House and Senate Democrats put the finishing touches on their financial reform bill. After an all-night session, they finished about 5AM this morning, which made everyone tired enough to speak the truth:
“It’s a great moment. I’m proud to have been here,” said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. “No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we’ve done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done.”
No will know until this is actually in place how it works. So, no worries then? What’s the worst that could happen?
“This is about as important as it gets, because it deals with every single aspect of our lives,” said Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), a chief architect of the compromise.
No idea how this works. But it’s going to affect every single aspect of our lives. I don’t know which is worse: when they lie to us, or when they inadvertently speak the truth.
Heather Horn over at The Atlantic has put together a good collection of reactions to the financial reform bill from around the web.
This is becoming a familiar pattern: a “comprehensive” bill passes that “deals with every single aspect of our lives” and we, the public, are left scrambling trying to figure out what it all means — after the fact. Gotta love the transparency of this Administration and Congress.
In any case, Bloomberg has a breakdown as well.
Sigh.
Chris Dodd on financial reform bill:
Nancy Pelosi on healthcare reform bill:
And they wonder why the American people mistrust their government…
My soon to be former Senator, Lame Duck Dodd, (Think Sixteen Candles) has no reason to be dissembling anymore. Sad that our democratic process has become this dysfunctional.
That was one tremendous sentence, Rob Long:
” I don’t know which is worse: when they lie to us, or when they inadvertently speak the truth.”
SAVE, IT’S A KEEPER.
In essence, the legislative branch has spent the past year ceding powers to the executive branch. Without exaggeration, they’re transforming our government.
Nearly 2000 pages … according to the WSJ article. Our founding fathers created a Constitution establishing a system of government in 4400 words. This Congress is on pace to pass 10,000 pages of legislation to completely undermine that system of government, and its relationship to the citizenry.
Someone ought to do a study on the correlation of national debt to the number of unread pages of Congressional legislation. Good grief.
A local town here will be celebrating the 4th of July by giving a “dramatic reading” of the Declaration–fireworks were too expensive this year. Perhaps, as it’s final piece of legislation, this congress could pass a law establishing a federal holiday to celebrate the passing of such “historic” legislation as Obamacare and financial reform. And on every anniversary, Dodd, Pelosi and others would attend celebrations where there would also be dramatic readings of their prized legislation.
Aaron Sandvig, I got quite a giggle imagining the crowd (or lack thereof) attending the Dodd, Pelosi, et al, reading you suggest. Thanks!