Elizabeth Warren announced her intention Tuesday to cause as much trouble as possible for Republicans and her fellow Democrats who are aiming to advance a bipartisan banking relief bill this week.
“This bill is all about the big banks,” the Massachusetts senator said in a rare appearance before the press at the Capitol.
The legislative package, assembled by banking committee chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, with the support of a dozen Democrats, is advertised as relief from regulatory burdens for community and regional banks. It is set for a first vote in the full Senate on Tuesday morning.
But Warren claimed Tuesday morning the bill includes provisions that will allow Wall Street megabanks to take on more risk — and accused her colleagues and co-partisans of doing lobbyists’ bidding.
“There’s Democratic and Republican support because the lobbyists have been pushing since the first day Dodd-Frank passed to weaken the regulations on these giant banks,” she said.
Regarding provisions that would revise some rules related to mortgages, Warren claimed, “The bill lets lenders make lives a lot more miserable for one reason only: so that lenders can make bigger profits.”
As the bill has sufficient bipartisan support to avoid a filibuster, there is not much Warren and other liberal Democrats can do to stop it from passing.
But she said she aims to drive up as much opposition to it as possible with floor speeches and amendments, a course of action that will make it more difficult for her fellow Democrats who are looking for bipartisan legislative achievements because they are running for re-election in deep red states.
