Washington, DC — New reporting in The Intercept today revealed that late-breaking changes to Sen. Mike Crapo’s S.2155 – dubbed the “Bank Lobbyist Act” – would loosen a key capital requirement on banks like Wall Street giant Citigroup. The “Citigroup Carveout” would allow these banks to load up on risk and pose a greater threat to the overall stability of the financial system.
Check out our H2 hedge fund letters here.
In response to the news, Rootstrikers released the following statement, attributable to Campaign Director Kurt Walters:
"Today's news about the Citigroup Carveout in the Bank Lobbyist Act is game-changing.
"It puts the final stake in the cynical talking point that this bill – loaded with goodies for the bank lobby – was somehow only intended to help small institutions on Main Street.
"The reality is much uglier: The Bank Lobbyist Act was tailored to allow massive Wall Street giants like Citigroup load up with risk and threaten to crash the economy yet again. And bank-funded politicians have decided deregulating these banks is a higher priority than addressing the epidemic of gun violence in this country.
"There is simply no excuse for Democrats in the Senate to team up with the GOP to set loose Citigroup – the biggest recipient of bailout money after 2008 – and other Wall Street giants. Progressives are disgusted by pay-to-play politics where bank executives writing big campaign checks set policy, and the rest of the country is left holding the bag when everything goes sideways.
"If the facts that this bill facilitates racial discrimination in mortgage lending and loosens rules on foreign megabanks were not enough, the choice on this legislation now could not be more clear. Will senators stand with the American people, or a handful of big-spending bank lobbyists?
"It's not too late for senators supporting the Bank Lobbyist Act to admit they made a mistake, drop their support, and move on to address America's urgent issues."
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Article by Rootstrikers
Rootstrikers is a new generation of activists taking a stand against the corrupting influence of money in politics and Wall Street’s attempts to rig the game against everyday Americans. We are a project of Demand Progress.
