The last time Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced his “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist” legislation, it was tough to attract serious attention to his proposal, which calls for a government-controlled breakup of the nation’s biggest banks.
But Sanders is now the sole official challenger to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and that status has catapulted him from relative Senate obscurity to the role of populist foil to the Clinton campaign.
The Vermont Independent on Wednesday was able to pack a room full of reporters who came to hear about the bill which he first authored in 2009. He made the pitch alongside Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., who plans to introduce a companion measure in the House.
“The enormous concentration of ownership within the financial sector is hurting the middle class and damaging the economy by eliminating choices and raising prices for consumers and small businesses,” Sanders said. “Just six large financial institutions have assets of $10 trillion dollars.”
Few lawmakers will support the bill aside from the most liberal in the Democratic party. In past years the proposal didn’t even get a hearing in the Democratically-led Congress.
Congress instead passed a comprehensive financial reform bill aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2008 near-collapse of the Wall Street banking industry. But Sanders said the legislation, signed into law by President Obama, mostly protects wealthy bankers, not the middle class.
Sanders’ legislation would give the Treasury secretary one year to break up the nation’s eight largest banks, which he lists as JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street.
“If the American people are wondering why tens of millions of Americans are being charged interest rates of more than 20 percent on their credit cards, while big banks can receive zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve, the lack of competition in the banking industry is a major reason for that,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ view is resonating with a growing liberal/populist wing of the Democratic party that has been clamoring for a more liberal candidate than former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
That leaves Sanders in the position to at least shape the campaign and nudge Clinton to the left with his own ideas, even though they have largely be rejected in Congress.
Sanders appears well aware of his newfound influence.
“We recognize that Wall Street is extraordinarily powerful,” Sanders said, when a reporter pointed out that the bill has been introduced in the past and left to die at the end of each Congress. “When Wall Street tells the members of the Congress not to do anything that would damage their interests, most members of Congress adhere to that. My own view is that it makes eminent sense to tens of millions of Americans who absolutely don’t want to go through what we went through in 2008 and 2009. We are going to reach out to the grassroots and have support from a lot of grassroots organizations to put pressure on Congress. ”
Sanders on Wednesday deflected questions about the presidential race.
“Honestly, I’m not going to talk about Hillary Clinton,” Sanders said when a reporter asked if it was “fair to associate Clinton” with the banking policies Sanders believes need to be corrected.
A couple of reporters asked about the bill, but the line if questioning again turned to the presidential campaign when someone asked Sanders if he plans to participate in the six debates the Democratic National Committee announced they have sanctioned.
“Let me focus on this and maybe we can talk about that later on, okay?” he said to the reporter.
But there were no more questions.
“OK, thank you very much,” Sanders said.
The senator who often introduced legislation to near-empty press conference rooms, left the stage with a large pack of reporters chasing him down the hallway.
