Republicans Tap Leading Foe of Wall Street Reform to Oversee New Rules
Last year as the fight to rein-in Wall Street excesses—such as the mysterious and risky derivatives market—raged in Congress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was leading the corporate charge against reform.
Big Business couldn’t kill Wall Street reform then, but with Republicans taking control of the U.S. House next week, don’t think that battle is over. Think Progress reports the Chamber’s senior director of its division dedicated to de-regulating the complex derivatives market will now play a major role in overseeing how the new law that regulates derivates is implemented.
Ryan McKee has been hired by the incoming chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), as senior staffer to oversee the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Writes Think Progress’s Lee Fang:
In her new role working for Lucas, McKee will be liaising with regulators in charge of implementing new rules under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to overhaul the over-the-counter derivatives market. Read the rest of this entry »
House Republican Agenda: Make Big Banks More Profitable
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When the Republicans take over the U.S. House in January, one of the first things on their agenda is payback to those who helped get them in office: Wall Street.
And they’ve already announced one way they plan to do that.
The financial reform legislation that President Obama signed into law in July gave regulators a significant tool to rein in gambling by big Wall Street banks. The “Volcker Rule,” named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker who proposed it, is aimed at preventing Big Banks from speculating on securities or other complex financial products (a.k.a. “proprietary trading”) and putting strict limits on their ability to bet on hedge funds and private equity funds.
N.Y. Coalition Tells Big Banks Do More to Stop Foreclosures
A coalition of New York City unions and community groups, joined by city Comptroller John Liu, told some of the biggest banks that received hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailouts that it’s time to help out New York homeowners facing foreclosure.
In letters to JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PNC, Wachovia and U.S. Bank, the group says the banks are not doing enough to modify mortgages to help homeowners stay in their homes.
Wall Street Reform Passes Senate: Conference with House is Chance to Strengthen
Three weeks after more than 15,000 people marched on Wall Street and just days after thousands more marched on K Street demanding Wall Street reform, the Senate last night (59-39) passed legislation to rein-in Wall Street Big Banks’ reckless behavior that crashed the economy.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the Senate vote was a “sweet victory” for the “tens of millions of working families who lost jobs, homes and income at the hands of the big Wall Street banks.” He also said it was “reassuring” that
the Senate took this step to protect consumers despite the swarms of finance industry lobbyists who converged on Capitol Hill and outlays of $1.4 million a day to block reform. Read the rest of this entry »
Join Us Today for the K Street Showdown
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Congress is poised to vote on Wall Street reform—the most important to our financial system in decades. We are taking our message “Good Jobs Now! Make Wall Street Pay” to K Street, the power corridor in Washington, D.C., where Big Bank lobbyists plot to kill real financial reform and peddle corporate influence on Capitol Hill.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will lead a large contingent of working families and union staff today, May 17, as we join with our partners from National People’s Action, Move On, SEIU and others to rally and call out the lobbyists for the Big Banks.
The rally kicks off at 11:45 a.m., in McPherson Square at the intersection of K Street and Vermont Ave., N.W.. If you can’t be there in person, join us as we live webstream the rally at www.aflcio.org. Also at www.aflcio.org, you can join in the discussion and leave your comments. Follow the action on Twitter via #bankshowdown and check back here, where we’ll be tweeting the event live. And there’s still time to invite your friends to join us online via Facebook.
Join Us at the K Street Showdown May 17
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We’re getting set for the Showdown on K Street, the Washington, D.C., power corridor where Big Bank and corporate lobbyists scheme and scam to kill Wall Street reform and peddle corporate influence on Capitol Hill.
On May 17, at 11:45 a.m., ET, working families will bring their influence to the nation’s capital. The AFL-CIO, National People’s Action, Move On, SEIU and others will rally to call out the lobbyists who do Wall Street’s dirty work. Click here to sign up to be there in person or join us online.
We’re especially targeting the lobbyists for Wall Street’s Big Six Banks: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo/Wachovia.
From last year to today, Big Banks are spending some $1.4 million a day in lobbying and political expenses to fight legislation that would reform the financial industry and help prevent another economic meltodown. There are four Big Bank lobbyists for every member of Congress.
Wall Street Reform Actions Go Nationwide
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When Wells Fargo shareholders gather for the big bank’s annual shareholders meeting today in San Francisco, they’ll have a lot of company—about 1,000 workers and community and religious activists. They plan to tell Wells Fargo CEOs it’s time to start paying for the jobs they destroyed and that working people “will not be your ATM.”
The San Francisco march and rally is part of a huge week of mobilization for Wall Street reform spearheaded by the AFL-CIO, Working America and community allies, including a Thursday march and rally on Wall Street that is expected to draw 10,000 marchers and nearly as many “virtual marchers.” Click here for more information on the virtual march.
2010 PayWatch Exposes Corporate Lobbying on Financial Reform
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The nation’s biggest banks helped create the current financial crisis that required a $700 billion taxpayer bailout. In return, the banks cut back on lending to consumers and small businesses but paid out a record $145 billion in total compensation in 2009.
The 2010 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, which launched today, shows the same Big Six banks—Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo—are spending millions of dollars lobbying on financial regulations, including limits on executive pay and risky actions like the ones that caused the current crisis.
In six case studies, PayWatch examines how the companies paid out big bucks to executives and lobbyists:
- Citigroup received more than $45 billion in bailout funds—the largest bank bailout and employs nearly 50 lobbyists. Citigroup’s highest-paid executive, Institutional Clients Group CEO John Havens, received more than $11 million in 2009.
- At Bank of America, Thomas Montag, the head of global banking and markets, collected $30 million last year. And Kenneth Lewis, who retired as CEO at the end of 2009, could collect as much as $83 million over his retirement. The bank has lobbied federal officials and lawmakers on derivatives, executive compensation, oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
Wall Street’s Lobbying On Financial Reform Can’t Duck 2010 PayWatch Spotlight
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Be sure to be here tomorrow when the 2010 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch shines its spotlight on Wall Street’s Big Six: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo/Wachovia.
The six banks, which received billions of dollars from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Assets Relief Program, now are spending millions of dollars to lobby on financial reform in Congress.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will host a live webcast at noon EDT tomorrow to review the new data and outline plans to enact real financial regulatory reform and make Wall Street pay for job creation through a financial speculation tax. Click here for more information on the webcast.
2010 PayWatch Spotlights Wall Street’s Effort to Block Financial Reform
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Think you’re angry now about CEO bonuses, bailouts and the wheeling and dealing of Big Banks on Wall Street?
Just wait until Tuesday, April 13. The AFL-CIO 2010 Executive PayWatch launches that day, and it will spotlight Wall Street’s Big Six: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo/Wachovia. Each stuck its hands out for the billions of dollars of corporate welfare under the Treasury Department’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP)—and now is using our taxpayer money to pay multimillion-dollar bonuses and, even worse, to lobby against financial reform in Congress to ensure they can continue to get away with economic murder.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will highlight a live webcast at noon EST the same day to review the new data and outline plans to enact real financial regulatory reform and make Wall Street pay for job creation through a financial speculation tax.
