MSNBC "The Ed Show"- Transcript: Dodd-Frank

Interview

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For more we bring in one of the principal author of this new bill. And I
should mention my old boss Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State.
Good evening Senator.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL, (D) WASHINGTON: Ari, good evening.

MELBER: Nice so see you. Why don`t you tell us what you`re trying to do
here and why you think it has any chance of passing in an institution that
as, you know, many people feel is run by the banks.

CANTWELL: Well, first of all I`m glad you played that clip by my former
colleague Senator Dorgan. The only thing he got wrong in that clip is he
said it would take 10 years. When actually the 2008 meltdown, if you add
that it was only nine years. So, Senator Dorgan`s comments were right.
There`s no reason why you should mix the savings of U.S. consumers with the
risky investment of those on Wall Street. Separate those so that we don`t
have another implosion and cost our economy $14 trillion, which is what the
Dallas Fed said that whole implosion cost us.

So, the reason why we have a chance now is that consumers are seeing that
we passed Wall Street reform in the Congress, the Dodd-Frank bill and they
see that Wall Street is up here every day trying to roll it back, delay it.
Stop its implementation. And these guys are just getting bigger and bigger
and the risk of this happening again is very present.

MELBER: What do you say to folks who believe? Well, the problem in the
financial meltdown was more about mortgage, risk that was spread out and
including consumers about sort of exotic derivative transactions and other
things that people didn`t really understand, that is to say it is not
something that would have been prevented by this division even if your
propose division would be a good thing.

CANTWELL: Well, those are the activities the banks want to pursue. That`s
a different than holding my capital or my neighbor`s capital or the savings
that we want to invest in a bank. That`s not putting them at risk. What
Americans know today is that they did not get a bailout. And so, they see
Wall Street with record profits going about their business, continuing
these same transactions. And what they see is their kid may not be able to
go to college. They may not be able to buy a home. They may not be able
to retire when they want to. So the advent of everything that`s happened
since is not a solution yet for the American people. So, I think they are
going to be all ears as ho how Wall Street is trying to stop the reforms.
And what -- people are really understanding is the complexity of something
what was called the vocal rule is so complex. And Wall Street will still
be able to beat it. It is better to go back to the bright line we had for
decades in this country.

MELBER: Right and then you don`t play as much chicken with the regulatory
agencies and the whole food making process which is you point out and that
your colleagues Senator Warren has pointed out has definitely slow down at
the FCC. I want to ask you more broadly on the politics here. You know,
John McCain is an interesting person, definitely known as the party leader
to have on board. What about a similar type of person on the Democratic
side? Have you spoken with Hillary Clinton about this? Would you like her
to endorse your bill?

CANTWELL: Well, I have not spoken to Hillary Clinton about this particular
proposal we`ve introduced. I will say we got Angus King who`s an
independent to join on board. But I do think that people should ask
Secretary Clinton about her views on banking reform. In the past I`ve had
my conversation with here about that. And I expect that she will be tough
on this issue, that she will say to Wall Street that, you know, we`re not
going to take the same kind of risk that we took in the past.

MELBER: Senator Maria Cantwell as always nice to see you and thanks for
joining.

CANTWELL: Thank you Ari.

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