TPMDC Wall Street
Financial Reform
Chamber CEO Backs JP Morgan And Dimon In Wake Of Huge Trading Losses
Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue says further regulation is the wrong response to news that banking giant JP Morgan lost billions of dollars speculating with depositor money. And though he allowed that the development raises legitimate questions about the size of major banks, Donohue defended JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon from the criticism he's received since he announced the staggering losses 10 days ago.
"Nobody's clear about the Volcker Rule," Donohue told reporters at a Monday breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "It's 270 some pages and if you gave it to six experts on the subject, they'd come back with seven interpretations what it means [but] I do also understand why the regulators start looking at the size of some of these places that they really worry."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Chamber of Commerce, Financial Reform, Jamie Dimon, Tom Donohue, Volcker Rule, Wall Street
Wall Street
One Last Chance To Get Wall Street Reform Right
One of the most dogged Wall Street reformers on Capitol Hill says there's a small but golden opportunity to close key loopholes in the 2010 financial reform law, which were exposed to the public last week when banking giant JPMorgan announced it had lost billions of dollars betting with customer funds.
But after the window closes, he admits, it'll be a very difficult to re-open; and he sees no political path forward for other popular measures to further regulate banks, limit their size, or break them up into smaller entities.
"We have felt like there's two of us against hundreds of Wall Street lawyers working on this all day, every day -- and that the public was disengaged from the issue," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) told me during a Thursday interview in his Senate office. "Now the public is engaged. There's a chance here -- because the rules are supposed to go into effect in July -- there's a moment of possibility, we're trying to do all we can to press it forward, say 'seize this moment and get the rules right.' Because once they're put in place it's very hard to change them."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Jeff Merkley , Wall Street, Wall Street reform
Barack Obama
Politicians And Regulators Tread Lightly Around JP Morgan Debacle
Occupy Wall Street protesters outside a GOP event in Manchester, NH. January 07, 2012
The revelation that banking giant JP Morgan lost $2 billion making risky bets with depositor funds is only four days old, but early indications suggest that the financial industry's capture of American government successfully weathered the 2008 crisis, with nearly all the political and regulatory players invested in the consequences of this latest debacle treading lightly around the questions it raises.
It has, however, re-energized outside advocates of strengthening financial reform -- including a certain high-profile Senate candidate -- and left those who favor repealing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law in an untenable position.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Bob Corker, Carl Levin, Chris Dodd, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Mitt Romney, Scott Brown, Tim Johnson, Volcker Rule, Wall Street
Barack Obama
JP Morgan Scandal Raises Tough Questions For Obama Administration
Mitt Romney will probably have a harder time defending his intent to repeal the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law in the wake of JP Morgan's stunning disclosure that it lost at least $2 billion betting on the economy.
But it also raises important substantive questions about the effectiveness of the new financial reforms themselves, particularly the one provision specifically intended to end just this sort of trading.
On a Friday conference call with reporters, Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) criticized regulators for writing a major loophole into the so-called Volcker Rule -- meant to prevent banks from betting with depositor funds -- at the behest of financial interests.
"It is inconsistent to create this kind of a major loophole," Levin said, noting that it goes against the intent of the reforms Congress passed.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Carl Levin, Jeff Merkley , Mitt Romney, Paul Volcker, Volcker Rule, Wall Street
Barack Obama
Obama Campaign Knocks Romney In Wake Of JP Morgan Debacle
President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney
The Obama campaign is seizing on the news that financial giant JP Morgan lost billions of dollars trading derivatives with customer funds to attack Mitt Romney for wanting to repeal the 2010 law meant to curtail these kinds of risky bets.
"Rolling back Wall Street reform, as Mitt Romney proposes, would be reckless," says Obama camp spokeswoman Lis Smith in a statement to TPM. "The law promotes transparency, limits the types of risky investments that can be made with deposits insured by federal taxpayers, and prevents investment losses at one bank from threatening the whole financial system. Returning to the failed policy of letting Wall Street write their own rules would put all of us at greater risk of another financial crisis and leave us vulnerable to another taxpayer-funded bank bailout like the one shortly before President Obama took office."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Financial Reform, Mitt Romney, Paul Volcker, Volcker Rule, Wall Street
Barack Obama
New Wall Street Scandal Threatens Romney
Mitt Romney
A surprising development on Wall Street Thursday could magnify a little-discussed but key difference between President Obama and Mitt Romney -- one with enormous consequences for public policy.
