The House of Representatives passed legislation Friday designed to bring the most sweeping rewrite of financial regulation since the New Deal era following the Great Depression: "We are sending a clear message to Wall Street: The party is over," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Florida Republicans joined their counterparts in voting against the measure, all but guaranteeing its emergence as a hot button campaign issue. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen says it puts "unwarranted faith on regulators who were caught totally off guard when the financial crisis struck. This legislation also makes permanent the failed policies of the past and restructures our already fragile American economy placing it firmly within bureaucratic control," she said.
The "no" votes prompted a rebuke from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee which accused the GOP of doing the bidding of bankers: "Middle class families who played the rules deserve better than Representative Ros-Lehtinen taking marching orders from special interests by trying to protect the big banks that got us into this mess to begin with. If Representative Ros-Lehtinen had her way, Wall Street could make big gambles and if they lose, taxpayers would be left holding the bill."
Identical charges were directed at Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, who also voted against the bill.
Republicans went on the offensive, too, saying Rep. Kendrick Meek "fell right in line with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat leaders in Washington today who are anxious to continue their tax-and-spend ways."
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