PHILADELPHIA – Sens. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton would ensure big banks do not again threaten the financial system.
Speaking during prime-time spots at the Wells Fargo Center, Sanders cited the Democratic platform's call for a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act as a top reason to vote for Clinton in November.
"It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues," Sanders said. "I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee, there was a significant coming together … the Democratic Party now calls for breaking up the major financial institutions on Wall Street and the passage of a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act."
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In a speech in New York City, Sanders vowed to remove the ability of the Federal Reserve to pay interest to banks for their excess reserves, turn the credit rating agencies into nonprofits, allow the U.S. Postal Service to offer bank products, and cap ATM fees and interest rates for loans.
January 5 -
Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both emphasized during a late Thursday debate that they are prepared to break up megabanks that pose a systemic risk to the U.S. economy, but also showed there are differences in how they approach "too big to fail."
April 14 -
Advocates on the left and the right routinely assert that "too big to fail" is still with us and that Dodd-Frank and other post-crisis reforms have not secured the financial system from excessive risk, and the public seems to agree. So where does regulatory policy go from there?
April 27 -
Paul Manafort, the campaign manager for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said Monday during a press briefing that reinstating the law, which separated commercial and investment banking, was one of the few changes Trump is proposing in the GOP platform.
July 18
Clinton herself has stopped short of calling for a return to Glass-Steagall, a 1930s-era law that separated commercial and investment banking and was repealed by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. She has suggested instead that policymakers should target large nonbanks.
But her campaign agreed to make changes to the Democratic platform as a way to make peace with Sanders, her only significant rival during the primaries. That peace was clearly still fragile.
Earlier in the day, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned after hacked emails revealed efforts within the party to undermine Sanders and ensure Clinton's nomination. Sanders' supporters quickly took to the streets in oppressive, 90-degree heat while the DNC and Clinton campaign worked to defuse the turmoil and eventually issued an official apology.
During the evening speeches, disgruntled Sanders supporters interrupted several, including for progressive hero Warren. A few in the crowd could be heard chanting "We trusted you" during her remarks, apparently implying she had betrayed her ideals by supporting Clinton.
But Warren ignored the gibes, instead calmly laying out a case in favor of Clinton and against GOP nominee Donald Trump. That included a prominent mention of Clinton's banking policy.
"We don't need weaker rules on Wall Street. We need stronger rules and when big banks get too risky, break them up. Hillary will fight to keep big banks accountable," she said during her address just minutes before Sanders took the stage.
Warren also attacked Trump's call to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act and vowed to defend the legislation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she helped create.
"Donald Trump wants to roll back financial regulations to turn Wall Street loose to wreck our economy again," Warren said. "Democrats fought for a strong consumer agency so big banks can't cheat people. We won, but Republicans and lobbyists battled us every step of the way. Five years later, that consumer agency has returned $11 billion to families who were cheated, and Republicans they are still trying to kill it."
The calls by Sanders and Warren appeared to satisfy some progressives within the party.
"Tonight, Senator Warren and Senators Sanders will lay out a bold agenda. … That agenda – breaking up the too-big-to-fail banks, ending obscene tax loopholes, making Wall Street work for Main Street instead of the other way around – is what is going to energize and motivate voters this fall," Jon Green, a spokesman from the Take on Wall Street Coalition, said in a statement.