On a conference call with analysts, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon announced that his firm had lost $2 billion investing in the same species of derivative that exacerbated the 2008 financial crisis.
Dimon claims the company is prepared to absorb the loss, but it puts the reputation of one of the only big firms to weather the 2008 financial crisis directly on the line.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Financial Crisis, Financial Reform, Mitt Romney, Paul Volcker, Volcker Rule, Wall Street
Eric Cantor
Cantor's JOBS Act Drives Wedge Between Obama, Labor
A new small-business law spearheaded by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is harming relations between the White House and its labor allies. Unions objected strongly before the legislation was enacted, and several weeks later, they're continuing to air grievances.
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which passed with broad bipartisan support earlier this year, loosens regulations on small-business capital formation. Proponents on Capitol Hill say it will encourage entrepreneurship while a growing number of critics, including worker advocates, worry that it incentivizes fraud and will diminish the government's ability to police bad business practices.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: AFL-CIO, Barack Obama, Eric Cantor, JOBS Act, Richard Trumka, Wall Street
Richard Cordray
Why Obama Chose To Appoint Cordray The Hard Way
Richard Cordray, nominee for Director of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Republicans are predictably attacking President Obama's decision to recess appoint Richard Cordray -- his top consumer watchdog -- on procedural grounds and with constitutional volleys. This is why Obama and Cordray's allies thought it might be wiser for Obama to make the appointment on Tuesday when, for technical reasons, he could have relied on precedent and avoided opening this particular Pandora's box.
But by taking a more daring approach, Obama managed to both wrongfoot the GOP politically, and secure for Cordray up to an extra year in the director's chair at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Here's why:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Financial Reform, Richard Cordray, Wall Street
Barack Obama
GOP Furious As Obama Recess Appoints Cordray
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) conducts a news conference along with fellow GOP members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2011.
No surprise here. Top Republicans are ripping President Obama's decision to recess appoint his top consumer watchdog, Richard Cordray.
"Although the Senate is not in recess, President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people by 'recess' appointing Richard Cordray as director of the new CFPB," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an official statement. "This recess appointment represents a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer. Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress's role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Financial Reform, George W. Bush, John Boehner, Wall Street
Barack Obama
Why Obama's Defying The GOP And Appointing Top Consumer Watchdog
President Barack Obama
Update 10:17 Eastern. This post has been updated from an earlier version in order to reflect the full confirmation that has now come in..
The White House confirmed Wednesday morning that President Obama will announce a recess appointment for Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at a speech in Ohio later today. Cordray was a well-liked Ohio Attorney General until last year, after he was toppled by the GOP midterm wave in 2010.
Cordray's an accidental victim of a brazen act of GOP obstruction. They're refusing to allow an up-or-down vote on any CFPB nominee until the agency itself is fundamentally weakened -- an extra-legal attempt to nullify a key portion of an act of law.
Obama actually missed his best opportunity to recess appoint his top consumer watchdog on Tuesday. But there are reasons Obama opted to take a more confrontational approach.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Filibuster, Financial Reform, Richard Cordray, Wall Street
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Obama Misses Key Window For Empowering Top Consumer Watchdog
President Barack Obama
Today was the day that legal experts and many aides in both parties thought President Obama would provide a recess appointment to Richard Cordray, his nominee to administer the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The rationale is quite technical, but here's the bottom line: one reading of the Constitution and of executive branch administrative law suggest that today is Obama's last day to recess appoint any of his languishing nominees, at least until the next time the Senate leaves town several weeks from now.
But a senior administration official who would not be quoted told reporters at a White House background briefing Tuesday that Obama will not take advantage of that opening.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Financial Reform, Mitch McConnell, Recess, Recess appointments, Richard Cordray, Wall Street
Financial Reform
Sr. White House Official: GOP Consumer Bureau Demands 'Unacceptable'
President Barack Obama
The White House making a big public push to pressure moderate Republicans to support Richard Cordray, President Obama's nominee to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, when the Senate votes on his confirmation Thursday. Nearly all Senate Republicans have vowed to filibuster any potential director until Democrats agree to dramatically scale back the bureau's regulatory power.
