Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin joined a small but growing list of Democrats who are opposing Pres. Obama’s nomination of Antonio Weiss for a high-ranking post in the Treasury Department.
Weiss has been nominated to be Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance.
While the post is not a high profile one, some Democrats see Weiss as a “Wall Street insider” whose appointment reflects a too-cozy relationship with the financial sector on the part of the Obama administration.
“I do not believe Mr. Weiss is the right nominee to push for strong oversight of Wall Street and protect the interests of Main Street as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance,” Baldwin said in a statement she released Thursday. “Based on his record and qualifications as a Wall Street investment banker I don’t have confidence that he will work to even the playing field for middle class families and small businesses who need a fair shot to get ahead.”
Sen. Baldwin joins fellow Democrats Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Al Franken of Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire as well as independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont in opposition to the appointment of Antonio Weiss.
One hand giveth you a knife in the back, the other hand screweth your civil rights, further capitulating to NSA spying on individual USians, working against any future student loan debt with reduction in Pell Grants and further gutting of Dodd-Frank. Baldwin never was a progressive and she clearly showed her hand voting for the CRomnibus.
2000 jobs at Marinette Marine, not even guaranteed beyond what is already in the works, to keep that Navy project running might have been the reason, or maybe she got a guarantee with future election financing limits expanded. This vote needs an explanation from Ms Baldwin and fast.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/14/1351689/-Which-32-Senate-Democrats-Just-Sold-You-Out-to-Give-Wall-Street-a-CRomnibus-Christmas
As this topic went by pretty fast in the flurry of comments, and nobody in the State seems to be talking about it, I’ll dig this out and again point to the link in my first comment. Any thoughts on Tammy the Traitor. What excuses this in your mind? Have you called her office?
And I see there are a number of new press releases since her Cromnibus vote: http://www.baldwin.senate.gov/press-releases
I don’t see any kind of progressive agenda balance to the damage she willfully acquiesced to last week. Later.
I agree that she’s not much of a Progressive and yet what cover does she really have from us? We Wisconsin Progressives clearly have no one’s back right now, much less hers.
Look, I’d have Sen. Baldwin’s back if she had decided to take a principled stand and oppose such a crap piece of legislation, but instead I’m sitting here having to write about how she decided to make it easier for millionaires and billionaires to spend even more money to buy elections.
She’s trying to be a Democratic Senator in a red state. We three know what’s in that bill – do you think most Wisconsin voters even bothered to learn more? Do you think they even care? Have you seen any local media discussing the provisions? Where is the Progressive failure here – on one Centrist Senator’s vote or is it our systemic failure to win hearts and minds in this state?
Fair point Emma.
Good post on the other page. The MSM (local and national) treated cromnibus as a horse race but as usual BB looked deeper.