The recently passed $1.1 trillion has amounted to little more than a pretty gift wrap for a Wall Street bailout provision. The House Republican who wrote the provision into the bill, Kevin Yoder (R-KS), waited for the spending bill to pass, and then went silent, reported The Huffington Post.
Yoder is one of the largest corporate sellouts in the House of Representatives as the securities and finance industry is his largest contributor, receiving nearly $300,000 over the course of his career. Yoder introduced the bailout provision to the spending bill last summer. That provision was written by Citigroup bank executives and nullifies banks relying on the FDIC for a bailout if trading risky assets goes bad.
The bank bailout provision has had progressive Democrats crying foul for some time now. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) decried the the provision. As part of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, there was a provision that ensured that banks were to rely on the FDIC for bailouts, rather than taxpayer money like with the 2008 bailout.
Now that the spending bill has passed, Yoder has gone into hiding, ducking interviews and not returning phone calls to reported for comment. According to the HuffPo, Yoder’s office never made a press statement and has remained pretty quiet about the Citigroup provision. Some people have taken to Yoder’s Facebook page to express their disgust.
“I have always voted for you, Congressman Yoder, but I am disappointed with your yes vote on the Omnibus bill and we, your constituents, deserve an explanation as to why,” wrote Dianne Lavenburg of Kansas. “Please clarify your involvement regarding the taxpayer bailouts for risky bank investments also included on the Omnibus bill.”
“Why is there a Wall Street giveaway in the Continuous Resolution? Did you learn nothing during the last cycle of collapse and bailouts? Plain ignorance, or willful ignorance?” said Rich Reavis, another Kansas resident. “Did you speak out against putting that crap in the CR?”
Apparently even Yoder’s voter base is unhappy with the quiet, sneaky insertion of the provision. It just goes to show who politicians are really working for.
