Republicans Drop Filibuster, Agree to Debate Wall Street Reform

by Mike Hall, Apr 29, 2010

Last night, Republican senators backed down from their filibuster of Wall Street reform legislation and acceded to begin debating the bill to rein in some of the worst practices by the Big Banks that nearly shattered the nation’s economy.

The surrender came after Republicans blocked debate for three days in a row—and amid growing public criticism that the Republican blockade was nothing more than an attempt to shield Big Banks, which have doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying and political donations, from tougher scrutiny and rules.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll this week shows that some two-thirds of Americans support stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business.

This week in actions across the country—including today’s massive Wall Street march—union, community and religious activists have rallied and marched on the Big Banks’ shareholders meetings and offices demanding they stop blocking real Wall Street reform and pay for the jobs they destroyed by their reckless practices.

It also came just a day after a Senate panel grilled top Goldman Sachs executives about the company’s actions that helped fuel the subprime mortgage crisis. Goldman Sachs is being targeted by investor lawsuits and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuits alleging it hid vital information from investors in subprime mortgage-related securities.

Yet Republicans have vowed to fight many provisions of the bill and to offer amendments that most experts say would weaken the bill. Also, they can still use filibusters to block passage of any legislation.

Earlier this month, AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers outlined the areas Wall Street reform legislation must include to be effective.

He said the bill must include a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency with authority to protect working families from dangerous financial products and practices.

It also must set new rules to bring transparency to the “shadow market” of derivatives, hedge funds and private equity instead of the near rule-free, Wild West world that led to the meltdown of the housing market and the near collapse of the economy.

Silvers said the legislation needs to create a new, fully public systemic risk regulatory body that would set capital and liquidity requirements that become increasingly strict as financial institutions get larger and more risky. That would end the “too big to fail” philosophy that led to the $750 billion Big Bank bailout that

put money in the pockets of people who blew up their own companies.

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