In a background briefing with reporters Monday, a senior White House official said the GOP's demands won't fly.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Filibuster, Financial Reform, Wall Street
Scott Brown
Report: Scott Brown Bucks GOP, Endorses Cordray CFPB Nominee
Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)
Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is bucking his party and asking for an up-or-down vote for former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
"The senator supports the Cordray nomination and believes it deserves an up or down vote on the Senate floor," his spokesman John Donnelly told the Boston Globe.
Topics: Barack Obama, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Scott Brown, Wall Street
CBO
CHARTS OF THE DAY: Where'd All The Income Growth Go? To The 1 percent!
At the request of the Senate Finance Committee, the Congressional Budget Office has produced a report analyzing trends in the distribution of household income from 1979 until 2007 -- just before the economy fell off a cliff.
The results will be familiar to economists and policy wonks, but they're eye-popping. These charts and graphs tell a story of a massive income growth in the Reagan and post-Reagan years, and particularly during the George W. Bush administration -- but only for the famous 1 percenters.
Topics: CBO, George W. Bush, Medicare, Occupy Wall Street, Recession, Ronald Reagan, Social Security, Tax Cuts, Taxes, Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
CHART OF THE DAY: The '47 Percent' Pay Their Fair Share
Conservatives are continuing their counter-protest against the so-called "47 percent." Specifically, that's the share of recession-era households that pay no federal income taxes. Most of them pay payroll taxes and other federal taxes (not to mention state taxes), but Republicans have chosen to depict them as the free-riding half of the country.
The fact of the matter, though, is that those other taxes constitute a huge chunk of federal revenues. Check out the charts below. Over the 58 years preceding the Lesser Depression, the share of federal revenues that came from individual income taxes has remained fairly stable, fluctuating between 40 and 50 percent, and peaking just before George W. Bush slashed rates in 2001.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bush Administration, Bush Tax Cuts, George W. Bush, Occupy D.C., Occupy Wall Street, Payroll Tax Cut, Recession, Tax Cuts, Taxes, Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
Dems Press Eric Holder To Investigate Banks For Colluding Over ATM Fees
Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)
If you're a member of Congress trying to rein in Wall Street, now's your moment, and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) is seizing it.
Welch helped lead the effort in 2010 to limit the "swipe fees" banks can charge retailers for each debit card transaction -- fees retailers passed on to consumers. Those rules went into effect earlier this year and, as if to serve as recruiters for the anti-Wall Street protests spreading across the country, Bank of America and other financial firms decided to recoup the lost profits by imposing an ATM fee on their customers -- a penalty of sorts for having automated access to your own money.
In a functioning market this practice might have ended before it began, as disgruntled customers took their business to firms that didn't attempt to bilk their customers.
That's not happening. So Welch wants Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate these banks for collusive behavior.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Attorney General, Department of Justice, Dick Durbin, Eric Holder, Financial Reform, Justice Department, Occupy Wall Street, Peter Welch, Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
Biden Attacks Big Banks, Compares Rise Of Occupy Wall Street To Rise Of Tea Party
Vice President Joe Biden
Vice President Joe Biden empathized with the Occupy Wall Street movement Thursday, and criticized big banks in harsher terms than most people in the Obama administration are typically comfortable with.
At The Atlantic's Ideas Forum, Biden said he understands what underlies the anti-Wall Street movement, and compared it to the anger driving the Tea Party.
"What is the core of that protest, and why is it increasing in terms of the people it's attracting -- the core is the bargain has been breeched with the American people," Biden said. "The core is the American people do not think the system is fair or on the level..... That is the core of what you're seeing on Wall Street. And that's what started, by the way -- there's a lot in common with the Tea Party. The Tea Party started why? TARP. They thought it was unfair -- we were bailing out the big guy."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Joe Biden, Occupy Wall Street, Tea Party, Wall Street
Timothy Geithner
Geithner Dodges On Sympathy For Occupy Wall St, Expresses Shock At Wall Street Antipathy To Obama
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told an audience of the country's elite Wednesday that he sympathizes with the underlying loss of faith anti-Wall Street protesters and other Americans have in the country's ruling class -- though not specifically for the growing "Occupy Wall Street" protest movement itself. But at the same time he expressed astonishment and dismay at Wall Street's loss of faith in President Obama and the administration.
