If any Dem believes that Democrats are reliably better than Republicans when it comes to regulating the financial sector, I’ve got a CDO to sell ’em. Â But I’m very happy to see things like this happening:
The Wall Street reform bill has no doubt drifted leftward in the past several days. But that doesn’t mean all Senate liberals are happy. Several progressive and populist senators think the bill’s broad approach does not call for the fundamental reforms Wall Street needs. They’ve been pushing far-reaching amendments that would shrink major financial companies, and further limit high-risk trading and though their efforts likely do not have enough votes to pass, they at the very least want to get a fair hearing. And they’re banding together to make sure they get one.
And it looks like retiring Sen. Byron Dorgan is taking the lead:
Dorgan, though, says he’s been all but blocked out of the process, and that other senators have been given priority. He predicts he’ll ultimately prevail.
How? Progressive Democrats could use their leverage. They could make their support for ending debate on the bill contingent on getting votes on their amendments. That’s what Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said last week, when leadership tried to scotch a number of amendments aimed at shrinking, or breaking up, too big to fail firms. Dorgan says he’ll make issue of this at a caucus meeting this afternoon. And he hinted on the floor today that he won’t relent until he’s given a fair shake.
“I will continue to come and ask consent to be able to offer this amendment,” Dorgan said. “[A]s Governor Schwarzenegger said in a previous life, I’ll be back, and soon.”
More like this, please.