GOPer: Senate Wall St. Reform “Dysfunctional,” Wants to Hold Hands

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Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a top GOP negotiator in the Senate, today blasted the Senate’s decision to fast-track a financial reform bill out of the banking committee with no negotiations over amendments and with no Republican votes. In remarks at the US Chamber of Commerce today, Corker called the tactic to pass a “very, very partisan bill” by a party-line vote in banking committee a “dysfunctional” move, and said the committee “missed a tremendous opportunity on financial reform.” “We had an opportunity this Monday to pass a bill out of our committee in a bipartisan way,” Corker said, “and then stand on the Senate floor and hold hands” and begin negotiating together to craft a bipartisan bill.

By choosing to bypass committee negotiations, Senate Democrats have set the stage for a bitter partisan battle on the Senate floor, Corker said, a showdown that’s far less likely to produce a bill on which both parties can agree. “It is going to be far more difficult since we missed an opportunity coming into committee to have bipartisan bill,” the Tennessee senator said. “It’s going to be far more difficult to have a regulatory bill that seeks the middle ground and stands the test of time.” Corker lamented that now that the Senate’s talks on financial reform were beyond the committee, the talks would likely take place “in a back room someplace.” “I think a very strategic mistake has been made,” he said. “

He also criticized the Obama administration, calling it “out of balance” for advocating for an independent consumer protection agency. In previous negotiations, Corker has supported enhanced consumer protection but housing it within, say, the Federal Reserve and weaving consumer protection into more traditional bank regulation powers. Overall, Corker said the bill had become a much more liberal bill, and that it will be an uphill struggle to change that. “Now, we’ve moved way to the left,” he said, “and it’s going to be difficult to hold people together to get it back in the middle of the road.”