Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) took to the U.S. Senate floor after Republicans blocked floor debate on Wall Street reform / regulation legislation.
Listen to Claire’s floor speech [Mp3, 11:45 min.]
Republicans contend the measure is too costly and too restrictive.
McCaskill referred to her predecessor, Harry S Truman, and his historic move to regulate spending during his tenure in the Senate and later in the White House.
McCaskill chastised a few of her fellow Democrats who voted alongside Republicans to block debate on the measure. To both parties, she said the American people are not interested in political tic-tac-toe, but rather getting work done and fixing the problems within the financial sector.
Many have credited this quote to Ronald Reagen, she said, but it was actually Harry Truman who said “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
The Senate voted 57-41 on Monday, three short of the 60 votes needed to begin debate. All 41 Republicans voted against the measure, joined by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
McCaskill sits on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which is hearing from banking industry leaders today, April 27.
The Washington Post reports on that hearing:
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is pressing her betting-bookie analogy again, which she launched with two hours ago.
“You all are the house, you’re the bookie,” she said. Clients “are booking their bets with you. I don’t know why we need to dress it up. It’s a bet.”
McCaskill, who copped to betting on college sports, asked the Goldman execs: “What’s your vig?” In other words, what was Goldman’s fee for setting up these bets?
Former Goldman exec Dan Sparks, who is testifying, said he would like to resist the gambling analogy and instead pointed out that, as a market-making firm, Goldman got fees and a “bid-offer spread, another kind of fee. Or McCaskill’s vig.
Sparks said the bid-ask spread varied widely for each deal, frustrating McCaskill…. Â Read the entire article.
SenateDemocrats have posted a video on YouTube of McCaskill pressing Goldman Sachs in committee.
