Michele Bachmann Warns: “Financial Bill Worse Than Healthcare Measure”

WASHINGTON: A Republican congresswoman, who has been in the forefront of the fight against the healthcare bill, the climate control bill and other contentious measures, warned in animpromptu interview on Breitbart.tv Thursday evening, that a fast-tracked, under-the-radar mega-bill by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., designed to overhaul the regulation of the entire financial services industry – and headed at the time for passage by the House -- is “even worse.”

“I know that’s hard to believe, but it is worse in the sense that every American makes financial transactions,” said Michele Bachmann, who represents the people of Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District. “We all use credit cards, we all write checks. This will all now be controlled by government, and government will ration credit. You can’t have capitalism without capital, and government will decide who gets capital and who doesn’t.”

“The entirety of this bill -- all pinned together like this -- hasn’t even gone through committees,” Bachmann said. “It just went on the floor for three hours of debate. It’s a complete government control of the financial services industry and no one knows about it!”

They do now. Late Friday, despite a surprisingly unanimousRepublican opposition, the House approvedH.R. 4173: The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. The vote was 223-202, with not a single Republican voting in favor and 27 Democrats voting No. Two Republicans who were present did not vote.

The super-size measure of 1,279 pages (1,500 with amendments), is actually a package of several bills, which when “pinned together”, as Bachmann puts it, exponentially extends the power of the federal government over banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions.

Frank, who heads the House Financial Services Committee, “created the package to serve as a vehicle for getting many major financial services bills, including a systemic risk regulation overhaul, an overhaul of derivatives market regulation, consumer protection measures, a measure restricting executive compensation, and a measure that would create a Federal Insurance Office, through the House quickly,” National Underwriter, a trade publication for the insurance industry, reported.

“Quickly” is the operative word here. As a hedge against possible derailment, Frank did not introduce his bill until Dec. 2, then kept it under wraps until Dec. 8 to ensure the least amount of time for review and debate by House members.

Now H.R. 4173 is in the Senate, and if passed there and signed into law would usher in what CNN describes as “the most sweeping set of changes to the banking regulatory system since the New Deal.”

The changes include creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) to (Title IV), with authority to make decisions for consumers about the kinds of mortgages, small business loans and other financial products they may access. Another innovation is a new bureaucracy called the Financial Services Oversight Council (FSOC) tasked with determining which companies are supposedly at risk and could undermine financial market stability (Title I, Subtitle G).

“We are sending a clear message to Wall Street, the party is over. Never again will reckless behavior on the part of the few threaten the fiscal stability of our people," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a press conference following the bill’s passage. "The legislation will finally protect Main Street from the worst of Wall Street."

But Rep. Jeb Hensarling from Dallas, the top Republican on the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee and an outspoken critic of government super-spending, blasted the measure as “an assault on the fundamental economic liberties of the American citizen.”

“You want a home mortgage -- now you have to get the approval of the federal government,” Hensarling exclaimed. “You want to offer a credit product? The federal government again. You build a successful business -- it can be torn down unless you go to the federal government on bended knee."