The juxtaposition is striking, and illustrates how at odds the anti-Wall Street movement is with the administration.
"I feel a lot of sympathy for what you might describe as the general sense among Americans as whether we've lost the sense of possibility and whether after a pretty bad lost decade in terms of income growth or fiscal responsibility...followed by a devastating crisis, huge loss of faith in public institutions, people do wonder whether we have the ability to do things that can help the average sense of opportunity in the country," Geithner said at The Atlantic's Ideas Forum, just a few blocks from both the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Financial Reform, Occupy Wall Street, Timothy Geithner, Wall Street
Super Committee
Super Committee Members Raked In $41M From Wall Street
Members of the deficit-reduction super committee have received a combined total of $41 million from the financial and real estate sectors during their time in Congress, according to a new report from Public Campaign and National People's Action.
The report also found that at least 27 current or former aides for members of the super committee have traveled through the revolving door between K Street and Capitol Hill and have lobbied on behalf of financial firms.
"Wall Street bought the deregulation that led to our economic collapse and the American public has paid the price," Nick Nyhart, president of Public Campaign said in a release. "The super committee should not give Wall Street and big banks another free ride because of their campaign cash."
Topics: 2012 elections, Deficit, Fred Upton, John Kerry, Max Baucus, Rob Portman, Super Committee, Wall Street
Health Care
DeMint: Obama Administration The 'Most Anti-American' In My Lifetime
Jim DeMint
Conservative power-broker Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) ran through his litany of complaints about President Obama on Janet Meffered's Christian conservative radio show Wednesday, and concluded that of all the anti-American administrations in his lifetime, Obama's is the most anti-American.
"We saw within a few days that this President was going to be heavy-handed, he was going to implement his agenda and pay back his political allies, and it just went on from there to ObamaCare and then to Dodd-Frank," DeMint said.
It has been the most anti-business and I consider anti-American administration in my lifetime. Things that are just so anathema to the principles of freedom, and everything he has come up with centralizes more power in Washington, creates more socialist-style, collectivist policies. This president is doing something that's so far out of the realm of anything Republicans ever did wrong, it's hard to even imagine.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
Topics: Barack Obama, Bush Tax Cuts, Default, Financial Crisis, Financial Reform, Government Shutdown, Health Care, Jim DeMint, Spending, Wall Street
Elizabeth Warren
Warren: Time For A Recess Appointment Or A Big Political Fight Over Consumer Bureau
Consumer Affairs and Protection Bureau Director Elizabeth Warren
Now that the White House has decided not to nominate Elizabeth Warren to run the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, she's taking her fight to protect the new agency directly to Republicans. And she says the time has come either for President Obama to recess appoint his designated director, or to engage in a loud, public fight with the GOP senators who have vowed to block the confirmation of any nominee, regardless of ideology or affiliation.
On a conference call with reporters and bloggers Monday evening, Warren described the impasse Republicans have erected as an opportunity.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Richard Cordray, Wall Street
Lamar Alexander
Lamar Alexander On Blocking Nominations: That's What Nominations Are For!
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Presidential nominations: What are they good for? Absolutely nothing! Except being blocked in the Senate.
At least that's Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-TN) understanding.
"That's what nominations are for," he quipped to reporters Wednesday after a Capitol briefing on GOP tax and regulatory proposals. "When I was nominated to be Education Secretary, Senator [Howard] Metzenbaum held me up for three months.
At the time he wasn't pleased, but since becoming a senator, his prerogatives have changed. Though he helped broker a modest truce between the parties over obstructive tactics at the beginning of the year, he still supports a senators right to use advise and consent powers to block nominations and extract policy concessions.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Filibuster, Lamar Alexander, Obstructionism, Republicans, Wall Street
Elizabeth Warren
AFL-CIO Pushes Obama On Recess Appointment For Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren
The most influential labor organization in the country is pushing President Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the next congressional recess.
"By refusing to make any appointment to lead the CFPB, Senate Republicans effectively have recused themselves from having any input into whom President Obama appoints," reads an email alert to activists delivered Wednesday evening. "It's a dereliction of their constitutional duty to "advise and consent" on the president's nominees."
Fortunately, President Obama can bypass these obstructionists by making a recess appointment.PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)No matter who gets the recess appointment of President Obama, Republicans have made it clear they'll scream and holler. This reflects a sorry state in our politics--but it's also a historic opportunity to recess appoint Elizabeth Warren, who's already shown as acting director of the CFPB that she's a true champion for working families.... Urge President Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren the next time Congress goes on recess.
