The Revolution Will Be Televised

[FourScore]

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED – Or at least the House-Senate conference on financial reform may be...House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.): “Republicans who moaned about President Barack Obama’s broken C-SPAN promises on health care negotiations, beware: Barney Frank plans to demand an old-school conference on financial reform. ‘Remember this, ‘Let’s do it all on C-SPAN? … Clear your calendar,’ Frank told POLITICO, adding that he has spoken to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and personally with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer about his intentions. … House and Senate negotiators would debate the points of disagreement between the two chambers, voting point-by-point in open session – an open session that Frank would like broadcast on C-SPAN for all the world to see. The move is a clear signal that Frank will not let Senate Republicans water-down key elements of the legislation without a public brawl. There would still be plenty of behind-the-scenes arm-twisting and deal-cutting for votes, but Frank’s plan would force Senate lawmakers to go on the record as choosing weaker proposals on the consumer protection piece and others.”

AMONG THE EXPECTED DIFFERENCES: Frank has expressed extreme displeasure with a Senate deal, developing at the committee level, to create a consumer protection division within the Federal Reserve, rather than the stand-alone Consumer Financial Protection Agency in the House-passed bill. Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd conceded to a scaled-back consumer body in order to win Republican votes. Frank clearly thinks the politics of the financial reform debate are on his side. "Maybe Senate Republicans want to sit there on C-SPAN in a full public conference and take that position; I don’t think so," Frank said of the consumer protection issue. "We’re going to thrash this out in conference. And I think, frankly, these issues fully debated in public may have a somewhat different outcome."

http://www.politico.com/morningmoney/0310/morningmoney100.html

[Inuca]

1. And it's a LIE

or at the very least extremely disingenous to claim that there was no transparency with the health reform deliberations. The committee markup sessions WERE on CSPAN; I know for certain about the 2 Senate committees and Waxman's committee in the House, I assume the same is true about the other 2 House committees. The wheelings and dealings and Reid's or anybody else's office were not, it's true, but to expect that to be the case is Alice in WOnderland.

[FourScore]

2. The point is--debate on financial reform would be televised.

That's a good thing.

[Inuca]

3. Absolutely

I was not criticizing anything you said. Just venting my frustration :-)

[FourScore]

4. Oh, in that case, may I join you?

I also hate the way the Republicans and media kept criticizing the democrats on HCR by saying it "was hammered out in 'back-room' deals," -- as if the republicans had no part in that deal-making. It's infuriating. Meanwhile, the liberals kept hearing about concession after concession happening to try to get the Republicans on board. So the backroom deals were in THEIR favor, not ours.

Arrrrrgh

:mad: