Why the U.S. Congress Acts Like the Banks Own It

http://larouchepac.com/node/27408

Why the U.S. Congress Acts Like the Banks Own It

July 19, 2013 • 9:40AM

While every measure of poverty, including shortened life expectancy, increases in the U.S., as in Greece, and the biggest U.S. banks reported record 2nd-quarter profits, the U.S. Congress has failed to lift a finger to save the nation by acting to pass Glass-Steagall and a credit policy for full productive employment of its constituents.

The relevant committees in the Congress, and Congress in general, instead take handouts from the very financiers killing their constituents.

A sampling of bankster contributions to members of the House Financial Services Committee for the 2013-2014 election cycle show that these congressmen raise far more than the average congressman (unless the member is African-American). Even though it is early in the 2013-2014 election cycle and money is only beginning to flow, a comparison of the Financial Services Committee and Financial Services Subcommittee Chairs with the average Member of Congress, shows the financier control which is blocking Glass-Steagall (all figures from www.opensecrets.org):

* Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Committee Chair, has raised $1.6m, already 3 times what the average Member of Congress has raised. The 5 leading businesses contributing to him, by category, are: commercial banks, insurance, securities & investment, real estate, finance/credit;

* Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca), Ranking Democrat, has raised $227,000 so far, only one-half of what the average Member has raised; top contributors are securities & investments (only $7500),miscellaneous businesses, unions, retail sales, insurance;

* Rep. Ed Royce, (R-CA) raised $973,000; 2.25 times what the average Member has raised; top 5 business contributors: retired, insurance, lawyers, accountants, credit unions;

Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) raised $572,000; has raised 1.25x what the average Member has raised; top 5 contributor businesses: securities & investment, insurance, commercial banks, lawyers and retired;

* Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) raised $524,000; has raised 1.25x what average Member has; top 5 contributors: insurance, real estate, securities & investment; retired, commercial banks;

* Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC): raised $305,000; slightly below average congressman, leading contributors: commercial banks, finance/credit insurance, credit unions, Lobbyists.

The siege of Congress to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 puts the current financier siege against Glass-Steagall re-enactment into perspective. The finance, insurance, and real estate sectors contributed more than $86 million to Members of Congress between 1997 and the key vote on Gramm-Leach-Bliley in November 1999. Those Congressman voting for repeal received an average of $180,000 (in 1997-99 dollars) from individuals and PACs during that period; those voting against it received about half of that — $90,000.