Topics: AFL-CIO, Barack Obama, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Republicans, Senate Republicans, Wall Street
Patrick McHenry
Warren Supporters Swarm McHenry's Facebook Page After He Blasts Her 'Sense Of Entitlement'
Patrick McHenry and Elizabeth Warren
Somebody probably should have warned him about the high risk of blowback. Now he's learning it the hard way.
Over the past 12 hours, hundreds if not thousands of Elizabeth Warren's supporters have swarmed Rep. Patrick McHenry's (R-NC) Facebook page and excoriated him for mistreating her on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
As the contentious Oversight Committee hearing drew to a recess, Warren claimed she had arranged with McHenry's staff to be excused from the panel at 2:15 p.m. -- and that the arrangement was only necessary because the committee made multiple scheduling changes before settling on an early-afternoon start time.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Patrick McHenry, Wall Street
Elizabeth Warren
One-Time Warren Foe Now Pressuring Obama To Give Her Recess Appointment To Head Consumer Bureau
Elizabeth Warren
The head of the Oklahoma Banker's Association -- a one-time Elizabeth Warren skeptic who believed she was "akin to the Antichrist" -- is now asking President Obama to provide her a recess appointment to direct the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
"I write to encourage you to appoint Elizabeth Warren as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and to do so with a 'recess appointment' at the first opportunity," wrote Roger Beverage -- President and CEO of the OBA -- in a May 19 letter to Obama, provided to TPM. "In light of the action taken by the forty-four senators who have stated they will oppose any nominee to serve as Director of the new Bureau unless certain changes are made to the Bureau's structure, I encourage you to wait no longer and give Elizabeth a recess appointment before the July 21st transfer date."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Filibuster, Republicans, Wall Street
Elizabeth Warren
Dems Press Obama To Recess Appoint Elizabeth Warren To Run Consumer Bureau
Elizabeth Warren
With Senate Republicans committed to blocking all potential directors of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, congressional Democrats are pressing President Obama to accept reality and offer Elizabeth Warren a recess appointment to head the agency she conceived of.
"Regretfully, Republicans in the Senate have now made it clear that they oppose reform," reads a letter from House Democrats that will be delivered to President Obama.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Brad Miller, Carolyn Maloney, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Filibuster, Financial Crisis, Financial Reform, Keith Ellison, Republicans, Senate Republicans, Wall Street
Debt Ceiling
U.S. Hits Debt Ceiling
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
As the Treasury department has been warning -- and as House Republican leaders have promised -- the United States hit its debt limit Monday morning. The government can no longer meet its obligations by borrowing more money. And since incoming revenues aren't sufficient to pay for the services Congress has ordered and for interest payments on existing debt, the Treasury department is taking a series of ever-more extraordinary measures to pay all of its bills.
It can get away with this, according to Secretary Timothy Geithner, until August 2. If Congress doesn't lift the debt ceiling by then, the country will default, triggering a number of severe economic consequences.
Already, Geithner has stopped issuing securities to states that help them keep their books in balance and maintain infrastructure. Today, the government will defer payments to and investments in federal pension funds -- pensions Republicans want federal workers to pay more money into than they currently do.
But despite these difficult measures, you won't get the impression that time is of the essence from congressional Republicans.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Budget, Chamber of Commerce, Debt, Debt Ceiling, Defense Spending, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Spending, Taxes, Timothy Geithner, Wall Street
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Republicans Make Power Play To Gut Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
On Thursday, while House Republicans were dealing with a small Medicare privatization snafu, their Senate counterparts laid down an impossible marker. Forty four of their 47 members have signed on to a letter threatening to filibuster any nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless it is dramatically weakened.
"We will not support the consideration of any nominee, regardless of party affiliation, to be the CFPB director until the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reformed," reads a letter, co-authored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking member of the Banking Committee.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Chris Dodd, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Filibuster Reform, Financial Crisis, John Ensign, Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Wall Street
Financial Reform
Republicans Gear Up For Fight Over Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
Keep an eye on this in the weeks and months ahead.
