Considering how many times House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, blamed “the Left” for the consequences of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act during his speech announcing a Republican-crafted plan to repeal Dodd-Frank, it was highly likely that those on “the Left” would be quick to condemn Hensarling’s plan.
And two of the top names in the Democratic party didn’t disappoint, with a top advisor to Hillary Clinton’s campaign saying Tuesday that Hensarling’s plan is “ill-conceived” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, saying in a Senate hearing that Hensarling’s plan is a “wet kiss for Wall Street.”
Warren, at one point, was commonly referred to as the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the regulatory agency now under fire in the Republican plan.
Gary Gensler, one of the Clinton campaign’s top advisors and the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued a statement on Clinton’s behalf Tuesday, drawing a line in the sand between the Republican-led efforts to repeal Dodd-Frank and the Democrats’ plan to uphold it – and more.
“This ill-conceived proposal is a clear example of how much is at stake in this election,” Gensler’s statement, which was captured on Twitter by Bloomberg Politics correspondent Jennifer Epstein.
“Hillary Clinton strongly opposes Chairman Hensarling and Donald Trump’s efforts to gut critical reforms put in place to protect the public after the financial crisis,” Gensler’s statement continued. “While Republicans attempt to roll back measures that protect consumers and curb excessive risk-taking on Wall Street, Hillary Clinton fight to defend Dodd-Frank and go beyond it, with tough new rules, stronger enforcement and more accountability.”
The Clinton campaign wasn’t alone in its criticism of the Republican plan.
Speaking Tuesday at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. Warren took her full allotment of time to lambaste Hensarling’s plan, nicknaming the Republican plan the “Wet Kiss for Wall Street Act.”
Video of Warren’s speech can be seen below.
Warren later took to Twitter and reiterated her concerns about the Republican efforts to repeal Dodd-Frank, stating, in explicit terms, that the combination of Hensarling’s plan and the “toxic racism” of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is a “path to ruin for our country.”
Today in the Banking Committee I spoke about @RepHensarling’s new bill I call the Wet Kiss for Wall Street Act. https://t.co/qCTweAI770
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 7, 2016
In fact, @RepHensarling met with @realDonaldTrump today to pitch him on his new plan to gut Wall St reform – including the @CFPB.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 7, 2016
A marriage between @realDonaldTrump’s toxic racism & @RepHensarling’s Wall Street giveaways is a path to ruin for our country.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 7, 2016
Clinton and Warren weren’t the only prominent Democrats to criticize the Republican plan.
According to a Tuesday report from the Washington Post, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest spoke about Hensarling’s plan as well.
From the Washington Post:
"Financial industry reform essentially guarantees that taxpayers will not be on the hook for bailing out big banks if their risky bets go south," Earnest said. "But if you tear it down, like House Republicans say that they want to do, that will allow big banks to go back making risky bets and put taxpayers on the hook once again for bailing out those banks to prevent a second Great Depression. That doesn’t make any sense."
