Liberals Push to Toughen Bank Bill

See Goldman troubles as opening to break up banks, restore firewall
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2010 7:21 AM CDT
Liberals Push to Toughen Bank Bill
Harry Reid, Christopher Dodd, and Sherrod Brown take part in a financial reform news conference on Capitol Hill.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The Left is suddenly playing offense in the push for financial reform legislation, with liberal senators preparing a barrage of amendments to beef up the bill. One would break up the nation's six largest banks—Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley—whose combined assets make up 60% of the gross domestic product, according to the AP. “They're just too big,” says co-sponsor Ted Kaufman. “They're too big to manage, too big to regulate.”

Other proposals include preventing banks from playing the market, or to simply re-instate Depression-era regulations separating federally-insured banks from investment houses. Democrats admit to Politico that some of these are “messaging amendments,” designed to make political points but unlikely to pass, and some have drawn opposition from the White House. But some seem likely to stick. “It’s probably going to be a stronger bill than any of us imagined when we got into this,” says the co-founder one liberal group. (More financial reform stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X