PRESS RELEASE
The Glass-Steagall Express is Underway
July 15, 2015 (EIRNS)—In accordance with Lyndon LaRouche’s evaluation that the reintroduction of the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act (S. 1709) by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and three other leading Senators, was done as an urgent action in the face of the global financial crisis, the political waves from that action are growing at a rapid pace.
Warren herself, when she introduced the bill July 7, noted that the big banks that her bill would rein in, are bigger than ever, and could bring down the system again. When the Senate reconvened July 14, she again issued a call for Democrats to support passage of the bill, noting that the takedown of Glass-Steagall in 1999 was followed by “the worst crash since the 1930s.”
Support for immediate implementation of Glass-Steagall was reiterated by Democratic Presidential pre-candidate Martin O’Malley on July 9, in the form of an Open Letter challenging Wall Street. Sen. Bernie Sanders, also a Presidential precandidate, spoke up in favor of reimposing Glass-Steagall at a Democratic caucus meeting on July 14.
On the House side, Marcy Kaptur’s HR 381, which calls for reinstating Glass-Steagall, is gaining more and more cosponsors; three more signers showing up July 15 brings the total to 64. And on July 14 Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Mass.) introduced an exact companion bill to Warren’s in the House.
Fuel for the firestorm around Glass-Steagall was also provided by the pithy intervention of LaRouche PAC organizer Daniel Burke at Hillary Clinton’s presentation on her economic policy at New York July 13. “Will you restore Glass-Steagall?” he called out repeatedly. Clinton’s non-response, and the subsequent statement by her economic adviser Alan Blinder that she will not support Glass-Steagall, has spread widely in the international press, leading to interviews with Burke, and an increased outcry from Democrats and others who understand the necessity for the action.
LaRouche has called for emergency action to get the Glass-Steagall bill passed through Congress before the end of the Congressional session, which usually occurs at the end of July. The mobilization is on.
