What’s New on Capitol Hill?
Senate Republicans announced they will introduce legislation today that would repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said “We must repeal the Democrats’ takeover of the financial markets that favors Wall Street corporations, over-regulates small businesses with massive new bureaucracy and hurts consumers.” The bill currently has 18 co-sponsors.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) assured freshmen Republican lawmakers that he has not agreed to a specific number in budget talks, despite Vice President Joe Biden’s assertion that there is a general agreement to cut 33 billion in spending – significantly less than the 61 billion advocated by many freshman Republicans and members of the Tea Party.
About 200 Tea Party activists attended a rally on Capitol Hill on Thursday to urge Republican leaders to hang tough in the budget debate. If the Republicans cannot get Democrats to agree to 61 billion in cuts, many members o f the Tea Party are demanding a government shutdown. A number of rally members were heard chanting, “Cut it or shut it!” Yesterday’s rally was much smaller than previous Tea Party protests on Capitol Hill, leading Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to joke to reporters, “There were tens of them here yesterday.”