SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.

* indicates required
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
VP Mike Pence Swings into Senate to Deliver 'Wet-Kiss-to-Wall-Street' Tie Breaker

Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, during the Senate's vote on Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos. On Tuesday night, Pence returned to the chamber again to a break another tie. This time it was to make sure it's easier in the future for financial service companies and other Wall Street darlies to make it easier to rip-off consumers. (Photo: Senate Television)

VP Mike Pence Swings into Senate to Deliver 'Wet-Kiss-to-Wall-Street' Tie Breaker

"No wonder Americans think the system is rigged against them," says Senator Elizabeth Warren. "It is."

Just in time to do the bidding of the "rich and powerful," as one Democratic Senator put it, Vice President Mike Pence was summoned to the Senate chamber on Tuesday night where he cast the tie-breaking vote in order to scrap a federal rule designed to protect consumers from so-called "rip-off clauses" used by Wall Street and other corporations.

"The vice president only shows up in this body when the rich and powerful need him." --Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)While in the end it was two Republicans, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana, who joined with Democrats and the Senate's two Independents in voting against the resolution, Pence broke the 50-50 tie in order to scrap the rule.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), an outspoken propopent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule which sought to restrict use of forced arbitration clauses, condemned both Pence and her Republican colleagues for trying to undermine consumer protections by delivering a "gift to the bank lobbyists."

"Let's be clear: No organization that represents actual human beings wants the [Senate] to reverse the [CFPB's] arbitration rule," Warren declared in a pair of tweets. "Servicemembers, vets, seniors, and small businesses all support the rule. Only people who don't? Bank lobbyists. Oh, and Equifax."

In a nearly eight-minute speech objecting to the passage of resolution, Warren explained that at a time when "millions of Americans of all parties think Washington is rigged against them," the vote on Tuesday night should be considered "Exhibit A." Watch:

Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, blasted the Senate Republicans.

"Voting to allow banks and other financial institutions to rip off customers with impunity is a savage attack on American consumers," Weissman said in a statment. By overturning the rule, he continued, Republicans "are ensuring that predatory banks, payday lenders, credit card companies and other bad actors in the financial industry can steal from Main Street Americans."

It was during his floor speech against the passage of the resolution when Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) learned that Pence had arrived to provide the deciding vote.

"The vice president only shows up in this body," announced Brown, "when the rich and powerful need him."

Both Warren and Weissman suggested killing the rule would be a major betrayal of Trump's repeated promises to "drain the swam" and protect regular Americans from the ravages and greed of Wall Street predators.

"If President Donald Trump wants to remain true to his promise to defeat cronyism, he should veto this resolution," said Weissman. "But we're not holding our breath, given that he has staffed his Cabinet and White House with Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street refugees."

The official roll call is here (On the Joint Resolution - H. J. Res. 111):

Alexander (R-TN), Yea 
Baldwin (D-WI), Nay 
Barrasso (R-WY), Yea 
Bennet (D-CO), Nay 
Blumenthal (D-CT), Nay 
Blunt (R-MO), Yea 
Booker (D-NJ), Nay 
Boozman (R-AR), Yea 
Brown (D-OH), Nay 
Burr (R-NC), Yea 
Cantwell (D-WA), Nay 
Capito (R-WV), Yea 
Cardin (D-MD), Nay 
Carper (D-DE), Nay 
Casey (D-PA), Nay 
Cassidy (R-LA), Yea 
Cochran (R-MS), Yea 
Collins (R-ME), Yea 
Coons (D-DE), Nay 
Corker (R-TN), Yea 
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea 
Cortez Masto (D-NV), Nay 
Cotton (R-AR), Yea 
Crapo (R-ID), Yea 
Cruz (R-TX), Yea 
Daines (R-MT), Yea 
Donnelly (D-IN), Nay 
Duckworth (D-IL), Nay 
Durbin (D-IL), Nay 
Enzi (R-WY), Yea 
Ernst (R-IA), Yea 
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay 
Fischer (R-NE), Yea 
Flake (R-AZ), Yea 

 

Franken (D-MN), Nay 
Gardner (R-CO), Yea 
Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay 
Graham (R-SC), Nay 
Grassley (R-IA), Yea 
Harris (D-CA), Nay 
Hassan (D-NH), Nay 
Hatch (R-UT), Yea 
Heinrich (D-NM), Nay 
Heitkamp (D-ND), Nay 
Heller (R-NV), Yea 
Hirono (D-HI), Nay 
Hoeven (R-ND), Yea 
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea 
Isakson (R-GA), Yea 
Johnson (R-WI), Yea 
Kaine (D-VA), Nay 
Kennedy (R-LA), Nay 
King (I-ME), Nay 
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay 
Lankford (R-OK), Yea 
Leahy (D-VT), Nay 
Lee (R-UT), Yea 
Manchin (D-WV), Nay 
Markey (D-MA), Nay 
McCain (R-AZ), Yea 
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay 
McConnell (R-KY), Yea 
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay 
Merkley (D-OR), Nay 
Moran (R-KS), Yea 
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea 
Murphy (D-CT), Nay 
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Nelson (D-FL), Nay 
Paul (R-KY), Yea 
Perdue (R-GA), Yea 
Peters (D-MI), Nay 
Portman (R-OH), Yea 
Reed (D-RI), Nay 
Risch (R-ID), Yea 
Roberts (R-KS), Yea 
Rounds (R-SD), Yea 
Rubio (R-FL), Yea 
Sanders (I-VT), Nay 
Sasse (R-NE), Yea 
Schatz (D-HI), Nay 
Schumer (D-NY), Nay 
Scott (R-SC), Yea 
Shaheen (D-NH), Nay 
Shelby (R-AL), Yea 
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay 
Strange (R-AL), Yea 
Sullivan (R-AK), Yea 
Tester (D-MT), Nay 
Thune (R-SD), Yea 
Tillis (R-NC), Yea 
Toomey (R-PA), Yea 
Udall (D-NM), Nay 
Van Hollen (D-MD), Nay 
Warner (D-VA), Nay 
Warren (D-MA), Nay 
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay 
Wicker (R-MS), Yea 
Wyden (D-OR), Nay 
Young (R-IN), Yea
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.