Nothing like a little hyperbole first thing on a Sunday morning from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) when it comes to looking out for the interests of consumers. Republicans don't want a check on the banks period and they're using the excuse of not
December 11, 2011

Nothing like a little hyperbole first thing on a Sunday morning from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) when it comes to looking out for the interests of consumers. Republicans don't want a check on the banks period and they're using the excuse of not having any oversight in order to hamstring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau set up by Elizabeth Warren.

Sadly if they were allowed to gain control over it, I have a feeling it would not be to make sure it works in the interest of the consumers, but instead to make sure it doesn't work at all, just as they're doing right now.

Here's Graham with the latest excuse for their continued obstruction for the benefit of the 1 percent on this Sunday's Meet the Press.

MR. GREGORY: Senator Graham, is the issue, as the president argues, income inequality? Or is it something more fundamental in the economy?

SEN. GRAHAM: No...

MR. GREGORY: Is it national decline?

SEN. GRAHAM: I think the issue is that his failure--he's, he's got a failed presidency, and he didn't talk about the things he has done to make America a stronger, better place in a bipartisan fashion. Ronald Reagan sat down with Tip O'Neill to solve the Social Security problem. Bill Clinton sat down with Newt Gingrich to balance the budget and end welfare as we know it. This whole speech is about pitting one group of Americans against the others. And his policies are the biggest threat to the hard-working Americans. If you're a union guy, the pipeline would be good news for you because it would create 20,000 jobs. The NLRB in the hands of this administration almost cost a facility in South Carolina that would have cost 10,000 hard-working South Carolinians their jobs because of union politics. The environmental policies of this administration make it very hard to create a job.

MR. GREGORY: All right.

SEN. GRAHAM: And you can't borrow money because of Dodd-Frank. The speech, my--the speech wasn't about his successes. It's about hard working Americans and class warfare. And I ask the question again, Mr. President, what is a fair share? Pick a number. Tell me how much you want to take in taxes at the top rate. Pick a number, and let's see if it makes economic sense...

MR. GREGORY: All right, Senator Durbin.

SEN. GRAHAM: ...or solve politics. What is the number?

SEN. DURBIN: I--David, let me just say that the president has tried for three straight years to work directly with the Republicans to solve the problems of this country. Even this year, on three different occasions, he has met with Speaker Boehner, and with the Republican Leader Cantor to try to work on our deficit, and each time they walked out on him. This week, in the United--or this last week in the United States Senate, as an illustration on two separate occasions, Republicans used the filibuster, something they said they wouldn't do except under extraordinary circumstances, to stop an appointment of a woman, a well--unanimously well-qualified woman to the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, and to stop the appointment of former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For the president now to say, "Listen, we have a clear choice. The Republicans will not cooperate to work to move this economy forward. We have got to focus on what the future will be." What the Republicans offer us is the same formula that brought us into this recession. Cut taxes on the wealthy and cut the government oversight that makes sure we have clean drinking water, air we can breathe, and make sure that Wall Street doesn't run Washington, instead of the other way around.

MR. GREGORY: Twenty, 20, 20 seconds, Senator Graham, do Republicans have a hard time talking about inequality in the country when it comes to incomes and comes to the economy?

SEN. GRAHAM: The best way to get American equal and--is to grow the economy. The Obama policies have been a miserable failure. They had the Congress, a Democratic majority, they increased spending by 24 percent; if you count the stimulus, by 80 percent. So this consumer bureau that they want to pass is under the Federal Reserve. No appropriation oversight, no board. It is something out of the Stalinist era. The reason Republicans don't want to vote for it is we want a board, not one person, making all the regulatory decisions, and there's no oversight under this person. He gets a check from the Federal Reserve. We want him under the Congress so we can oversee the overseer. So his policies are why hard-working Americans are going to lose now, and they will never get better in the second term of Obama administration. That's why we're going to win as Republicans.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon