“The Senate is preparing to scale back the sweeping banking regulations passed after the 2008 financial crisis, with more than a dozen Democrats ready to give Republicans the votes they need to weaken one of President Obama’s largest legislative achievements,” the Washington Post reports. “Eight years after nearly every Senate Democrat backed a sweeping set of new rules for financial firms large and small, the party is now split, with moderates, several of them facing tough midterm election contests, working with the opposing party.” We discuss Carper’s co-sponsorship of this horrible Republican bank deregulation bill here.
Tom Carper and Chris Coons are two of those “moderate” Democrats, and neither of them are facing tough reelection prospects this fall. Chris Coons is not even up for election, so we have to assume a policy of fellating banks is what he considers good policy. Thus, he will have to be retired in 2020, his next election. Tom Carper is up this year, but he has token Republican opposition. He does have a progressive challenger in Kerri Evelyn Harris.
However, if we are being honest and frank about forecasting that race, you would have to give Carper the overwhelming edge. The last challenger he faced was in 2012 in Keith Spanarelli, and Carper dispatched him quite easily, 88% to 12%. Yes, things are different now, and the mood is different among the Democratic base, and the political environment of 2018 will be entirely different from that of 2012. But you still have to imagine Carper winning at the very worse a 60/40 race.
That could all change if he just starts pissing off Democratic voters for sport, and this vote to support banks does precisely that.
Tom Carper is under NewsJournal protection, so I no longer buy the NJ.
It would be helpful to know what Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, and some other knowledgeable finance critics think before Carper and Coons are burned at the stake.
Nothing like a little journalistic perspective … and some substantive basis for the grand condemnation.
Barney Frank on why he would vote NO on this weakened bill.
Paul Volker weighs in to say that small bank relief is good, but large bank relief is not. (This is a pdf link)
This Twitter thread has links to letters sent in my former banking and economic regulators discussing the issues with this rollback.
Nothing like doing your own research, either. But you have other fish to fry, don’t you?
We all know Carper and Coons work for Wall St. and not the people of this state, they barely try to hide it. As soon as I heard about the attack on Dodd Frank I knew Tom Carper couldn’t wait to sign on. As noted he’ll probably make short work of his challenger, that sucks but it’s the way it goes when large amounts of the electorate are asleep.
“imagine Carper winning at the very worse a 60/40 race. – delaware dem
“… he’ll probably make short work of his challenger” – wikwok
The primary is still six months away and you two can’t wait to get a defeatist bandwagon going.
!!!!! BUCK UP !!!!
Sorry if reality offends you. Bets anyone?
Lack of imagination.
“The charade is over,” Walters added. “The CBO’s report just destroyed any case that this bill is ‘community banking’ legislation. A neutral arbiter just confirmed that this bill would increase the risk of future bank bailouts and gave even odds that it would let Wall Street giants CitiBank and JPMorgan pile on more risk. In what universe does this make sense as policy? In what universe is this what voters are clamoring for?” This from Common Dreams. Come on Delaware Senators, you can renounce now and redeem yourselves. We fought too hard to neuter Dodd/Frank.
The other risk in this bill is rolling back the requirements to report data that would let regulators and lawmakers know if banks were in the business of discriminatory mortgage lending practices. Which is really disappointing since both Senators represent portions of Delaware that are STILL suffering from the real estate crash in 2008.
Senators Coons and Carper: this vote is not about bipartisanship and proving your commitment to it. It is about consumer protection which is in the best interest of citizens but also the corporations they get their goods and services from. Those corporations, especially banks and financial institutions sometimes need firewalls to protect them from their worst instincts we all possess, greed and overreach. That is the role of regulation like Dodd-Frank. I see my Party as a coalition and the segment you both are associated with to a greater extent than we progressives, the corporate world, I can live with that as long as we are all held to the same standard of tempering greed and overreach……your potential vote to gut Dodd-Frank gives abusive power to corporations to their own long term detriment as well as that of consumers/citizens. Our democracy is injured by this kind of power abuse. Please come to your senses.
Should the two republican light senators vote for this bill…it should be shouted from the roof tops how they are controlled by, receive campaign contributions from the bankster/gangsters, over ruling their constituents. Both these dudes are millionaires, they will vote for what benefits them personally.