-
Payback Time
February 14, 2013 | 68 comments
-
Community Banks Face a Regulatory Cliff
November 21, 2012 | 120 comments
-
Happy Durbin Day
October 1, 2012 | 8 comments
-
Obamatax Apologists
June 29, 2012 | 146 comments
-
My NASCAR Buddy
March 21, 2012 | 27 comments
The Public Policy
How Senate Dems and Scott Brown Failed ‘Maxine Waters’ Test
And 10 Senate Republicans vied to join them in gutting the most serious jobs bill passed under Obama.
Attention Senators! Test results are in. Time to announce who passed and failed “the Maxine Waters test of political moderation.”
As I reported last week, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was encountering resistance in the Senate even after the House-passed bill garnered the support of President Obama and the votes of the most diehard liberals such as Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). The bill, which broadens exemptions for more firms from the most onerous provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, and other regulations preventing entrepreneurs from raising capital, was subject to a last-minute stampede by those organs of the left to whom regulation is a religion.
The New York Times, the AFL-CIO, and other various and sundry elements began railing against this “radical deregulation” that somehow eluded Obama, Frank, and Waters. AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka assailed a bill supported by everyone from community banks to family-run businesses such as the Wegmans supermarket chain for its provisions increasing flexibility to raise capital as a measure to “deregulate Wall Street — voiding investor protections.”
So how many Senate Democrats were swayed by these objections to a bill with investor protections deemed sufficient by Maxine Waters? The answer is that they all were. And so was Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) And on the gutting of one House provision to allow the pooling of capital online through crowdfunding, 11 Senate Republicans failed the “Waters test.”
Yes, the JOBS Act finally passed the Senate last Thursday 73-26, with most of the regulatory relief from the House version intact. And yes, the House passed the Senate version yesterday 380-41. The bill is on its way to President Obama, who will almost certainly sign it. This will be the biggest job-creating accomplishment of his administration, but this achievement is marred by the fact that his administration laid out much of the red tape to begin with. (And to be fair, the act also clears barriers from Sarbanes-Oxley, the red tape of the supposedly deregulatory George W. Bush era.)
But Brown and the 25 Democrat senators — as well as Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) — who voted for the JOBS Act would first vote against it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tried many ways to frustrate the bill, and attempted to make Republicans pay a heavy ransom if it did pass. He tried to attach an amendment to reauthorize the corporate-welfare dispensing Export-Import Bank for four years, but that failed to get 60 votes when all Republicans except Brown held fast.
Reid also set a vote for an amendment from Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) that would have weakened or gutted every measure of regulatory relief in the House JOBS Act. This bill got votes from Brown, Lieberman, and every single Senate Democrat. This includes so-called moderates like Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who would sing the praises of the House bill the day after voting to defang it.
To illustrate how radically the Senate moved on the JOBS Act, it’s useful to recall an incident from the House debate in early March. In the House, the biggest dispute on the bill seemed to be who should get credit for the regulatory relief.
A provision of the JOBS Act, for instance, will save community banks millions by allowing them to raise money from 2,000 shareholders without becoming a Securities and Exchange Commission-registered firm subject to the costly mandates of Sarbanes-Oxley and the proxy provisions of Dodd-Frank (they would still be subject to many other provisions of the Dodd-Frank albatross, though). Barney Frank screamed that part of the JOBS Act was similar to a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) that passed the House in November (and which the Democrat-controlled Senate had never acted on, a fact Frank declined to mention). Frank’s attack on Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) as “hypocritical” and “dishonest” violated House rules against personal attacks on fellow members and got him booted from the House floor for a day.
Yet this was the same provision of the bill that Jack Reed denounced on the Senate floor for allowing banks to “go dark.” His amendment, according to the Independent Community Bankers of America, would actually have subjected more small banks to SEC red tape, according the Independent Community Bankers of America.
This amendment fortunately failed but Brown, Democrats, and 10 other Republicans (you can look at this vote tally to see who they were) unfortunately were successful at basically gutting the House’s provisions exempting from SEC red tape up to $2 million in crowdfunding. As I told Investor’s Business Daily, the Senate amendment sponsored by Brown and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) subjects crowdfunding to “mounds of voluminous filings with the SEC” and “imposes liability for technical mistakes.”
