BLOCKING REFORMS OF WALL STREET…. Sometimes, headlines tell practically the whole story: “House Republicans Huddle With Lobbyists to Kill Financial Reform Bill.”
After Wall Street nearly destroyed the global economy with no meaningful oversight, Democratic policymakers have been working on proposed regulations to prevent another catastrophe. Hoping to keep things exactly as they are, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and most of the GOP leadership team met with “more than 100 lobbyists at the Capitol Visitors Center on Tuesday afternoon to try to fight back against financial regulatory overhaul legislation.”
It’s as if they’ve forgotten about 2008 altogether.
House Dems seem confident enough to go on the offensive.
Democrats launched a coordinated offensive Tuesday in support of the financial regulatory overhaul.
They have recast the issue as “Wall Street reform” and promise a “barrage” of advertisements and news stories in the districts of vulnerable Republicans who oppose the bill, depicting them as the obedient servants of Wall Street. […]
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) blasted out a fundraising appeal Tuesday through the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) saying Republicans oppose the bill in hopes of continuing to reap contributions from Wall Street banks.
“House Republicans now oppose financial regulation because they have learned nothing from the current economic crisis,” Frank added.
GOP leaders have sought to position their party as some kind of anti-bailout populists, painting Dems as Wall Street’s allies. Meeting with over 100 corporate lobbyists to kill regulatory reform that would prevent future crashes makes the framing a little tougher — or, at least, it would if our discourse was sane.
