Why Democrats Need to Stand With Working Americans vs. Big Banks

Why Democrats Need to Stand With Working Americans vs. Big Banks

Why Democrats Need to Stand With Working Americans vs. Big Banks

Democrats should stop supporting a bill that would loosen the reins on Wall Street.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

For election watchers, perhaps the most significant development of the past week happened not in Washington but in Wisconsin, where Democratic candidate Patty Schachtner won a state Senate race in a district that President Trump carried by 17 points. The unexpected victory, which Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) called a “wake-up call” for the GOP, marked the 34th legislative seat that Democrats have flipped this cycle and offered yet another signal that a wave election may be coming.

A year into the Trump era, the discontent that drove his support among the working class in places such as Wisconsin has not abated. Though Trump’s base has not yet abandoned him, his approval rating has dropped across voter demographics. The environment is ripe for Democrats, powered by the massive resistance that manifested again last weekend at Women’s March events nationwide, to reclaim control of Congress. Unfortunately, a group of Senate Democrats seems intent on squandering this moment by siding against working families on the issue that most clearly embodies how the US economy is rigged against them. They are joining with Republicans to roll back regulations on big banks.

As The New York Times reports, 11 Democrats are co-sponsoring a bill introduced by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) that would significantly weaken the Dodd-Frank reforms enacted in 2010. Trump has expressed that loosening the reins on Wall Street is one of his top legislative priorities for 2018, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is expected to bring Crapo’s bill to the floor within the next month.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

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With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

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Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

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