But except for this provision, the rest of the House bill will arrive on Obama’s desk intact, and likely be signed there. In addition to raising the shareholder threshold for when a company must go public and be subject to SEC rules from Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank, the bill creates an “on-ramp” that would delay the most onerous of these rules for most new firms until five years after they go public. The legislation reflects the emerging consensus, from the respected Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., to President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, that startups and “emerging growth” firms less than five years old create the bulk of America’s new jobs.
For once, a “jobs act” passed by Congress will at least pass the truth-in-advertising test, if not the Maxine Waters test.
About the Author
John Berlau is Senior Fellow for Finance and Access to Capital at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and blogs at OpenMarket.org.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment
More Articles by John Berlau
More Articles From The Public Policy
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/28/how-senate-dems-and-brown-fail
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Timothy L. Pennell| 3.28.12 @ 8:12AM
So, remind me how is Scott Brown better than the "other" Liberal B*tch, that's running in Massachusetts, again.
Is this what it feels like to be Molested, Scott? Cause it feels like you're fcking, on a daily basis.
What's the old saying: Buying a Pig in a Poke?
There aren't any Men, any more in Politics. Nobody to stand on their hind legs and proclaim: "I am not for sale, at any price." The women on the Left, have a set of BALLS that the Punkasses on the Right, can only dream about having.
I understand that they've taken to using BULLDOZERS to clean out the BLIGHT, in places like Detroit. We could sure use one of those, right now, in D.C. at the end of Pennsylvania Ave.
"It's Sick out there, and getting Sicker!" (Bob Grant)
Indeed.
rcb| 3.28.12 @ 11:16AM
Brown is a sleeper democrat.
L.A. Enthusiast| 3.28.12 @ 12:47PM
Ms. Waters has been demonized by the conservative press.
Well all I've got to say about Maxine Waters is that shes an attractive, intelligent, charming woman, and I always go out to hear her speak on the issues. She's got the facts and the ability to express them.
Bob| 3.28.12 @ 1:56PM
Well, Waters routinely demonizes conservatives as well, so the feeling is certainly mutual.
junkyard infidel| 3.28.12 @ 2:27PM
well, both you and waters can go straight to hell !
albert constantine jr.| 3.28.12 @ 9:42PM
LAE
Please let me get a band aid for that hole your tongue made through your cheek.
Bob| 3.28.12 @ 1:56PM
The Republican leadership wasn't concerned with getting a conservative in Mass. They were concerned with adding one more R to the senate, that's it. It's the same thing they're doing in the presidential race. They don't care if they get a conservative. They would prefer if everyone just drops out of the race and lets Romney be the candidate. They just want an R in the White House.
It's A Cunning Plan Actually!| 3.28.12 @ 5:47PM
You got it! But how dare you make sense on the American Spectator blog? Oldefarte will be along soon to beat you over the head with a can of Mitt Romney's favorite hair gel!!!!!!!!!!
Bill Husssein O'Stalin| 3.28.12 @ 9:25AM
Brown needs to sell his pickup truck and buy a Volt if he hasn't already.
gearjammer| 3.28.12 @ 10:05AM
Brown knows how to win in MA and you do not. Go back to 2006 and 2008 and see how your way worker. Do not give me 2010-the data is in we got the moderates-not all tea party. Right now Brown is sending honor roll kids andd other young achievers personally signed letters of congrats. This has the nuts who have dominated in MA going crazier than usual, He knows what he is doing-you have no clue. SHUT UP !
Timothy L. Pennell| 3.28.12 @ 10:21AM
He's sending Congrat Letters to School Kids?
Well. I take it all back, then. Who cares that he voted with HARRY REID almost the same number of times that he didn't? He's writing letters to School Kids.
You STFU Dumb*ss.
Apparently, molested people stick together.
gearjammer| 3.28.12 @ 2:19PM
Who do you think you are ? You sick animal. Get out of the GOP-we don't want your kind. You don't appreciate that the guy is a winner. You. A loser. You are not the king of America you discarded snot rag. You are one of 300 million plus-know your place and walk the line.
PolishKnight| 3.28.12 @ 10:43AM
Although I'm a supporter of Romney, I know there's a danger that "someone who knows how to win in MA" (or PA for that matter) (or CA too!) in that they gradually become leftist apologists undermining the Republican party label.
