all we care about. I mean finding out about the backroom deals in the 80's would be great but I care more about corruption that is occuring now.
You want a reason to hate Obama.
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Nutter
May 6, 2010 8:25 PM in reply to andrew
I thought that these fakes would at least WAIT until he made a statement about it before accusing him about caving to the corporation. But nooooooooooooo, even being PRESSUED by them is caving.
You know, this reminds me of that time when Ruta was screaming about single payer and Dennis. The same person that posted a blog that you can trust him with your healthcare, but not the "salesman". Someone challenged him by saying that he could not even get it out of HIS committee EVER or even become elected the the congressional top leadership, so what now?
And guess what the response was?
It was Obama's fault for not leading!
W
T
F
!
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stevebeast
May 6, 2010 8:37 PM in reply to andrew
it would be nice if they audited the foreign transactions. auditing tarp is nothing
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UTMark
May 6, 2010 7:04 PM in reply to mwfolsom
Gonna vote Palin-Bachmann in 2012? Is that the kind of change you can believe in?
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Cornelius
May 6, 2010 7:29 PM in reply to UTMark
these comparisons are lazy and sooo weak, Obama against Paris Hilton/Jessica Simpson 2012! That's it Obama trolls! Sure we whine but after a while the Obama lovefest gets tedious. If he can't orchestrate real financial "reform" the whining will continue.
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Philv
May 6, 2010 6:50 PM
But, but, I thought there was going to be "tremendous pressure" for Obama to veto the bill because of this amendment...
Another day, another concern troll put to rest
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rbeats
May 6, 2010 7:01 PM
What about the other 22 trillion?
Thanks for caving again Bernie.
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andrew
May 6, 2010 7:12 PM in reply to rbeats
If this was a war you would be acusing the troops who didn't take enough ground in battle of treason. Get real. They wanted no audit. We one with some small procedural tweeks. He did not cave.
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traitorjoe
May 6, 2010 7:09 PM
After the bill gets signed, Bernie should pretend to offer condolences by shaking hands with Mitch McConnell, and when Ol' Mitch reaches out his gnarly old hand, Bernie should punch him in the gut. As McConnell writhes on the ground, Bernie will whisper, "How you like me now punk?"
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MikeW67
May 6, 2010 7:19 PM
Known neocon obstructionist Bob Corker, cavorts with socialist... ;^)
Sweeping financial reforms are long overdue. The mega-banks had to be stabilized, they are too interconnected in the financial system we are all dependent on. Now they should be broken up into smaller pieces so that "too big to fail" cannot happen again.
Balkingpoints / www
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Nutter
May 6, 2010 8:20 PM
Obama is under pressure (as always) to not do anything = he is a corporate whore
Obama made a deal to get an audit on specifically the actions of the fed to stop the crisis = he is a corporate whore
Amendment is in both the house and the senate = he stopped it
He made no veto threat = he stopped it
Glass-Seagell has a VERY good chance of coming back in one form or another = he is a corporate whore
Do you want something to complain about? KISS MY ASS!
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Gmarks
May 7, 2010 9:38 AM
IF Bernie is 'working' with the Fed, to 'get it right'.... all one need to know is the ethnicity of Bernie and the FED.
Dodd, Bernie and Fed families share something the rest of us can only observe from a distance. Do not expect anything but smoke and mirrors. The Fed makes it appear as though cousin Bernie has done something miraculous [with the help of Cousin Chris] - and everybody wins.
Except us of course. Some things just don't change in 5000 yrs.
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