[From our friends at Indivisible]
Last week, there were two major moments with S. 2155, otherwise known as the “Bank Lobbyist Act.”
On Monday, the Congressional Budget Office or “CBO,” (you might remember them as the independent budget scorekeepers from the Trumpcare fight!) analyzed S. 2155 and it was NOT pretty. The CBO determined that the bill was likely to increase the odds that government funding would go to bank bailouts.
After the 2008 financial crisis, Congress passed Dodd-Frank to seriously correct the lax oversight that caused it. We cannot let this terrible bill undo that progress and put us at risk of another financial crisis.
Then on Tuesday, the very next day, the Senate voted on a motion to proceed on S. 2155. The final vote on the MTP was 67-32, with 50 Republicans voting yes. They were joined by 17 Democrats who voted yes. This was only the first vote on S. 2155, so there’s still time to hold these senators accountable for their votes and ask them to change course!
Where are we now?
Democratic Senators have filed amendments to the bill, but we can tell you right now that very few will get considered. These are important amendments that would:
- Protect communities of color from discriminatory lending
- Keep seniors safe from financial abuse
- Include consumer protections for student borrowers
There’s a motion to proceed on the updated bill Monday afternoon, and a final vote some time later in the week. Use our resource and call script this week to call your senators and tell them it’s not too late to change their minds and stop this train wreck for the good of our economy!
