You do know that only 8 Senators voted against the bank deregulation bill .... right? The roll call vote you posted is not in fact the final roll call vote on the bill and in my opinion is extremely misleading.
Would you like me to post the actual roll call vote approving the final bill that was adopted in conference?
What Senators said 10 years ago when the major bank deregulation bill was passed by the Senate
Back in November 1999, Congress passed legislation pushed by then Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), rescinding the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act. The measure, backed by the Clinton administration, and overwhelmingly passed by the Senate (90-8) and the House (362-57), opened the way for banks to merge with investment banks and insurance companies, and led directly to the current financial cataclysm.
What they said in 1999 about repealing the Glass-Steagall Act:
Larry Summers, he wasn't a Senator but is the director of President Obama’s National Economic Council:
"Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century. This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the new economy."
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY):
"If we don't pass this bill, we could find London or Frankfurt or years down the road Shanghai becoming the financial capital of the world. 'There are many reasons for this bill, but first and foremost is to ensure that U.S. financial firms remain competitive."
Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas):
"The world changes, and we have to change with it. We have a new century coming, and we have an opportunity to dominate that century the same way we dominated this century. Glass-Steagall, in the midst of the Great Depression, came at a time when the thinking was that the government was the answer. In this era of economic prosperity, we have decided that freedom is the answer."
Sen. Bob Kerry (D-NB):
“The concerns that we will have a meltdown like 1929 are dramatically overblown.”
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And those who spoke out against this insane measure:
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), one of seven Senate Democrats who voted against revoking Glass-Steagall, said in 1999:
“I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010. I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness."
Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), who also voted against repeal said:
“…determined to unlearn the lessons from our past mistakes. Scores of banks failed in the Great Depression as a result of unsound banking practices, and their failure only deepened the crisis. Glass-Steagall was intended to protect our financial system by insulating commercial banking from other forms of risk. It was one of several stabilizers designed to keep a similar tragedy from recurring. Now Congress is about to repeal that economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place."
http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/03/27/a-financial-history-lesson/President Clinton signs repeal of Glass-Steagall Act.