Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, said today that she is “increasingly optimistic” that her Democratic colleagues will join together to halt a Wall Street-authored provision that repeals important taxpayer protections against reckless bank activity enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. The provision was jammed into the must-pass government funding package at the 11th hour.

She released the following statement:

“I am increasingly optimistic that House Democrats will come together to defeat this effort to protect Wall Street's biggest banks. In a meeting this morning, many of my Democratic colleagues spoke out against this unconscionable effort to cram these harmful provisions into a must-pass spending bill that is essential to keeping the government open. Even members that supported this as a standalone measure expressed concerns about circumventing the Democratic process to ram through such a complex piece of legislation.

There is a reason the Republican leadership slipped this harmful provision in the dead of night. Subsidizing banks with taxpayer money is an issue that concerns Republicans and Democrats. House leadership will need support from both parties if it hopes to pass this legislation, and I believe Democrats will stand up against these tactics. This harmful provision must be removed from the spending bill.”

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