Romney didn't need to vote for the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) (violence against men and kids though, okey dokey). He claimed to be a victim of DV and that he had a personal stake in supporting the bill yet the bill encourages violent women to attack their spouses and retain custody of children in the process and forks over pork to anti-male feminist organizations that open up basically hotels for women who make up false claims of abuse.
In the meantime, I mentioned California and Pennsylvania: Schwarzenegger has helped to kill California, dead, by swallowing leftist ideology hook, line, and sinker and doing so under the Republican label. It's a perfect allegory for how the Bushes helped do the same for the whole country.
PolishKnight| 3.28.12 @ 10:58AM
Oops, I said "Romney didn't need to vote for VAWA" when I meant to say Scott Brown. Go ahead, say it: Freudian slip!!! (more like me typing fast and using the last name I typed in.)
gearjammer| 3.28.12 @ 2:25PM
He is trying to crawl through a minefield-gonna go all lefty. Look he gets 6 years. Then he makes the hard votes-get it. He'll be done facing elections and can be more flexible. Do you understand this transmission Vladmir ? He'll be our Ben Nelson you dope and fall on his sword for something worthy-not Ocare. Sorry but this is how this inticate biz works.
It's A Cunning Plan Actually!| 3.28.12 @ 5:49PM
If winning is really losing is it really winning? WILL NEVER SHUT UP!
Bill| 3.28.12 @ 10:37AM
Sen. Brown should not abandon his Tea Party base, without the Tea Party, he wouldn't become senator.
Von Mises Jr.| 3.28.12 @ 11:23AM
I don't get it. This seems to me like someone with a death sentence being told on Monday morning that the Governor has decided that you shall not be shot at sunrise. We shall shoot you Friday.
Perhaps I am jaded, but I am getting sick and tired of phoney bills that have names contrary to their intent and effect, or advance some gimmick. As a sales professional, you understand that scams only work until the target figures out you are a scam artist.
Pat| 3.28.12 @ 7:40PM
Von Mises Jr. Amen to that, blunt assessments are so refreshing. Of all the “Truth in” legal requirements we suffer under, the one glaring exception is “Truth in Legislation”. It’s the “impossible dream” of course, but what if each new piece of legislation came with a mandatory “Truth In” explanation? What’s the real reason for the legislation? Who exactly is intended to reap the financial benefits and when was the date and the dollar amount of their most recent campaign contribution to the bill’s sponsors? What promises in exchange for votes did the bill’s sponsors make to their colleagues and when will the payback occur?
In government marketing 101, it helps to have a crisis, real or imagined, in order to prompt “desperately needed” legislation – and our government is less than minimally competent in most heavily regulated areas so a crisis can be expected to occur with metronome like frequency. How can the crisis be exploited by our elected employees? Who would pay big bucks for custom crafted laws in their favor? How can the public be bamboozled so there is no hue and cry opposing the legislation?
Sarbanes-Oxley was textbook government marketing. Enron failed despite all the government agencies looking over their shoulders so every American company must now suffer and the lawyers and public accounting firms get to swat the taxpayer piñata and grab all the money which drops out.
cicero| 3.28.12 @ 12:13PM
Another jobs bill! How nice. The only jobs bill that will be meaningful will be the one shutting down at least half of the Washington acronymic departments, cutting taxes, and just getting out of the way. Perhaps we can get the United States Senate just to go home for about 4 years, or maybe amend the Constitution to provide for a unicameral government. The Senate has been a cabal of empty suits for decades.
I think it was Twain who said, "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe as long as Congress is in session". Or maybe it was Will Rogers. In any event, the statement was, and remains, true.
Bob| 3.28.12 @ 2:00PM
A unicameral government is not the solution, although today's Congress essentially functions as such with just a nominal division of responsibilities. It's the 17th amendment that turned the Senate into the House of Representatives, allowing the popular election of Senators instead of having state legislatures appointing Senators. Popular election of Senators is the real problem.
The Bruce| 3.28.12 @ 5:55PM
Amen.
play nice| 3.28.12 @ 1:04PM
Scott says he wants women to be able serve in trained for combat units because it will be good for their careers.
gearjammer| 3.28.12 @ 2:28PM
So what office are you running for in MA ? They still worship Gloria Steinam There . I give upyou people are just not reasonable.