A House Republican on the Financial Services committee has introduced legislation that would make it easier for Congress to hamstring, or defund, the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Once fully erected, the Bureau will be housed within the Federal Reserve and be guaranteed a percentage of the Fed's budget, with the option of asking Congress for more money. Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) proposes keeping it in the Department of Treasury, where Congress would have complete control over its purse strings.
In a brief interview Tuesday, Neugebauer was pretty candid about this.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Randy Neugebauer, Wall Street
Spending
Inside The White House's Plan To Beat Back GOP Spending Cuts
David Axelrod and President Obama
The Obama administration is keeping its powder dry on the question of how it'll manage the government if the GOP gets its way and cuts domestic spending by 20 percent. That's an outcome they'd obviously like to avoid. But as long as it remains a possibility, two things are clear: first, after laying out its own budget priorities, the White House will keep fairly quiet while waiting for the GOP to lay out its counter-proposal. And second, Obama won't let Republicans use the budget process as a backdoor to defanging or destroying the health care law.
At a roundtable meeting with reporters and bloggers Wednesday afternoon, White House political adviser David Axelrod outlined the administration's plan to bridge the spending impasse. But he declined to elaborate when asked if the administration could meet its priorities if Congress cuts spending dramatically.
"[W]e don't have to envision that right now because it's not our proposal," Axelrod said. "We're waiting for them to make -- they obviously envision it. And we're waiting to see how that could be accomplished."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Budget, David Axelrod, Health Care, Spending, Wall Street, White House
Darrell Issa
Major Trade Association Asks Issa To Curb Toxin, Safety, Financial Reform Regs
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Late last year, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the country's major trade associations and private corporations asking them which regulations they want to see weakened or eliminated.
In response, the GOP-friendly National Association of Manufacturers has asked him to probe forthcoming regulations aimed at enhancing worker health, improving toxin standards, mitigating climate pollution and preventing another crisis on Wall Street.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Climate Change, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Darrell Issa, Environment, Financial Reform, Oversight Committee, Wall Street
Barney Frank
Bielat Campaign Produces Attack Ad Of Barney Frank As Hip-Swerving Disco Queen (VIDEO)
This isn't running on TV, at least not yet. But the below web video, produced by the Sean Bielat (R) campaign is making the rounds anyhow.
You'll see why when you watch it. Bielat's running against Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). Frank chairs the House Financial Services committee and is the most famous openly gay member of Congress. Bielat combines those two themes in the video to lay the responsibility for the financial crisis at Frank's feet... while portraying him as a hip-swerving disco queen in a rumpled suit.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, Barney Frank, Financial Crisis, Financial Reform, House '10, MA-04, Sean Bielat, Wall Street
Nancy Pelosi
Pelosi Elaborates On The Risks Of GOP House Takeover
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
In unusually stark terms this afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged that Republicans would be able to do serious damage to Democratic accomplishments if they retake the House in November.
"We think so much is at stake," she said during a conference call with bloggers and reporters this afternoon. "While they can not overturn health care, they can deprive it of funding. Same thing with Wall Street reform and the rest."
In the past, Pelosi has highlighted key Republican goals -- repealing health care reform and wall street reform legislation chief among them -- to attack the GOP. Typically, though, she declines to explain what Republicans could accomplish if John Boehner becomes Speaker, and insists that the Democrats will not lose the House.
"If the Republicans were to win they would defund Wall Street reform, health care as a right not a privilege in our country. The list would be a long one of things that they could hold up. They couldn't necessarily repeal with President Obama in office. But they could defund. And that's important for members to mention," she acknowledged.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, Health Care, Health Care Implementation, House '10, House of Representatives, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Repealing health care, Republicans, Wall Street
Roundup
TPMDC Morning Roundup
For Democrats, Even 'Safe' Seats Are Shaky
The New York Times: "Republicans are expanding the battle for the House into districts that Democrats had once considered relatively safe, while Democrats began a strategy of triage on Monday to fortify candidates who they believe stand the best chance of survival. As Republicans made new investments in at least 10 races across the country, including two Democratic seats here in eastern Ohio, Democratic leaders took steps to pull out of some races entirely or significantly cut their financial commitment in several districts that the party won in the last two election cycles."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will receive the presidential daily briefing at 10 a.m. ET, will receive the economic daily briefing at 10:30 a.m. ET, and will meet at 11 a.m. ET with senior advisers. He will meet at 2:45 p.m. ET with student finalists of the NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge. At 7 p.m. ET, he will host a "Moving America Forward" town hall meeting at George Washington University.
