Deal Reached To Avert Shutdown (repeals Dodd-Frank provision)

[Jim Lane]

8. I care about it, and even more about the precedent of giving in to extortion.

Your prescription is to "deal with this banking shit later." If you mean "enact a law that restores this important provision," that's a fantasy. No such bill could pass either the House or the incoming Senate.

The only way to deal with this was to protect existing law, which is done by Obama vetoing or threatening to veto a bill that repeals it. The Republicans knew that. That's why, instead of putting forward a standalone bill to amend Dodd-Frank, they incorporated Citigroup's demand into a "must-pass" spending bill. Now there will be no way to deal with this later.

Aside from the weakening of Dodd-Frank, the whole process is an open invitation to the Republicans to ignore Obama's veto power. There will be other "must-pass" bills. All they have to do is tack on a bunch of odious right-wing provisions and figure that Obama will sign the omnibus bill.

Even if you don't care about "banking shit" or any of the other bad things in this bill, the process should concern you.