On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a financial reform package that includes a handful of important reforms, but it won’t fundamentally change the relationship between banks and society. Wall Street still has a vice grip on our economy, and lawmakers still find it very difficult to stand up to bigwig financiers.

Questioning the passage of the Sanders’ audit the Fed amendment as a victory for reform

Progressives killed the true Audit.

From the Huffington Post:

The amendment to open the Fed to a one-time audit of its lending between December 1, 2007 and the present passed 96-0.

Good. We’re auditing the Federal Reserve Bank. One time. From December 1, 2007 until today. Awesome.

An analysis of the legislative language changes made to modify the original Bernie Sanders Audit the Fed amendment (SA 3738), after those modifications were unexpectedly introduced on the Senate floor 5/6/2010.

progressive sell-outs

We all know that there has been a fight brewing in the Senate over Audit the Fed. A small band of Senators has been fighting to expand the power to audit the fed. However, Bernie Sanders, who with Demint spearheaded this policy, has betrayed transparency.

Sometime Tuesday the Senate may take up an amendment to the Senate financial reform bill that would require the Government Accounting Office to conduct an audit of the operations of the Federal Reserve. The outcome is much in doubt, but it shouldn’t be.

Senator, a lot of your constituents want real not fake reform. Please actively support strong measures like the Safe Banking Act, a truly independent Consumer Finance Protection Agency, reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, prohibiting derivatives trading by commercial banks, and auditing the Fed.

The Senate is about to debate financial reform legislation. While the bill itself is far from what’s needed to shut down Wall Street’s casinos, we have a big opportunity to bring real accountability to the big banks.