Elizabeth Warren, kickin butts and taking names on Capitol Hill and Wall Street.....

House Democrats Back Away From GOP Attack On Elizabeth Warren's Agency

Wall Street watchdogs are worried about several Dem defections.

Zach Carter Senior Political Economy Reporter, The Huffington Post

Posted: 09/30/2015 04:04 PM EDT | Edited: 09/30/2015 05:52 PM EDT

Jennifer Graylock via Getty Images

 

UPDATE: After pressure from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Democrats on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted against a bill to hamstring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) were the only Democrats voting in favor, joined by every Republican present at the markup. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who had previously spoken in support of the bill, said he was casting "a reluctant no" vote during the roll call.
Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) had been attempting to hash out an amendment that would bring additional Democrats on board, but did not ultimately introduce any language.

EARLIER:

WASHINGTON -- Several House Democrats are preparing to join a GOP assault on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- the agency designed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren to defend households from predatory lending. 

Republicans hope to hamstring the CFPB by replacing its director with a bipartisan five-member commission. Bank lobbyists have advocated the change for years, hoping to tie up rulemaking and enforcement actions with red tape and disputes between commissioners. Under CFPB Director Richard Cordray, the agency has forced companies to return billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains to consumers.

 

Read More Here

.....................................................................................

New York Times

Senator Elizabeth Warren to Join Call to Alter Sales of Distressed Loans

By MATTHEW GOLDSTEINSEPT. 30, 2015

Photo

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts. Credit Susan Walsh/Associated Press 

 

Housing advocates have attracted a prominent ally in their push to change the federal government’s policy of selling distressed mortgages at a discount to private equity firms and hedge funds.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, joined other lawmakers, advocates and community activists on Wednesday in a Washington rally to oppose the loan sale program.

The senator called on the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Fianance Agency, the overseer of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, to make it easier for nonprofit organizations to bid for the bundles of distressed mortgages put up for auction.

The sale of distressed mortgages by HUD and the government-sponsored mortgage finance firms has been drawing growing criticism from housing advocates and lawyers in recent months. The critics are concerned that private buyers of distressed mortgages are moving too quickly to put borrowers into foreclosure instead of modifying the loan terms as housing officials had hoped.

The investors are buying loans at a discount, often as much as 30 percent.

In a statement, Ms. Warren accused HUD and the F.H.F.A of “lining up with the Wall Street speculators.”

Read More Here

..........................................................................................

The Daily 202: Elizabeth Warren wins another battle in war on Wall Street

By James Hohmann and Elise Viebeck September 30 at 7:57 AM    

 

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren walk to the Senate floor after a weekly Democratic caucus lunch this spring. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

THE BIG IDEA: 

— Robert Litan has joined a growing fraternity of powerful Democrats who lost jobs because of Elizabeth Warren. 

Just a few hours after The Daily 202 broke the news that the Massachusetts senator was taking on the Brookings Institution over industry-financed research produced by Litan, the think tank sought and received his resignation. The veteran of the Clinton administration, who directed Brookings’ Economic Studies Program before becoming a non-resident senior fellow, is listed on the think tank’s web site this morning as a “Former Expert.”

Earlier this year, Warren blocked investment banker Antonio Weiss from becoming the third-ranking official at the Treasury Department. In 2013, Warren’s opposition helped torpedo Larry Summers’ lifelong dream of becoming Federal Reserve chairman—despite the fact he was reportedly promised the job by the White House.

Wall Street types call Warren a lot of nasty things, but demagogue is the most printable.

Read More Here

....................................................................

 the Intercept:

Warren Increases the Pain Factor for Choosing Corporate-Friendly Democrats

Unofficial _Sources

David Dayen

Sep. 8 2015, 4:11 p.m.

A little-noticed report on candidates for an open spot on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reaffirms that the reformist wing of the Democratic Party is winning the tactical battle over financial regulatory personnel.

