bobbyw24
04-26-2010, 09:26 AM
By Brady Dennis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 26, 2010; 11:09 AM
The top GOP negotiator on a bill to overhaul financial regulation said he expects all 41 Senate Republicans to vote Monday against moving forward with debate on the legislation, but expressed doubts about whether the party could remained unified on the issue in the days ahead.
"I believe that 41 Republicans right now are going to stand together," Shelby said of Monday's planned 5 p.m. test vote on the Senate floor. "I wish we'd stand together period," he added, noting that such unity would give GOP members "more negotiating power and more clout."
Shelby's comments to a crowd of community bankers at the Mayflower Hotel came as Democrats increasingly coalesced around the far-reaching legislation. They are eager to pressure Republicans into a difficult vote, in which liberals could characterize those who oppose the bill as trying to protect Wall Street.
Monday's planned vote also comes as a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that about two-thirds of Americans support stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business.
Shelby said he and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, are "conceptually very close" to a deal on the pending bill but that Shelby is pushing to "tighten up some language."
____________
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) intends to introduce an amendment on the floor effectively adding the Grayson-Paul language to the Senate bill. The language is here and below is a summary from his office of the amendment:
Support the Sanders Federal Reserve Transparency Amendment to the Financial Reform Bill
The American people have a right to know who received over $2 Trillion in financial assistance from the Federal Reserve.
Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve has provided over $2 trillion in taxpayer-backed loans and other financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the world. Unfortunately, the Fed is still refusing to tell the American people or the Congress who received most of this assistance, how much they received or what they are doing with this money. This money does not belong to the Federal Reserve, it belongs to the American people, and the American people have a right to know where their taxpayer dollars are going.
Therefore, during the consideration of the financial reform bill, we will offer an amendment to increase transparency at the Federal Reserve. Specifically, our amendment:
Requires the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an independent and comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve within one year after the date of enactment of the financial reform bill;
Requires the GAO to submit a report to Congress detailing its findings and conclusion of their independent audit of the Fed within 3 months; and
Requires the Federal Reserve within one month after the date of enactment to disclose the names of the financial institutions and foreign central banks that received financial assistance from the Fed since the start of the recession, how much they received, and the exact terms of this taxpayer assistance.
Does not interfere with or dictate the monetary policies or decisions of the Federal Reserve.
59 Senators, 320 Members of Congress, and two federal courts have called on the Federal Reserve to become more transparent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042601969.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 26, 2010; 11:09 AM
The top GOP negotiator on a bill to overhaul financial regulation said he expects all 41 Senate Republicans to vote Monday against moving forward with debate on the legislation, but expressed doubts about whether the party could remained unified on the issue in the days ahead.
"I believe that 41 Republicans right now are going to stand together," Shelby said of Monday's planned 5 p.m. test vote on the Senate floor. "I wish we'd stand together period," he added, noting that such unity would give GOP members "more negotiating power and more clout."
Shelby's comments to a crowd of community bankers at the Mayflower Hotel came as Democrats increasingly coalesced around the far-reaching legislation. They are eager to pressure Republicans into a difficult vote, in which liberals could characterize those who oppose the bill as trying to protect Wall Street.
Monday's planned vote also comes as a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that about two-thirds of Americans support stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business.
Shelby said he and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, are "conceptually very close" to a deal on the pending bill but that Shelby is pushing to "tighten up some language."
____________
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) intends to introduce an amendment on the floor effectively adding the Grayson-Paul language to the Senate bill. The language is here and below is a summary from his office of the amendment:
Support the Sanders Federal Reserve Transparency Amendment to the Financial Reform Bill
The American people have a right to know who received over $2 Trillion in financial assistance from the Federal Reserve.
Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve has provided over $2 trillion in taxpayer-backed loans and other financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the world. Unfortunately, the Fed is still refusing to tell the American people or the Congress who received most of this assistance, how much they received or what they are doing with this money. This money does not belong to the Federal Reserve, it belongs to the American people, and the American people have a right to know where their taxpayer dollars are going.
Therefore, during the consideration of the financial reform bill, we will offer an amendment to increase transparency at the Federal Reserve. Specifically, our amendment:
Requires the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an independent and comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve within one year after the date of enactment of the financial reform bill;
Requires the GAO to submit a report to Congress detailing its findings and conclusion of their independent audit of the Fed within 3 months; and
Requires the Federal Reserve within one month after the date of enactment to disclose the names of the financial institutions and foreign central banks that received financial assistance from the Fed since the start of the recession, how much they received, and the exact terms of this taxpayer assistance.
Does not interfere with or dictate the monetary policies or decisions of the Federal Reserve.
59 Senators, 320 Members of Congress, and two federal courts have called on the Federal Reserve to become more transparent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042601969.html?hpid=topnews