Immediately after Republicans in Congress voted to cripple the Wall Street reforms enacted after 2008 and to once again expose the country to the threat of another financial crisis and more bailouts for big banks, Bridge Project released a new digital ad that will run in the districts of 14 House Republicans.
To view Bridge Project’s new ad, “Selling Out Families to Wall Street,” click HERE.
“Congressional Republicans are pushing an agenda that gives to the rich at everyone else’s expense, and their vote to kill protections against future meltdowns and bailouts are a perfect example of their misplaced priorities,” said American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah. “Like Trumpcare, this will be remembered as a defining vote, and Americans are going to hold Republicans accountable for putting big banks, lobbyists, and the wealthy first.”
The CHOICE Act, which The New York Times wrote is designed to “gut bank regulations,” would rampantly deregulate big banks so that they would be free to resume many of the reckless behaviors that caused the financial crisis. The legislation repeals important federal abilities to regulate derivatives and would make systemic risk skyrocket at the same time as undoing Dodd-Frank’s provisions that prevent new bailouts.
House Republican support for the CHOICE Act will be a key example of members siding with Donald Trump and big banks over middle class families, and Trump’s endorsement of the bill raises serious questions. Undermining the Dodd-Frank reforms is one of the leading goals of Wall Street’s main lobbying organization in Washington, the Financial Services Roundtable, which support this Republican bill.
During the campaign, Donald Trump attacked opponents in both parties for being ‘too close to Wall Street,’ and yet then declared his opposition to Dodd Frank just two weeks after hiring now-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, a banking executive, to be his chief fundraiser.
Trump has stacked his administration with numerous other cabinet members and senior staff from Wall Street, including Gary Cohn, his top economic adviser, who was formerly the chief operating officer for Goldman Sachs.