Luis Aguilar, one of three Democratic SEC commissioners on the five-member panel, announced he would step down in May. Initially, the White House floated as a replacement Keir Gumbs, who has passed through the revolving door, from SEC staff to the white-collar corporate law firm Covington & Burling.

Covington & Burling counts most major U.S. banks among its clients, and is the home of former Attorney General Eric Holder and several of his top deputies. While at Covington, Gumbs allegedly gave CEOs tutorials on how to avoid disclosing their corporate political spending. He also represented the American Petroleum Institute before the SEC.

Read More Here

Republicans consider implications of a night of mixed electoral fortunes

Despite Chris Christie's emphatic win in New Jersey governor's race, it was a bad night for conservative factions in the GOP

• Paul Lewis in Washington, Ed Pilkington in New Jersey and Dan Roberts in Virginia
• theguardian.com, Wednesday 6 November 2013 13.43 EST

Chris Christie won decisively with a campaign that appealed to moderates but alienated the conservative wing of his party. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz /Reuters

Republicans were considering the implications of a night of mixed electoral fortunes on Wednesday, capped by the re-election of New Jersey governor Chris Christie who won decisively with a campaign that appealed to moderates but alienated the conservative wing of his party.
Christie's emphatic win in New Jersey cemented his position as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and provided a boost to moderates in the GOP who have been battling with hardline conservatives.
The victory in New Jersey contrasted with defeat in Virginia, were the Tea Party-backed Republican Ken Cuccinelli lost to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The race was closer than expected, but nonetheless represented a blow to Republicans; the first time since 1973 the party in the White House has won the state's gubernatorial race.
The New Jersey and Virginia races differed in significant ways, and analysts cautioned against drawing hard-and-fast conclusions about the wider political landscape for Republicans.
But it was symbolic moment: a centre-right, pragmatic Republican triumphed in New Jersey, a solidly Democratic state, while a staunchly conservative Republican lost in Virginia, a traditional swing-state he had been tipped to win just a few months ago.
Polls indicated that anger over the government shutdown, which was sharply felt in parts of northern Virginia, as well as discomfort with Cuccinelli's deeply conservative views, handed the race to McAuliffe, a controversial Democratic fundraiser and close ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
In New York, a Democrat won the race for city mayor for the first time in 20 years, with a landslide victory for Bill de Blasio. In Alabama, a closely-watched Republican primary was won by Bradley Byrne, in what was considered a victory for the party establishment against another Tea Party-inspired candidate, Dean Young.
Christie, who is due to assume the powerful chairmanship of the Republican Governor's Association (RGA), was the most high-profile winner of the night. His election, which drew the support of African American, Latino and women voters who have elsewhere been deserting Republicans, catapults Christie to the ranks of front-runners in the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Other likely candidates include senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who have all adopted staunchly conservative positions that appeal to their base but alienate the moderates and independent voters generally seen as essential to take the White House.
Read More Here

Related articles

• Republican Chris Christie marks himself out as a candidate of tantalising possibility
• 6 takeaways from Election Night 2013
• Chris Christie's broad victory boosts his White House prospects
• Rush uncorks on major Republican 'betrayal'
• Analysis: Election results ensure Republican Party feud will play on
• Tea Party Dead? Let's Not Be Too Hasty - Bloomberg
• On Election Day 2013, tale of two Republicans highlight GOP split
• Chris Christie Wisely Opted Against Campaigning With Ken Cuccinelli
• Chris Christie gets second NJ term
• Christie Rival Gives Scathing Speech Slamming Fellow Democrats

Delusional Congressman Makes Park Ranger Apologize for Shutdown he and his buddies voted for

GOP Congressman Makes Park Ranger Apologize for Shutdown

CurrentViralsHD

Published on Oct 3, 2013

In an astounding confrontation that took place yesterday at the World War II Memorial in DC, a Tea Party congressman from Texas appeared to blame the Park Service for denying veterans access to the facility — and then made a Park Ranger apologize for the shutdown.

"How do you look at them and ... deny them access?" Rep. Randy Neugebauer asked the unidentified Ranger in an incredible exchange that was caught on camera by NBC Washington.

