Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) voted today against the so-called Jobs Bill, which nonetheless easily passed the US Senate. They say the legislation loosens regulations that protect investors. The Senate voted 73-26.
Senator Leahy said in a statement: ‘The toppriority of Congressshould be creating new jobs to help Vermonters get back to work, not reopening loopholes infederallawthat led to catastrophic scandals like Enron, WorldCom and Bernie Madoff.
‘These scams, along with the recent financial crisis and economic collapse, revealed several flaws in our federal regulatory system. Agencies like the SEC andthe Justice Departmentlacked the authorityto provide the necessary oversight to stop these reckless actions and abuses. Congress moved swiftly tobolster the ability to crack down on thesebad actors, because cleaning up Wall Street abuses will help build confidence in our economy and continue our progress toward economic recovery.
‘Welearned a painful lessonduring the last decade that hands-off, anything-goes deregulation can jeopardize not only private investments, but our entire economy. We should not be taking unnecessary backward steps toward once again putting investors, companies, employees and our entire economy in peril.’
Senator Sanders said in a statement: ‘The so-called ‘JOBS Act’ is an extremely anti-consumer, anti-investor, and anti-jobs bill.As currently drafted, the bill is opposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman (as well as past SEC chairmen appointed by both political parties); AARP; the AFL-CIO; the Consumer Federation of America; Consumers Union; and the Council of Institutional Investors among many others. There is good reason for the opposition.
‘At best, this bill could make it easier for con artists to defraud seniors out of their entire life savings by convincing them to invest in worthless companies. At worst, this bill has the potential to create the next Enron or Arthur Andersen scandal or an even worse financial crisis.
‘Have we learned nothing? Deregulating Wall Street led to the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. Now the same people who caused this horrible recession are telling us that more Wall Street deregulation will create jobs. Give me a break. I strongly support providing small businesses with the tools they need to create jobs. Sadly, that’s not at all what this bill will do.’
3.22.2012