GOP SEEMS SERIOUS ABOUT ‘REPEALING’ WALL STREET REFORM…. Before the Senate had even approved the legislation, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters that Republicans would like to “repeal” the Wall Street reform package. Soon after, President Obama noted, “[A]lready, the Republican leader in the House has called for repeal of this reform. I would suggest that America can’t afford to go backwards, and I think that’s how most Americans feel as well. We can’t afford another financial crisis just as we’re digging out from the last one.”
It seemed possible that Boehner’s remark was just an off-the-cuff remark that the GOP would not repeat, but as it turns out, Republicans actually seem serious about this. George Stephanopoulos reported this morning:
…Boehner’s call was backed on “GMA” by Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate banking committee.
“We would like to repeal it,” Shelby said.
I just didn’t see this one coming. Much of the country is still deeply disgusted with a financial industry that nearly destroyed the global financial system, and then took a massive taxpayer bailout to survive. The circumstances that led to the 2008 crash included, at the heart of the matter, the wild-west like regulatory system, which allowed the industry to be as reckless and irresponsible as it wanted.
The new legislation brings safeguards and accountability to a system that desperately needs it. And yet, the new Republican line is that they’ll bring back the 2008 framework, if given a chance.
Putting aside the fact that Obama would veto any kind of repeal attempts, I’m curious: who, exactly, is supposed to find this argument persuasive?
Pat Garofalo highlights some of the consequences that would come with repealing the reform package. It wouldn’t be pretty.
