Critical Week for Financial Reform!

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The financial reform bill is now on the Senate floor. The bad news is that Senate leadership has not yet decided if critical amendments will see a vote. For instance, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ted Kaufman (D-Delaware) have not been assured of a vote on their amendment to cap the size of "too big to fail" banks. Is this a democracy or a dictatorship? Senators should be allowed a debate on their measures followed by a vote. Send a message to Congress at BanksterUSA.org. Also Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has not yet seen a vote yet on his simple amendment to audit the Federal Reserve. If you have not taken action yet, send a letter to the Senate by clicking here.

The good news is that this morning the New York Times wrote a powerful editorial in support of the Brown-Kaufman amendment and in support of the strongest measures to crack down on reckless derivatives trading. The editorial was right on target in every respect, and has a similar message to my post of the weekend "Blanche Lincoln Rambos Wall Street" even it is not quite as colorful! In other good news, respected Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) came out for the bill yesterday.

But we have a long way to go. The White House and the Federal Reserve are fighting hard against these common-sense measures to cap the size of banks and audit the Fed.

Mother Jones reported that White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is lobbying the Senate against the audit. Sanders is quoted as saying: "I think momentum is with us, but I've gotta tell you that on this amendment, you're taking on all of Wall Street, you're taking on the Fed, obviously, and unfortunately you seem to be taking on the White House, as well. And that's a tough group to beat."

For a list of where your Senator stands on the issue of "too big to fail," visit A New Way Forward. For a list of where your Senator stands on the issue of the Audit visit Firedoglake and remember the Senate switchboard is (202) 224-3121.

Stay tuned, stay in touch. Senate leadership wants to wrap up this debate by May 14. This critical Senate debate (if we can call it that if amendments are stifled) is being covered on C-Span 2.