JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
Wall Street got something to cheer about Thursday night—something other than the billions pillaged from our economy that cheer it every day—when the House voted through a provision weakening regulation on big banks as part of the bill that will fund the government until September. As Sen. Elizabeth Warren
explained, the provision:
... was written by lobbyists for Citigroup. That provision means big money for a few big banks. It would let derivatives traders on Wall Street gamble with taxpayer money—and, when it all blows up, require the government to bail them out. Just to be clear, I want to read the title of the part of the law that will be repealed if this provision is not stripped out of the omnibus: PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS OF SWAPS ENTITIES.
So you can see why Wall Street would be happy. And indeed, the bankers
didn't just sit back and wait and hope that the bill would pass with this provision intact:
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon made calls to lawmakers on Thursday urging them to support the “cromnibus” spending bill, House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told reporters.
That's quite a vote-whipping operation: Jamie Dimon, John Boehner, and President Obama. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough claimed the White House didn't learn the provision was in the bill until it was too late, but according to Bloomberg, the White House had
previously signaled a willingness to trade that provision for some of its priorities. The upshot of Wall Street's win Thursday night is this:
Banks had modest expectations even under the new Republican Congress that will convene in January, a group they presume will be more receptive to their agenda. Their surprising success this week may embolden lenders to seek deeper regulatory changes as Republicans take control of the Senate from Democrats.
So we go into Republican control of the Senate with Wall Street fresh off a win and convinced—probably correctly—that it has many more wins coming.