Sanders Calls For Financial Justice

News Article

Sanders Calls For Financial Justice

Burlington Free Press

Date: 03/25/2009

Senators ask Obama for reform and prosecutions

By Dan McLean, Free Press Staff Writer

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and five Democratic senators, met with the president at the White House late Monday afternoon to discuss the "absolute need for financial reform," Sanders said Tuesday.

Vermont's junior senator said he pushed for a fact-finding effort to identify the root causes of the economic crisis, prosecutions against lawbreakers on Wall Street, new layers of financial regulations and the breakup of major U.S. financial institutions.

"My phone is ringing off the hook," Sanders said he told President Barack Obama during the 45-minute meeting. "People are clearly outraged about the behavior on Wall Street." It's behavior Sanders suspects is criminal.

Sanders also called for financial institutions perceived to be "too big to fail" to be dismantled, listing American International Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. as examples.

"Start breaking them up," he said. "That's what Teddy Roosevelt talked about 100 years ago."

During the meeting, Sanders discussed several ideas with the president:

* Ensuring there is a comprehensive understanding of how last year's financial meltdown began.
* The creation of a Department of Justice task force to explore possible criminal violations committed by financial executives.
* The creation of regulations designed to prevent a repeat of the lingering recession that has dragged the global economy into a substantial slowdown.

Sanders said Obama "had no disagreement" with the general tone of the conversation. "I think the president wants to hold those people accountable," Sanders said.

"We need a thorough investigation to basically gather the facts as to how this crisis happened and to find out who were the players and the individuals making it happen," Sanders said. "We need to go into great detail. Not only into the whole process of deregulation, but who the individuals, in fact, were."

The Justice Department task force would prosecute "anyone who has broken the law," perhaps by financial industry executives who misrepresented the condition of their businesses to shareholders, Sanders said. The task force should determine "what did they know and when did they know it," he said.

Senators Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jim Webb, D-Va., also attended the meeting, Sanders said.

"If someone wants to get involved in risky investments, that's their right. But it's not going to be the taxpayers of this country to bail them out," Sanders said.

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