Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) will join Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — and followed by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — to vote yes on the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, or H.R. 4173. Their votes ensure the Democrats have enough votes to defeat a Republican filibuster. Obviously, many of Brown’s conservative supporters feel betrayed by his latest decision. Here’s the statement from the Greater Boston Tea Party:
The leadership and members of the Greater Boston Tea Party, along with tea party and conservative activists across the Commonwealth are greatly disappointed in Senator Brown’s announcement that he will vote yes on the Financial Reform Bill. After weeks of debate and a thorough investigation of the bill and its possible effects on the economy, small businesses, community banks and consumers, we are at a loss as to what redeeming qualities Senator Brown found in the bill worthy of support.Scott Brown promised in the fall of 2009 to stand up for free markets and constitutional principles. A yes vote on this bill - a bill that disregards Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, greatly expands executive authority and reach, creates a perpetual and permanent bail-out system and fosters the creation of even more bureaucracy – defies the commitment he made to thousands of activists and donors across the nation who swept him in to office in January in one of the biggest political upsets of all time.
Tea party activists will continue to independently support candidates and current representatives that adhere to our constitutional principles of limited government, free markets and individual Liberty. If Senator Brown wants our continued support, he must consider how legislation he supports upholds these principles.
Democrats are grinning ear to ear thanks to their newest best friend across the aisle. What better way to rub it in and snub the conservative base who helped elect Brown to office? Liberal politicians couldn’t wait to praise Brown for his bipartisanship:
“Brown is sort of oxygen to Washington’s stale political process,” said civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson, a 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential contender.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lauded Brown for backing “strong comprehensive Wall Street reform,” while U.S. Rep. Frank (D-Newton) said Brown’s support means “he agrees we did this the right way.”
Even U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville), who ran unsuccessfully in the special election that sent Brown to the Senate, praised his one-time rival.
“I am glad that Sen. Brown has decided to join Democrats in support of meaningful Wall Street reform,” he said.
Sen. Brown openly acknowledged that the bill isn’t exactly what he wanted, yet he’s still supporting it (emphasis mine):
Over the July recess, I once again reviewed the legislation in its entirety to ensure that nothing else had been slipped into the bill that would prevent me from supporting it. After finishing reading it, I decided that while the bill was far from perfect, it was vastly improved from the version we started with at the beginning of this process. In my opinion, it includes important measures that will help prevent another meltdown like the one in 2008 that left millions of Americans out of work and saw our economy take its worst dip since the Great Depression.
While reasonable people can disagree about the details, the vast majority of Americans believe we need to take steps to prevent future taxpayer-funded bailouts of the banks. We had a choice: do nothing, or try to address a real problem that shook the financial foundation of our country.
It appears the senator has lost touch with mainstream Americans since going to Washington. Contrary to his belief, the vast majority of Americans are well aware of how to prevent bailouts: let the mismanaged banks fail. After all, it was the politicians in Congress and the White House who pushed and voted for the bailouts. The voters, in fact, did not support the various bailouts.
All it took for Sen. Brown to be on board with the bill was removing language to fund the reform through $19 billion in taxes. While limiting more taxes is something his constituents favor, I’m sure most of them also want a smaller, effective federal government (the bill creates more bureaucracy and new regulatory agencies).
You know what’s even funnier? He knows about the two-headed monster known as Fannie and Freddie, saying:
I agree that we still need to significantly change the way Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do business, as both played a large part in the financial meltdown and must be addressed in the future. I will continue to push to determine what role these entities had on the financial meltdown and ensure they are held accountable.
Yet Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the sponsor of this bill, was partly responsible for the mess that’s to come from these government-sponsored enterprises (just Google “Barney Frank Fannie Mae”) and has never been held accountable. The fact that Frank is the primary force behind this “reform” bill makes the situation so thick with irony, and frankly (pardon the pun), almost laughable.
Upon entering office in Washington, Sen. Brown made a promise to read every piece of legislation and to vote independently of party affiliation. He assured the American people that he will put his constituency’s interest foremost, and work diligently to improve the American economy. That’s all very admirable, but it’s time to face the truth: the reason why we’re still in such a economic mess is because of the Democrats’ progressive policies of runaway spending and unchecked expansion of the federal government.
Therefore, it would be prudent to oppose such legislation from Democrats for the good of our economy. Wall Street may need reform, but let’s do that after we reform Washington first.
