It's astonishing, but not surprising at all, to again learn and know just how much corruption runs deep within the Republican party. However, it is equally astonishing to live during a time where the a lot of what we already knew was going on as it relates to payoffs and kickbacks to politicians from corporate executives in varying industries is coming to light for all the world to see. In just two weeks' time, Mitch McConnell's name has come up twice in not so flattering references in two of America's most recent tragedies: the Massey Energy explosion that killed 29 people and the Wall Street greed that led to America's greatest financial melt-down since the Great Depression. Needless to say, McConnell is not the only benefactor of Wall Street greed. But since McConnell insists on being so high-profile and in-your-face with his arrogance, this Diary specifically discusses him.
According to Capitol News, Senate Majority Harry Reid today put Mitch McConnwell on blast and said "Come clean"! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called on Mitch McConnell to disclose details of his meeting two weeks ago with Wall Street executives.
Reid issued the challenge through his spokesman moments before delivering a speech on the Senate floor that didn’t go as far as the statement, but still lashed Republicans for their ties to special interests. The majority leader followed the lead of President Barack Obama, who went after McConnell Saturday in his weekly address for meeting with 25 Wall Street executives and later criticizing the bill.
"Since Republicans appear to be conducting backroom negotiations with these same people who took our economy to the brink of collapse, the public deserves to know what secret deals and carve-outs Republicans are offering Wall Street executives in exchange for their support," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.
Speaking on the floor after Reid, McConnell didn’t directly respond to majority leader’s charge, but continued to point out that his calls for removing a $50 billion fund to wind down failing institutions has support within the administration.
"My advice at the beginning of this week is that we focus not on personal attacks or questioning each other’s motives, but on fixing the problems in this bill — and that means doing everything we can to make sure the final product doesn’t allow for future Wall Street bailouts," McConnell said.
[This guy is so full of bull_ _ and muck that I can hardly stomach it! Of course you don't want personal attacks, you idiot, because you are the one who is so corrupt, part of the program and so busted!
But at this point, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd does not appear ready to jettison the $50 billion fund criticized by Republicans as perpetuating bailouts from the Wall Street reform bill – unless he gets a counteroffer that would not put taxpayers on the hook for dissolving failing firms.
"If there are other options to that, fine, we'll consider them," Dodd told reporters Monday. "But the irony of ironies is the suggestion about this came from the Republicans. Now, we agreed with it, because it made some sense to have a prepayment system for large institutions, much as we have for small ones."
Administration officials said late last week that the fund, which would be financed by the industry and used to dissolve failing institutions, was not "essential" to the legislation. McConnell has made the fund the focal point of the Republican criticism, saying it would allow financial firms to continue taking unnecessary risks [WHAT A LOT OF NERVE! TYPICAL REPUBLICAN - CREATE THE PROBLEM AND THEN CRITICIZE POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS OR OTHER RESOLVES]. Dodd said the administration has not asked him in the last week to drop the fund from the bill.
But if Democrats want to open debate on the bill to the floor later this week, as Reid has pledged, they may need to make some concessions to Republicans in order to secure the crucial 60th vote. [This is why no one trusts government anymore. It's all just a big damn game, and we are the one's who are losing!] http://people-press.org/...
Dodd pointed to the fraud charges leveled last week against Goldman Sachs as evidence that Republicans will face a tough choice opposing the bill.
"Obviously, the events of the last week or so, including a major investment firm in New York — without getting into the decision, a legal matter — let there be no doubt in my mind, our bill would have prevented that kind of events from happening, in my view, and that's what the public needs to know," Dodd said. "By not enacting our legislation, by filibustering it, stopping it, we leave the American public vulnerable once again to the kind of — the kind of shenanigans that have occurred in our large financial institutions across this country."
The bill is expected to hit the floor Wednesday or Thursday, Dodd said.
"I'm going to work on the assumption that the glass is half full here, and that when we bring this bill up later this week, that we will have the votes across the board, whatever differences may exist in the legislation, to allow us to debate this legislation, consider amendments and move forward," Dodd said.
In my opinion, the Wall Street Financial Reform debate definitely needs to be widely televised.
Dodd made the remarks at press conference Monday with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in a bid to push back at Republican criticism that bill doesn’t end the problem of allowing institutions to become "too big to fail." Warner and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) wrote the section of the bill dealing with the issue.
A McConnell spokesman said the minority leader was "confident" that Democrats and Republicans could bridge their differences. [Of course you want the differences bridged - you know that you are about to be publicly busted and rather than some people knowing that you are a crook, everyone will know!]
"Despite the overheated rhetoric from the White House and the other side of the aisle when I raised concerns about this fund, those concerns have now been vindicated by the President's request to remove it," spokesman Don Stewart said. "Other concerns about the Dodd bill remain, like the impact on small businesses and job creation. But I'm confident those too can be addressed because of the clear bipartisan support for improving this bill. It's my hope that we can work together to close the remaining bailout loopholes that would put American taxpayers on the hook for financial institutions that become ‘too big to fail.’"
Some extra reading in the way of a report regarding corruption and Mitch McConnell, I offer the following: http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/...