TrueBlue | 3.28.12 @ 3:31PM
Fine by me, so long as they can pass the exact same standards required of the men in those units WITHOUT lowering the standards so more women can meet them. This BS of having lower standards for women in the military ticks me off.
Dave Williams| 3.28.12 @ 1:12PM
"Maxine Waters" and "moderation" don't belong in the same PARAGRAPH, let alone the same sentence. I can't wait for the day that that Marxist piece of trash gets booted off the national stage.
Popo| 3.28.12 @ 6:33PM
Please. Let go of the hate.
Please try to be more Christ-like in your language.
Todd Powers| 3.29.12 @ 1:28AM
Injecting Christ into this could scare off an independent.
Bob| 3.28.12 @ 1:51PM
It's not deregulating Wall Street, idiot, it's lifting the burden of regulations off small businesses who can't expand without investors investing in their business, and who can't find investors because of regulations devised by liberals in Congress to punish Wall Street, when really all the regulations were doing was punishing small business.
I bet these businesses are too small to even form unions, so what does Trumka care?
Oldefarte| 3.28.12 @ 1:53PM
Waters and Frank are Democratic Party pigs, but that has nothing to do with this subject. Any/all congresspersons have no business whatsoever of legislating a governmental spending bill in this putrid economy [most of which is their fault to begin with]. They instead should be devising ways to NOT SPEND GOVERNMENT MONEY or to REDUCE GOVERNMENTAL EXPENSES, but if they did so they would be the worthless/useless pigs that are paid by taxpayers to run the government. It's a damned shame that the DEMOSOCIALISTS can formulate a governmental budget which they are required by law to do, but then they would be the crooks that they all are no doubt!!!!!
Purp| 3.28.12 @ 2:43PM
Politicians make deals, change their minds and vote against bills they then support - I'm shocked, oh, the inconsistency - politicians waffle? - say it isn't so .. What a useless article. The bill passed - so what how it got passed?
randyinrocklin| 3.28.12 @ 3:36PM
Time to primary Cornyn he's up for re-election in 2014. What a disappointment in Boozman from AR, thought he was conservative got us fooled there. Blunt from MO a RINO from the House we need to weed out the RINO's big time. Also we need to primary McConnell in 2014 too!
Pat| 3.28.12 @ 4:45PM
Nice science fiction tale but here in the real world a backroom deal was certainly cut related to this latest legislative comedy. Washington won’t say who, but someone in power will be owed a favor in return for supporting this bill and debts are always paid. Someone closely connected to this latest swindle will eventually receive a payoff - real money unwittingly supplied by taxpayers – and which relates to engineering this special favor. And that unnamed someone will kick back the normal commission to one or more of our elected employees.
Sarbanes-Oxley was simply another badly disguised bailout for America’s lawyers and public accounting firms, but they made their windfall profits early on, they’re just going through the regulatory filing chores now for minor pocket change. Their D. C. lobbyists are busily crafting a new legislative scam to replenish their bottom lines subsequent to a future financial crisis.
The real business of government is creating ongoing economic opportunities for friends and allies to obtain wealth through enforcement of laws which have nothing to do with serving the public. Anyone paying the slightest attention has watched our Washington kleptocracy grow and grow over the past decades. Issues important to the public welfare, the good of the country and other fictional motivations are for those who still naively subscribe to a government of the people. But a government for and in service to the special interests is what we actually have and each needless piece of new legislation is always at the behest of those who shall remain nameless and for financial reasons the public isn’t allowed to know.
Like the Tooth Fairy, our government slips money under the pillows of relatives, friends and allies - always in the dark and always without media fanfare. Except that, unlike the Tooth Fairy, the pillow covering the taxpayer’s gold belongs to the greedy and undeserving.
WM| 3.31.12 @ 12:13AM
Scott Brown is DUMB. He really is. He has absolutely no clue how he has severely alienated the Tea Party base that got him elected. He is losing to that incompetent liberal shrew, Elizabeth Warren, for crying out loud. At one point, he was leading her in the polls. Then he somehow decided that the way to shore up that support was to play up to the leftists. Dumb! He has no idea why things happen.