Reality Check: Clinton on Sanders' vote to deregulate financial markets.

[Agschmid]

Clinton said Sanders "voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000," leaving the government unable to "regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main causes of the collapse in '08."

The vote Clinton referenced was for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, and Sanders did vote in support of the act. It passed with a veto-proof supermajority.

The law had been championed by key members of the administration of her husband, President Bill Clinton, including then-Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and his predecessor, Robert Rubin. However, in a 2010 interview with Jake Tapper, then with ABC, Bill Clinton said of his administration's support for the bill, "I think they were wrong and I think I was wrong."

The act was later named a major cause of the Great Recession. According to the 2011 bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report, "over-the-counter derivatives contributed significantly" to the 2008 financial crisis, and the enactment of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 "was a key turning point in the march toward the financial crisis."

Verdict: True

[elleng]

1. Glad to see clinton said it was wrong.

Too damn LATE, tho.

[Kentonio]

2. A little more background is called for here..

"When Sanders voted for the House version of the CFMA in October 2000, the bill was not yet a total debacle for Wall Street accountability advocates. The legislative text Sanders supported was clearly designed to curtail regulatory oversight. The GOP-authored bill was crafted as a response to a proposal from ex-Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Brooksley Born to ramp up oversight of derivatives. But the version Sanders initially voted for was more benign than the final, Gramm-authored version, and it didn't draw any of the protests that the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall did. In October 2000, the bill passed the House by a vote of 377 to 4 (51 members didn't vote), and then sat on the shelf for weeks.

But in December, Gramm -- after coordinating with top Clinton administration officials -- added much harder-edged deregulatory language to the bill, then attached the entire package to a must-pass 11,000-page bill funding the entire federal government. After Gramm's workshopping, the legislation included new language saying the federal government "shall not exercise regulatory authority with respect to, a covered swap agreement offered, entered into, or provided by a bank." That ended all government oversight of derivatives purchased or traded by banks. He also created the so-called "Enron Loophole," which barred federal oversight of energy trading on electronic platforms.

This was an era in which voting against funding the federal government was considered a major governance faux pas. The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress, with few lawmakers even aware of the major new deregulatory changes."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-wall-street_5617f634e4b0dbb8000e5a58

[Agschmid]

3. So nobody read it?

This was an era in which voting against funding the federal government was considered a major governance faux pas. The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress, with few lawmakers even aware of the major new deregulatory changes."

[Kentonio]

4. Yep.

Looks like one of those many times when games played in committee result in altered bills slipping through the net. From the accounts I've read about the shenanigans that go on in many of the house committees, it's probably more of a surprise that it doesn't happen even more often.

[CorporatistNation]

8. Once Again, True To Form Hillary MISREPRESENTS Bernie's Position(s)!

She cannot be trusted to tell us the truth now... How are you going to trust her when she is in office... as she is confident she will be based on her choice of words. Votes gotta be counted first missy... Cannot wait for Iowa!

[Dawson Leery]

5. Berns is no purist.

[valerief]

7. Except when it comes to sending troops to the Iraq War. nt

[valerief]

6. House votes for CFMA

House votes
TOTALS REPUBLICAN DEMOCRAT INDEPENDENT
YEA 377 87% 194 181 2
NAY 4 1% 2 2 0
NOT VOTING 51, 12% 25 26 0
REQUIRED: 2/3 source: house.gov

Nay votes
VOTE PARTY REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT
Nay R Smith, Nick MI 7th
Nay D Taylor, Gene MS 5th
VOTE PARTY REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT
Nay D DeFazio, Peter OR 4th
Nay R Paul, Ron TX 14th

[Gothmog]

9. Thanks for posting