Handing President Donald Trump a major legislative victory and delivering a huge gift to Wall Street banks on the very same day they reported record-shattering profits, 33 House Democrats joined nearly every Republican late Tuesday in passing a deregulatory measure that independent analysts say will significantly increase the risk of another financial crisis.
“This is bipartisanship at its worst—members of both parties coming together to bow down to their wealthy donors.”
—Morris Pearl, Patriotic Millionaires
“Remember these names the next time Wall Street tanks our economy and taxpayers are left to bail out the big banks,” Public Citizen wrote on Twitter following Tuesday’s vote, urging Americans to hold their representatives accountable.
Below are the 33 Democrats who voted with every Republican but one—Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.)—to reward big banks on the ten-year anniversary of the 2008 Wall Street collapse:
Ami Bera (Calif.)
Sanford Bishop (Ga.)
Lisa Rochester (Del.)
Andre Carson (Ind.)
Lou Correa (Calif.)
Jim Costa (Calif.)
Henry Cuellar (Texas)
Danny Davis (Ill.)
John Delaney (Md.)
Bill Foster (Ill.)
Vicente Gonzalez (Texas)
Josh Gottheimer (N.J.)
Alcee Hastings (Fla.)
Jim Himes (Conn.)
Ron Kind (Wis.)
Annie Kuster (N.H.)
Rick Larson (Wash.)
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Al Lawson (Fla.)
Sean Maloney (N.Y.)
Stephanie Murphy (Fla.)
Rick Nolan (Minn.)
Tom O’Halleran (Ariz.)
Scott Peters (Calif.)
Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Kathleen Rice (N.Y.)
Brad Schneider (Ill.)
Kurt Schrader (Ore.)
David Scott (Ga.)
Terri Sewell (Ala.)
Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)
Tom Suozzi (N.Y.)
Marc Veasey (Texas)
Filemon Vela (Texas)
“This bill will enrich banking giants like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase that are already enjoying record profits. Meanwhile, it will make it harder for black and brown people to become homeowners, and will increase the chances of another taxpayer bailout,” Rep. Keith Ellison, who voted against the bill and denounced it forcefully on the House floor, wrote after the bill passed. “Disgraceful.”
In a strong indication that they are well aware of how politically toxic a vote to reward big banks is in the eyes of the American public, not a single one of the 33 Democrats who voted for the bill—many of whom have received substantial sums of campaign cash from big banks—had the courage to speak in favor of it on the House floor.
By approving the deregulatory measure, which weakens oversight of 25 of the nation’s 38 largest banks, the House cleared the final obstacle on the bill’s path to Trump’s desk. In a tweet early Wednesday, the president applauded the measure’s passage and vowed to sign it into law “shortly.”
“It is reprehensible that our Congress has abdicated this responsibility in a clear move to cater to Wall Street,” Morris Pearl, chair of Patriotic Millionaires, said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is bipartisanship at its worst—members of both parties coming together to bow down to their wealthy donors on Wall Street instead of protecting their constituents. 2008 was just a decade ago, have we already forgotten the lessons we learned?”