1999 Gramm Deregulation Act: McCain Yes, Biden No!
In 1999 Phil Gramm, McCain’s economic adviser, started legislation that would deregulate America. The theory would be that without regulation, the free-market would take over and everyone would be happy. The sad reality is, with deregulation, we’ve seen greed, corporate bailouts, and loss of jobs at the expense of the American taxpayer. No wonder John McCain is out of touch. He thinks the economy is doing well. Well, if you’re one of these CEOs that get $12 million for running your company into the ground and letting the tax payer bail you out, then I guess life is good for you. If you’re the average American, it’s not. We see now that deregulation is a terrible idea. Joe Biden, VP candidate for the Democrats, knew that and that’s why he voted against the Gramm Deregulation Act. McCain voted for it. Do you really think that McCain gets the economy?
John McCain may be trying to pretend he’s a big financial regulator fan now, but in 1999, when Phil Gramm created the legislation that started deregulation, John McCain voted FOR the bill. Joe Biden voted No. From DailyKos
Saying he’s for bank regulation is a very big McCain lie.
And a big stick talking point when whipping the Republicans on the economy.
John McCain: Wrong on the economy when he voted to start this mess. Wrong for the economy now.
In 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed 1930′s legislation that had separated commercial and investment banks. Commercial banks, where people deposit their paychecks and do personal banking, have regulation. Investment banks didn’t have that “fettering” as Republicans saw it.
John McCain voted for Gramm-Leach-Bliley. Joe Biden voted NO. The act passed 54-44, mostly a party line vote. Yes, Clinton signed the law. But Joe Biden was against it.
With the 1930′s Glass-Steagall Act repealed, the theory was competition could happen now in financial services. The evil enemy of regulation was gone, free markets would reign. Mergers happened that couldn’t before. A broader range of institutions could offer a broader range of products. Which grew to include obscure, unregulated financial products with no collateral to support them. Like sub-prime mortgages. Regulated banks couldn’t take those kinds of risks. Unregulated companies could.
In March of this year, John McCain was reinforcing his “market solves everything” anti-regulation stance.
“I’m always for less regulation,” he told The Wall Street Journal last March, “but I am aware of the view that there is a need for government oversight” in situations like the subprime lending crisis, the problem that has cascaded through Wall Street this year. He concluded, “but I am fundamentally a deregulator.”
That same month Barack Obama gave his 21st Century Economics speech at Cooper Union not telling Wall Street what they wanted to hear. Including supporting new regulation of financial institutions:
First, if you can borrow from the government, you should be subject to government oversight and supervision.
What are your sources for this vote? According to the US Senate’s own website Biden did vote yes on deregulation on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill
Here you can see a vote by Senator. It passed 90-8
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00354
Either the author of this is downright dishonest or didn’t do his/her homework. Biden voted no on an earlier version of the bill but voted yes on the final version, which Democrat Bill Clinton signed into law. Rmartin’s link to the senate web site confirms this as does a fact check from Iowa tv station KCRG.
http://www.kcrg.com/explorepolitics/?feed=bim&id=30188584
He did vote against it. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s1999-105
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00105
What you were reading was the vote on the conference report, which took place 6 months after the bill had already passed in the senate, and just over a week before it was signed into law. The bill was not passed 90-8; it was passed 54-44, almost strictly down party lines (The lone Democrat to vote for the bill was Ernest Hollings of South Carolina).
actually biden did vote yes:
http://thepage.time.com/mccain-camp-veep-debate-release-the-1999-deregulation-that-joe-biden-supported/
Again, you are referring to the vote on the conference report and not the vote on the actual bill, which took place in May of 1999 and not november of 1999.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act
Yes at first he voted no, but after some revisions and concessions to democrats, as well as to make it veto proof, it was accepted bipartisan. That was the final version of the bill and Biden voted yes. Without reworking and other concessions, it would not have survived a veto from President Clinton. That is why they had the 90-8 vote. You had to resolve differences in House and Senate in November. Once resolved, which Biden voted yes for, it was sent to Clinton.
as for who did not vote in that 90-8 vote… John McCain. Funny who is the “deregulator” now Biden… but to be honest to blame it on this bill is somewhat of a stretch.
Once again, as admin stated. THE BILL PASSED — IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM. You are refering to a procedural (sp?) vote that occurred later. Here’s a link:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s1999-105&page-command=print
-Notice the date of the bill (May 6)
-Notice what it says right underneath that date (THIS BILL PASSED).
DEAL WITH IT.
By the way the use of wikipedia as a source is NEVER a good way to prove anything political except who has been logging into wikipedia lately. That’s the net equivalent of starting a research paper with “Webster’s dictionary defines… as…”