In fact, the Park Service has been invoking the First Amendment in order to allow vets into the memorial despite the shutdown making it illegal for the department to do so.

"It's difficult," the Ranger replied. "Well, it should be difficult," scorned the congressman. "It is difficult," the Ranger repeated. "I'm sorry, sir."

"The Park Service should be ashamed of themselves," said Neugebauer. "I'm not ashamed," the Ranger retorted.

"You should be," sneered Neugebauer.

The good news is that, despite the GOP's best efforts to divert blame to literally anybody else, most Americans know full well who's truly to blame.

A just-released CBS News poll found that 44% fault the Republicans for the shutdown, while 35% fault Obama and the Dems.

Meanwhile, a whopping 72% disapprove of holding the entire budget hostage over Obamacare, including nearly 50% of all Republicans surveyed.

The day before he was taped harassing a Park Ranger for doing her job, Neugebauer went on The Chad Hasty Show to state that he will keep the government shut down for "as long as it takes" to ensure that Obamacare is not funded, claiming it was the will of the American people.

****************************************************************************

NBC Washington

Congressman Confronts Park Ranger Over Closed WWII Memorial

By Mark Segraves

|  Thursday, Oct 3, 2013

Conflict over the responsibility for the government shutdown got personal at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Wednesday when a member of Congress confronted a U.S. Park Service Ranger over access to the closed park land.

The congressman was Randy Neugebauer, a Republican representing Texas. He confronted the ranger in the middle of a crowd of tourists as she was keeping most of the public out of the closed World War II memorial.

The Park Service has been allowing World War II vets who have traveled from all over the country to enter the memorial, even though it's closed during the government shutdown; the rangers say they are exercising their First Amendment rights as they let the veterans in.

But they are keeping the rest of the public out of the facility, which is officially closed. And that did not sit well with the congressman, reported News4's Mark Segraves, who witnessed the confrontation.

"How do you look at them and... deny them access?" said Neugebauer. He, with most House Republicans, had voted early Sunday morning to pass a funding measure that would delay the Affordable Care Act, a vote that set up a showdown with the Senate and President Barack Obama. With the parties unable to agree on how to fund the federal government, non-essential government functions shut down Tuesday.

Read More Here

**********************************************************

Related articles

• Texas congressman accosts World War II Memorial park ranger
• Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer Finds Park Ranger Responsible For Shutdown, Gives Her What For
• Rep. Neugebauer blames park ranger for shutdown, gets blasted by onlookers
• WATCH: GOP Congressman makes park ranger apologize for closing WWII Memorial

Is the GOP Pushing Minority Voters to the Left?

ReasonTV

Published on Sep 22, 2013

"The reason that Republicans cannot win Latinos - or other minorities for that matter - is because Republicans counter liberal 'Santa' version of big government with what I call the 'Darth-Vader' idea of big government, " says Shikha Dalmia, senior analyst at the Reason Foundation, during FreedomFest 2013 in Las Vegas.
"What Republicans show Latinos and other voters is not the humane and kind version of limited government."
Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, joined Dalmia in discussing how the GOP's anti-immigration rhetoric and political position is pushing minority voters to the left.
About 36 minutes.
Edited by Amanda Winkler. Camera by Paul Detrick and Alex Manning.

Related articles

• Panel: Is the GOP Pushing Minority Voters to the Left?
• Is the GOP Pushing Minority Voters to the Left?

