Washington Insiders Are In Awe Of The Number Of Wall Street Lobbyists Descending On The City Right Now
It's called the "Terminating Bailouts for Taxpayer Fairness" Act, and David Vitter (R-LA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have been talking about bringing it to the floor for the last month or so. They presented a complete version of the bill last week.
Here in NYC there was little hair pulling in the media. Jamie Dimon didn't run around making speeches about the evils of regulation. The whole thing has been pretty quiet.
Politico's Ben White reports that may be because Wall Street is quietly dispatching its army of lobbyists to take care of the problem for them. Check out this quote from industry vet Cam Fine, he's the president and CEO of the Independant Community Bankers of America.
“I have been in Washington leading ICBA for 10 years. I have experienced everything from the Wal-Mart bank charter fight, to the Fannie-Freddie accounting scandals, the Great Recession, bailouts, financial reform and Basel III. And I believe that Wall Street and the half dozen large trade groups that represent them in Washington have deployed more lobbyists on the TBTF issue than on any other issue since I came to D.C. … They must really be freaked out. There are more Wall Street lobbyists swarming Capitol Hill than there will be cicadas swarming the Washington metro area this summer — and, worse, the lobbyists make more noise than the cicadas.”
Washington is super muggy in the summer too. Gross.