Last Call on Financial Reform! [1]
Submitted by Mary Bottari [2] on
Today, U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln [3] (D-Arkansas) was dragged into a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [4] (D-Nevada), Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank [5] (D-Massachusetts). It was a pile-on to ask her to agree to weaken her strong derivatives reforms to accommodate Wall Street. Lincoln made it clear she was not pleased with the pressure. "There are some that are not as interested in being as aggressive in making sure that the possibilities of this financial crisis don’t happen again,” the Arkansas Democrat told Roll Call after the meeting. The issue of derivatives will be taken up tomorrow in the House-Senate Conference Committee which is pounding out the difference between the two bills. Will they adopt the Senate version (which covers 90% of derivatives, with a narrow exemption for legitimate end-users like municipal gas companies) or the House version (which is riddled with loopholes and covers only 60% of derivatives trading)?
If you have time tomorrow morning for one last call, consider calling one of the Big Four in House and Senate leadership. Tell them nothing less that the Lincoln derivatives language (Sec. 716) will do! See the phone numbers below and if you would like to learn more please visit BanksterUSA [6] today!
- Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, (202) 225-0100
- Senator Majority Leader, Harry Reid (202) 224-3542
- Rep. Barney Frank, (202) 225-5931
- Senator Chris Dodd (202) 224-2823
Also, tell Senator Lincoln to hang tough: (202) 224-4843
Tell Senator Collins to stand by Lincoln: (202) 224-2523
Tell Senator Snowe to stand by Lincoln: (202) 224-5344
Mary Bottari is a reporter for the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). She helped launch CMD's award-winning ALEC Exposed investigation and is a two-time recipient of the Sidney Prize for public interest journalism from the Sidney Hillman Foundation.