DeMint: Shift to shutdown strategy because every vote to overturn Obamacare costs taxpayers $1.75M

Image Source  :  WIkimedia . org

United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., USA   Poco a poco

****************************************************************

MedCity News

September 14, 2013 1:46 am by Lease, Daryl

At long last, Republicans have presented an alternative to the Affordable Health Care Act: DeMintcare.
No, it's not an herbal remedy involving mint. Or the removal of mint. It doesn't even involve care, actually.
But -- bless 'em -- it's a plan. For that, we should all be grateful.
The man with the plan is Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina who left the U.S. Senate at the start of the year to become president of the Heritage Foundation. (Bigger office, apparently.)
Heritage, you'll recall, is the conservative think tank that first proposed the basic framework for today's health care reform and loved, loved, loved it when it was implemented in Massachusetts as Romneycare.
But when it became Obamacare -- not so much.
DeMint recently elaborated on the intricate nature of this not loving, loving, loving it anymore.
"I cannot think of anything that's more un-American than national government-run health care," he said. "Those who believe in those principles of socialism and collectivism we've seen over the centuries, they see as their holy grail taking control of the health care system."
To reiterate, the basic design of this grail wasn't anything that came from a collective operating at the Heritage Foundation.
When the thinkers at that think tank proposed the framework -- the "individual mandate," requiring insurance for everyone -- it was sound, fiscal policy. When it re-emerged from the White House, it was something vaguely Kenyan.
So, what does DeMint propose as an alternative?

Read More Here

Related articles

• That's it! No more gimmicks
• Jim DeMint finally reveals the GOP's plan to replace Obamacare
• Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Sen. Jim DeMint headline anti-Affordable Care Act rally in Dallas
• DeMint: If Defunding Obamacare Isn't Worth Fighting For, 'Nothing Is'
• DeMint: Congressional Waivers Show Obamacare Is Bad for Everyone
• DeMint dares Republicans on Obamacare
• DeMint touts emergency rooms over insurance

House Passes Republican Farm Bill Without Food Stamp Aid

BLOOMBERG

By Alan Bjerga & Derek Wallbank - Jul 11, 2013 3:54 PM CT

Farmer Bill Maupin, left, confers with landowner Norman Sandelbach while inspecting freshly planted corn seeds in a field outside of Henry, Illinois.

House Republicans passed a five-year U.S. farm-policy bill that retains subsidies to farmers and strips out food-stamp spending, costing it Democratic support.
The plan was approved today 216-208, with all Democrats and 12 Republicans in opposition. The measure also would repeal underlying provisions that potentially would double milk prices when a new law isn’t passed. The measure, scaled back after the House defeated a bill that included food stamps three weeks ago, is “extremely flawed,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow, chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Farmer Bill Maupin, left, confers with landowner Norman Sandelbach while inspecting freshly planted corn seeds in a field outside of Henry, Illinois. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

“The bill passed by the House today is not a real farm bill and is an insult to rural America,” the Michigan Democrat, who will lead Senate negotiators to work out a final bill with House lawmakers, said in a statement after the vote.
The legislation, which benefits crop buyers such as Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) and insurers including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), has been working through Congress for almost two years. The Senate on June 10 passed S. 954, a plan that would cost $955 billion over a decade. Current law begins to expire Sept. 30.
The Obama administration has threatened to veto the farm measure that excludes food stamp and nutrition programs.

Action Stymied

House action has been stymied largely by disagreements on food stamps. The legislation rejected last month, H.R. 1947, would cut spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, responsible for more than three-quarters of the bill’s costs, by about 2.5 percent, roughly $2 billion a year. Democrats who balked at the reductions joined Republicans objecting to the plan’s cost to scuttle the bill. Republican leaders revived the measure in scaled-back form.
The stripped-down plan gained support from Republicans willing to deal with food stamps later. “It’s not a secret I am not a fan of the farm bill,” said Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who opposed the June version and supported the bill today. “I’ve learned around here that you rarely get to vote for success but you can vote for progress.”


Read More Here

Related articles

• House to take another shot at farm bill, but food stamps may be poison pill
• Republicans drop food stamps from farm bill
• House Republicans split farm bill, dropping section related to food stamps
• Republicans drop food stamps from farm bill
• Republicans drop food stamps from farm bill
• House GOP drops food stamp cuts from farm bill
• House GOP Drops Food Stamp Cuts From Farm Bill
• 'The death knell of the food stamp program'

Senate Passes Comprehensive Immigration Reform that will help gain Citizenship for 11 million. Republican controlled House is expected to block it.