Topics: 2010 elections, Barack Obama, Blue Dogs, Fundraising, Health Care, Joe Biden, Lobbying, Roundup, Wall Street
Barack Obama
Obama: Special Interests 'Talk About Me Like A Dog' (VIDEO)
President Barack Obama
President Obama spoke today before a union rally in Milwaukee to announce a $50 billion initiative to improve American infrastructure, and used the opportunity to paint his administration as a fighter of special interests like Wall Street bankers.
He said rebuilding the American middle class on stronger foundations, like better education, has required "taking on some powerful interests."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Republicans, Special Interests, Wall Street
Chris Dodd
Dodd Reverses Position, Suggests Warren May Not Be Qualified To Head Consumer Bureau
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd has for weeks called into doubt whether Elizabeth Warren can be confirmed to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But for the first time this week, Dodd has called into question whether she's qualified for the job, reversing his earlier position.
"It isn't just a question of being a consumer advocate. I want to see that she can manage something, too," Dodd told the Hartford Courant.
That's a far cry from what he told TPM and other reporters just weeks ago, when his only stated concern, based on his conversations with colleagues, was that Democrats may have a hard time rounding up 60 votes to confirm her.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Wall Street
Elizabeth Warren
Franken, Progressive Groups Begin Whip Campaign For Elizabeth Warren
Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the expenditure of TARP, Elizabeth Warren.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and its new affiliate, the P St. Project, will launch a public campaign this week with the help of Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to whip up support in the Senate for Elizabeth Warren's nomination and confirmation to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
PCCC, in partnership with the progressive group CREDO, rounded up 200,000 petition signatures in support of Warren, and will now team up with Franken to urge members to publicly commit to voting for her.
"Elizabeth Warren has proven that she is willing to stand up to Wall Street on behalf of consumers and is the logical choice to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," Franken said. "If appointed by President Obama, I would vote to confirm Elizabeth Warren to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Al Franken, Chris Dodd, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Robert Gibbs, Ted Kaufman, Wall Street, White House
Elizabeth Warren
Dodd: No Recess Appointment For Warren, Who Still May Not Be Confirmable
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd cast more doubts this afternoon about whether Elizabeth Warren could garner enough votes to head the newly created consumer financial protection bureau, one day after White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called her "very confirmable."
"I don't know, that's the question, how does he know that?" Dodd said in response to a question from TPMDC on his way in to the Democrats' weekly policy lunch.
"She's qualified, no question about that. The question is whether she's confirmable," Dodd added. "The issue is [if] you can't confirm somebody, if you go six or seven months without someone in that job, you've got a problem."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Chris Dodd, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Recess appointments, Robert Gibbs, Senate, Wall Street, White House
John Boehner
Boehner Gets Specific On His Plans To Halt Federal Regulation
House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
House Minority Leader John Boehner has offered specifics about his recent call for a moratorium on new federal regulations, and TPM's gotten a look at just what kinds of regulations -- other than the obvious ones implementing health care and Wall Street reforms -- Boehner's plan would block.
Boehner last week endorsed the REINS Act, sponsored by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), saying at his weekly press conference that "any rulemaking where the estimated cost to Americans would exceed $100 million," should not go into effect "without Congress voting on it first." That's short of the full moratorium Boehner initially called for, but could nonetheless be a recipe for gridlock and ugly politics. That standard in the act would ensnare scores of new regulations every year, including both broadly popular, time-sensitive ones, and others over which remain substantial partisan disagreement.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Financial Reform, Health Care, House of Representatives, John Boehner, OMB, Republicans, Wall Street, White House
Financial Reform
Barney Frank Presses Obama To Appoint Elizabeth Warren To Head Consumer Bureau (VIDEO)
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
The Democrats' top point man on Wall Street reform is pressing President Obama -- hard -- to appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In an appearance on MSNBC, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank threw his full support to Warren and warned Obama that, unlike other disappointments, he'd be held directly accountable if the nomination goes to somebody else.
"It is essential to the bill and very, very important that Elizabeth Warren be appointed [to head the consumer financial protection bureau]," Frank said.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Elizabeth Warren, Financial Reform, Wall Street
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