Editor's notes: by definition, "conferees" are assigned members of the Senate and the House who meet to work out a "conference report." Democrats are feverishly working on a finance "reform" bill that gives the government more control over the economy, moving direct control from a 40% mark to a 60%. A month ago, these Marxist Dems told us that "too big to fail" was being closed out by legislation. Turns out they lied to us once again. Lied. Flat out lied. The bill being negotiated between the two houses of congress is one that will guarantee, in effect, the viability of certain banking and financial institutions at the expense of that part of the American middle class that actually works for a living.
Two articles are referenced in this single post. The first, immediately below, details the amount of money being paid to the conferees working on the bill. Regular folks called these "campaign donations" bribes. This is the way our government works. Its not just Obama, folks. But, this current crop of capitalized Marxists is among the most corrupt in memory. The article documents a congress on the take for as much as it can get. Crooks all and the sooner we get them out of congress, the better. Term limits on the whole bunch -- jds.
Article number one:From Open Congress -- Finreg Conference Committee Awash in Industry Contributions
June 11, 2010 - by Moshe Bildner
Two weeks ago we reported that the Senate had selected twelve of its members to meet with House representatives to work out the differences between the two chambers’ financial reform bills and that these twelve senators had netted an enormous amount of contributions from the finance industry.
On Wednesday, the House announced its list of thirty-one conferees, and like their Senate counterparts, the House conferees are bringing massive amounts of finance industry campaign contributions to the negotiating table. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, for the 2010 cycle alone, these representatives have collected an aggregate of $6,192,618, for an average of over $199,000 each. This number is substantially higher than for the House as a whole, where the average representative has received closer to $113,000, or over 40% less.
The top earner was Rep. Paul Kanjorski [D, PA-11], who raked in a total of $633,797, more than the bottom fifty Representatives put together.
As large as they are, these numbers actually understate financial industry contributions to the conference committee. Many of the House (and Senate) conferees have been in Congress for quite some time. As a result, most have had long careers over which to get financial industry contributions. Over the course of their careers, House conferees have accumulated no less than $47,492,205 from the financial industry, or on average of over $1,530,000 each.
Senate conferees, meanwhile, collected a great deal more than their House counterparts. Their total, topping $64,000,000, comes to an average of $5,403,000 per senator. As in the House, this number is dramatically higher than the Senate average, where the remaining senators collected around $260,000 each (or a whopping 95% less). Sen. Chuck Schumer [D, NY] leads senators in financial industry contributions, receiving $17,507,031.
Altogether, the industry has contributed over $112,000,000 to the members of the conference committee responsible for putting together the final version of the new Financial Regulation legislation. The committee will be meeting next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to start voting, and then Tuesday of the week after and each day after until they finalize the bill. We’ll be watching and reporting on how all this finance money might be affecting the negotiations and how conferees vote.
Check out Open Congress for all the news you need to know about what is happening in the 111th Congress.
Editor’s notes on the following: while the congress is busy increasing its control over our lives AND skimming campaign “donations.” The Project On Government Oversight recommends several considerations that are actually needed in this legislation -- at least, they won’t hurt --- jds.
Here is a related and second article
June 9, 2010
Members of the Financial Reform Conference Committee
Members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Members of the Financial Reform Conference Committee
Members of the House Committee on Financial Services
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Conferees and Committee Members:
The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) offers the following recommendations to ensure that the final financial regulatory reform legislation incorporates the strongest features of the bills passed by the House (H.R. 4173, "The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009") and the Senate (S. 3217, "The Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010"). As you put the finishing touches on this landmark legislation, we strongly urge you to include the following provisions in order to make our nation's financial regulatory system more effective, accountable, open, and ethical.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1) BRING FULL TRANSPARENCY TO THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: Make the conference proceedings fully transparent by broadcasting them on C-SPAN and webcasting them online.
2) PROTECT FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY WHISTLEBLOWERS: Extend best-practices whistleblower protections to financial services industry employees.
3) AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE: Give the Government Accountability Office the authority to conduct an ongoing audit of the Federal Reserve, and require the Fed to make key information about its emergency lending programs publicly available online.
4) CREATE A STRONG AND INDEPENDENT CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCY: Create a truly independent, stand-alone Consumer Financial Protection Agency with full authority to issue rules and regulations to protect consumers.
5) REWARD WHISTLEBLOWERS WHO MAKE DISCLOSURES TO THE SEC AND CFTC: Expand the whistleblower bounty program at the Securities and Exchange Commission and create an identical program at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Additionally, replace secrecy provisions and FOIA exemptions with authentic whistleblower confidentiality protections.
6) EXPAND SARBANES-OXLEY WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS: Extend Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protections to employees of subsidiaries and affiliates of publicly traded companies, and of nationally recognized statistical rating organizations.
7) ADDRESS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AT CREDIT RATING AGENCIES: Create a Credit Rating Agency Board to help address the basic conflict of interest arising from "ratings shopping."
8) STRENGTHEN THE INDEPENDENCE OF FINANCIAL AGENCY WATCHDOGS: Strengthen the independence of certain agency appointed Inspectors General (IGs), including the IGs at many financial regulatory agencies.
9) ADDRESS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AT FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS: Amend the election process for directors at Federal Reserve Banks in order to limit the influence of the financial services industry.
Read the full letter/ article at Project On Government Oversight.
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