 

Image Source

******************************************************************************************

US Senate passes sweeping immigration reform

In a vote hailed by US President Barack Obama, the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform on Thursday that would help 11 million people gain citizenship, but is expected to be blocked by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

By Halla Mohieddeen (video)
News Wires (text)

The U.S. Senate approved a landmark immigration bill on Thursday that would provide millions of undocumented immigrants a chance to become citizens, but the leader of the House of Representatives said the measure was dead on arrival in the House.
In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill by a vote of 68-32, with 14 of the Senate’s 46 Republicans joining all 52 Democrats and two independents in support of the bill.
But any air of celebration was tempered by House Speaker John Boehner, who hours before the vote emphasized that Republicans would “do our own bill,” one that “reflects the will of our majority,” many of whom oppose citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally.
Any bill in the Republican-controlled House is expected to focus heavily on border security and finding immigrants who have overstayed their visas.
“Immigration reform has to be grounded in real border security,” Boehner said.
Republican divisions over immigration were evident throughout the U.S. Capitol. While Boehner was putting the brakes on the Senate bill, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, delivered a passionate speech urging passage of the measure that he helped write.
After recounting his parents’ difficult lives in Cuba and their struggles after immigrating to the United States, Rubio said: “For over 200 years now, they (immigrants) have come; in search of liberty and freedom, for sure. But often simply looking for jobs to feed their kids and the chance of a better life.”
At the end of the Senate debate, a packed gallery of supporters, who have labored decades for such a moment, witnessed the vote that came after three weeks of sometimes heated discussion. More than 100 children of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States by their parents hugged each other when the bill passed.
President Barack Obama, praising the bill, said it contained tough border security requirements and “earned citizenship” for about 11 million undocumented residents.
“Today, the Senate did its job. It’s now up to the House to do the same,” Obama said in a statement.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Senate bill “has the potential to improve the lives of millions of Mexicans living in the United States today.”
The Senate vote came after several unsuccessful attempts in the past decade or so to overhaul a U.S. immigration law enacted in 1986. The goal has been to improve an outdated visa system and help U.S. firms get easier access to foreign labor ranging from farm and construction workers to high-skilled employees.
Business and labor groups reached a deal on the new visa system, which is part of the Senate bill. But controversy raged over how much new border security was needed and how long the 11 million should wait before becoming legal residents and then citizens.

Read More Here

***************************************************************************************************

CBS PHILLY

Local Advocates Watch Cautiously As Immigration Reform Heads To The US House

June 28, 2013 6:52 AM

 

 

SEIU members rally for immigration reform at LOVE Park (Credit: Molly Daly)

Reporting Cherri Gregg

By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The immigration reform bill sailed through the United States Senate yesterday, offering hope of citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants across the country (see related story). Local advocates are a little nervous as the bill gears up to move into the House.
“It’s a little bit of a bitter sweet pill I think right now,” says Erika Almiron, executive director of Juntos. She says the community is happy the bill is moving forward, but afraid that if it ever passes the United States House it won’t resemble the Gang of 8 proposal originally lauded by immigration reform advocates.
“We see these concessions happening around this bill, so it just raises our concern as we move into the House,” she says.
Concessions like adding tens of billions of dollars for stepped up border security and adding more red tape to the path to citizenship. Natasha Kelemen of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition says the only recourse is to continue to push lawmakers.



Read More  Here

*******************************************************

 

Related articles

• GOP chief: 'We need comprehensive immigration reform'
• Senate passes immigration bill in historic vote
• Senate approves Gang of Eight's historic immigration reform bill
• After historic Senate immigration vote, the pressure is on for House Republicans
• US Senate passes immigration reform
• Senate passes comprehensive immigration reform bill 68-32
• Local Advocates Watch Cautiously As Immigration Reform Heads To The US House
• Now the House will destroy immigration reform
• Immigration overhaul passes in the Senate - The Detroit News
• U.S. Senate Approves Immigration Overhaul, Crapo and Risch Vote 'No'