Wall Street Lobbying Archives - Page 8 of 26 - Americans for Financial Reform

Press Briefing: Senator Jeff Merkley Joins Barney Frank and Public-Interest Advocates in Decrying Dodd-Frank Rollback Threat

In a telephone press briefing, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and former Representative Barney Frank, co-author of the landmark 2010 financial reform law, outlined the dangers of a House spending-bill provision that would repeal an important piece of the Dodd-Frank Act. They were joined by Damon A. Silvers, director of policy and special counsel for the AFL-CIO; Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; and Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform.

Joint Statement: Budget Deal Must Not Include an Outrageous Wall Street Giveaway

“The section of Dodd-Frank that Congress is proposing to repeal was put in place to help prevent future bailouts of too big to fail banks. It cordons off the kinds of extraordinarily risky transactions that were at the heart of the financial crisis. Including this repeal in the budget is outrageous. It’s a giveaway to a tiny handful of the biggest Wall Street banks that puts the country’s financial and economic stability at risk.”

AFR in the News: Warren Dubs Weiss a Bank ‘Dealmaker’ Lacking Resume for Treasury (Bloomberg)

“Not every person who swoops in through the revolving door should be offered a top job without some serious cross-examination,” [Senator Elizabeth Warren] said in prepared remarks at an event organized by Americans for Financial Reform, the Economic Policy Institute and the Roosevelt Institute. “Qualifications matter, and Weiss doesn’t have them.”

AFR in the News: Ross Holds Money Lead Over Cohn in House Race (Lakeland Ledger)

“After the financial collapse, Congress made great strides in regulating the financial industry so that we reduce the chance of another Great Recession,” [candidate Alan] Cohn said in an email. “Ross is using his place on the House Financial Services (Committee) to undo those regulations for financial favors at the expense of the middle class.” Americans for Financial Reform, which tracks Congress members for votes on financial regulation, lists Ross as having often voted along party lines in opposition to reforms that protect consumers.

AFR in the News: Banking on Influence (Slate)

“Rep. Shelley Moore Capito wants West Virginians to know she’s a defender of community banks… Capito, who chairs the subcommittee that oversees consumer lending and finance companies, is married to a banker who has worked for Wells Fargo and Citigroup. ‘One characteristic of her bills is that they do include community banks, but they would also help much larger banks,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform…”

AFR in the News: House Votes to Audit Fed and Deregulate Wall Street (Huffington Post)

Although the GOP is eager to expose the Fed’s dealings with big banks, it is equally anxious to dole out favors to financial operators… One deregulation bill, H.R. 5405, would exempt a significant swath of the market for derivatives — the complex financial products at the heart of the 2008 meltdown — from Dodd-Frank’s new trading rules. Americans for Financial Reform, the leading voice for Wall Street accountability on Capitol Hill, came out strong against H.R. 5405 and the other deregulation bill, H.R. 5461.

How Does a Do-Nothing Congress Occupy Its Time?

This week, with Congress’s most unproductive session in modern memory nearing an end, the House of Representatives will take up an array of measures to deregulate Wall Street – measures for which there is close to zero voter support. If all goes according to its leaders’ plans, the House will debate and approve three separate legislative packages containing dozens of proposals to reverse or impede the financial reforms adopted after the 2008 crisis, or to throw procedural roadblocks of a broader kind in the way of the already slow process of adopting financial as well as health, safety and environmental regulations.

AFR in the News: Financial Services Influence – Follow the Money (Politico)

The financial industry has “spent more than $800 million on contributions to campaigns and on federal lobbying so far this election cycle,” PoliticoPro reports, citing AFR’s new report, “Wall Street Money in Washington,” which draws on data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The report, as the paywalled story goes on to say, “found the financial sector has contributed $245 million to political campaigns, as of June 30, and spent nearly $560 million on lobbying through March.”

AFR in the News: House Passes Bill to Aid Koch Brothers, Deregulate Wall Street

“The bill includes… measures sought by the largest Wall Street banks and the Koch brothers, who control significant financial and energy derivatives operations,” writes Zach Carter of the Huffington Post. “Americans for Financial Reform, the premier policy analysis organization among bank watchdogs, advocated strongly against the bill alongside consumer groups and the AFL-CIO.”

Who Do They Represent, Anyway?

The House of Representatives plans to vote this week on the so-called “Consumer Financial Protection and Soundness Improvement Act” (HR 3193). This bill is a gift to the worst elements of Wall Street and the financial industry, whose tricks and traps cost American families tens of billions of dollars a year. If enacted into law, HR 3193 would invite a resurgence of the abusive and deceptive lending that was one of the leading causes of the financial crisis that nearly capsized the U.S. economy five-and-a-half years ago.