The White House’s general approach to legislation has been to be an interested party — a nudge here, a supportive statement there — while the president himself stays out of the nitty-gritty day-to-day process. Many a commentator insisted he was too aloof on health care, letting petty and parochial interests in Congress hijack his signature initiative. But Obama is wading into the financial reform debate in a much more pro-active and targeted manner. Following up on the Dan Pfeiffer blog post I mentioned this morning, the White House is sending around a statement from the president slamming Richard Shelby’s consumer finance protection amendment that may get a vote today.
The language is particularly scathing and there’s another implicit veto threat weaved in: “I will not allow amendments like this one written by Wall Street’s lobbyists to pass for reform.” It’s a testament to how different the politics of financial reform are from those of the health care debate, and another sign the White House is convinced it has a strong hand to play.
Shelby’s amendment (pdf summary here) would limit the scope and reach of a proposed consumer finance protection bureau and shift it from the Fed to the FDIC. Full Obama statement after the jump:
Statement by President Obama on Consumer Protection and Financial Reform
Nearly two years after the collapse on Wall Street that cost over 8 million jobs on Main Street, the American people deserve strong, tough reform that will help prevent another financial crisis. The bill before the Senate demands accountability from Wall Street and includes the strongest consumer protections ever.
Unfortunately, throughout this debate, there have been partisan attempts to obstruct progress and weaken reform. Today, the Senate is considering a Republican amendment that will gut consumer protections and is worse than the status quo. I will not allow amendments like this one written by Wall Street’s lobbyists to pass for reform. This amendment will significantly weaken consumer protection oversight, includes dangerous carve outs for payday lenders, debt collectors, and other financial services operations, and hurts the ability of community and local banks to compete by creating an unlevel playing field with their non-bank competitors.
As I have said throughout this process, I want to continue to work with Democrats and Republicans because protecting the American people should not be a partisan issue. But we must work together in good faith. Alternatives that gut consumer protections and do nothing to empower the American people by cracking down on unfair and predatory practices are unacceptable, and I urge the Senate to vote no on weakening consumer protections and instead stand with the American people.