{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=686", "Remarks by Senator Warren on Citigroup and its Bailout Provision", "2014-12-12", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered remarks on the floor of the Senate this evening on the grasp Citigroup has on government. Below is the text of the Senator's speech, as prepared for delivery:\nMr. President, I'm back on the floor to talk about a dangerous provision that was slipped into a must-pass spending bill at the last minute to benefit Wall Street.  This provision would repeal a rule called, and I'm quoting the title of the rule, \"PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS OF SWAPS ENTITIES.\"\nOn Wednesday, I came to the floor to talk to Democrats, asking them to strip this provision out of the omnibus bill and protect taxpayers.\nOn Thursday, I came to the floor to talk to Republicans.  Republicans say they don't like bailouts either. So I asked them to vote the way they talk.  If they don't like bailouts, then they could take out this provision that puts taxpayers right back on the hook for bailing out big banks.\nToday, I'm coming to the floor not to talk about Democrats or Republicans, but about a third group that also wields tremendous power in Washington: Citigroup.\nMr. President, in recent years, many Wall Street institutions have exerted extraordinary influence in Washington's corridors of power, but Citigroup has risen above the others.  Its grip over economic policymaking in the executive branch is unprecedented.  Consider a few examples:\n-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Three of the last four Treasury Secretaries under Democratic presidents have had close Citigroup ties. The fourth was offered the CEO position at Citigroup, but turned it down.\n-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve system is a Citigroup alum.\n-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Undersecretary for International Affairs at Treasury is a Citigroup alum.\n-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The U.S. Trade Representative and the person nominated to be his deputy \u2013 who is currently an assistant secretary at Treasury \u2013 are Citigroup alums.\n-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A recent chairman of the National Economic Council at the White House was a Citigroup alum.\n-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another recent Chairman of the Office of Management and Budget went to Citigroup immediately after leaving the White House.\u00a0\n-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another recent Chairman of the Office of Management of Budget and Management is also a Citi alum -- but I\u2019m double counting here because now he\u2019s the Secretary of the Treasury.\u00a0\u00a0\nThat\u2019s a lot of powerful people, all from one bank. But they aren\u2019t Citigroup\u2019s only source of power.\u00a0 Over the years, the company has spent millions of dollars on lobbying Congress and funding the political campaigns of its friends in the House and the Senate.\nCitigroup has also spent millions trying to influence the political process in ways that are far more subtle\u2014and hidden from public view. Last year, I wrote Citigroup and other big banks a letter asking them to disclose the amount of shareholder money they have been diverting to think tanks to influence public policy.\u00a0 Citigroup\u2019s response to my letter? Stonewalling.\u00a0 A year has gone by, and Citigroup didn\u2019t even acknowledge receiving the letter.\nCitigroup has a lot of money, it spends a lot of money, and it uses that money to grow and consolidate a lot of power.\u00a0 And it pays off.\u00a0 Consider a couple facts.\nFact one:\u00a0 During the financial crisis, when all the support through TARP and from the FDIC and the Fed is added up, Citi received nearly\u00a0 half a trillion dollars in bailouts.\u00a0 That\u2019s half a trillion with a \u201ct.\u201d That\u2019s almost $140 billion more than the next biggest bank got.\nFact two:\u00a0 During Dodd-Frank, there was an amendment introduced by my colleague Senator Brown and Senator Kaufman that would have broken up Citigroup and the nation\u2019s other largest banks.\u00a0 That amendment had bipartisan support, and it might have passed, but it ran into powerful opposition from an alliance between Wall Streeters on Wall Street and Wall Streeters who held powerful government jobs.\u00a0 They teamed up and blocked the move to break up the banks\u2014and now Citi is bigger than ever.\u00a0\u00a0\nThe role that senior officials working in the Treasury department played in killing the amendment was not subtle: A senior Treasury official acknowledged it at the time in a background interview with New York Magazine.\u00a0 The official from Treasury said, and I\u2019m quoting here, \u201cIf we\u2019d been for it, it probably would have happened. But we weren\u2019t, so it didn\u2019t.\u201d That\u2019s power.\u00a0\nMr. President, Democrats don\u2019t like Wall Street bailouts.\u00a0 Republicans don\u2019t like Wall Street bailouts. The American people are disgusted by Wall Street bailouts. And yet here we are -- five years after Dodd-Frank \u2013 with Congress on the verge of ramming through a provision that would do nothing for middle class, do nothing for community banks \u2013 do nothing but raise the risk that taxpayers will have to bail out the biggest banks once again.\u00a0\u00a0\nThere\u2019s a lot of talk lately about how the Dodd-Frank Act isn\u2019t perfect.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of talk coming from Citigroup about how the Dodd-Frank Act isn\u2019t perfect.\u00a0\nSo let me say this to anyone who is listening at Citi:\u00a0 I agree with you.\u00a0 Dodd-Frank isn\u2019t perfect.\u00a0\u00a0\nIt should have broken you into pieces.\u00a0\nIf this Congress is going to open up Dodd-Frank in the months ahead, let\u2019s open it up to get tougher\u2014not to create more bailout opportunities .\u00a0\nIf we are going to open up Dodd-Frank, let\u2019s open it up so that, once and for all, we end Too Big to Fail.\u00a0 And I mean let\u2019s really end it \u2013 not just say we did.\nInstead of passing laws that create new bailout opportunities for Too-Big-To-Fail banks, let\u2019s pass Brown-Kaufman.\u00a0 Let\u2019s pass the bipartisan 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act \u2013 a bill I\u2019ve sponsored with John McCain, Angus King, and Maria Cantwell.\u00a0 Let\u2019s pass something \u2013 anything \u2013 that would help break up these giant banks.\nA century ago, Teddy Roosevelt was America\u2019s trustbuster.\u00a0 He went after the giant trusts and monopolies in this country, and a lot of people talk about how those trusts deserved to be broken up because they had too much economic power.\u00a0 But Teddy Roosevelt said we should break them up because they had too much political power.\u00a0 Teddy Roosevelt said break them up because all that concentrated power threatened the very foundations of our democratic system.\u00a0\nAnd now we\u2019re watching as Congress passes yet another provision that was written by lobbyists for the biggest recipient of bailout money in the history of the country.\u00a0\u00a0 And it\u2019s attached to a bill that needs to pass or else the entire federal government will grind to a halt.\nThink about this kind of power.\u00a0 A financial institution has become so big and so powerful that it can hold the entire country hostage.\u00a0 That alone is a reason enough for us break them up.\u00a0 Enough is enough.\nEnough is enough with Wall Street insiders getting key position after key position and the kind of cronyism we have seen in the executive branch.\u00a0 Enough is enough with Citigroup passing 11th hour deregulatory provisions that nobody takes ownership over but that everybody comes to regret.\u00a0 Enough is enough.\nWashington already works really well for the billionaires and big corporations and the lawyers and lobbyists.\u00a0 But what about the families who lost their homes or their jobs or their retirement savings the last time Citi bet big on derivatives and lost? What about the families who are living paycheck to paycheck and saw their tax dollars go to bail Citi out just six years ago? We were sent here to fight for those families, and it\u2019s time \u2013 it\u2019s past time \u2013 for Washington to start working for them.\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=686"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8480001017451286, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}