Sen. Feinstein: If Congress were all women, we would have financial reform by now.
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 1st, 2010 4:40 am by HL
Sen. Feinstein: If Congress were all women, we would have financial reform by now.
On Wednesday, ThinkProgress attended Fortune Magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” dinner honoring accomplished women leaders from around the world. The centerpiece of the evening was a discussion with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). When Fortune Editor at Large Pattie Sellers asked Feinstein about serving as one of the few women in the Senate, Feinstein took a swipe […]
On Wednesday, ThinkProgress attended Fortune Magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” dinner honoring accomplished women leaders from around the world. The centerpiece of the evening was a discussion with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). When Fortune Editor at Large Pattie Sellers asked Feinstein about serving as one of the few women in the Senate, Feinstein took a swipe at her male counterparts:
FEINSTEIN: There are 17 of us [women in the Senate] now. When I came in there were two. It was known as the “Year of the Woman” because a few of us got elected to the Senate. …
SELLERS: So the environment really has changed now that there are 17, and it’s easier? And here you are on regulatory reform…is there going to be this?
FEINSTEIN: Well, I actually think that if we had all women, we would solve the problem. But, I think there will be a bill now. I’m delighted that this impasse has finished, that this debate will move forward, that there will hopefully be substantial amendments and not [inaudible] amendments to incite one side or another, what we call message amendments, but practical amendments to make the bill better. And if that’s the case, I do believe we’ll have a bill.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was sitting at the front of the room and enthusiastically clapped when Feinstein said that women would have solved the financial problem by now. Watch it:
Earlier in the conversation, Feinstein acknowledged Collins and said that she wished all Republicans would be as “reasonable” as she is. This week, Collins decided to part with her Republican colleagues’ intransigence and agreed to begin debate on financial reform legislation.
Boehner takes credit for ideas in health law, then calls for its repeal.
Earlier this year, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took credit for parts of the health care law he opposes and today, during an interview with NPR, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) also highlighted the Republican ideas in the bill, while promising to repeal it: INSKEEP: As you know, Democrats are already pointing to things that are […]
Earlier this year, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took credit for parts of the health care law he opposes and today, during an interview with NPR, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) also highlighted the Republican ideas in the bill, while promising to repeal it:
INSKEEP: As you know, Democrats are already pointing to things that are changing in America because of this bill. They will point to the fact that college seniors, who would have been kicked off their families’ insurance plans when they graduated, will get to stay on. Insurance companies are now saying they’re going to end the practice of “rescission,” where they take, or at least modify…
BOEHNER: Both of those ideas, by the way, came from Republicans, and are part of the common sense ideas that we ought to have in the law.
INSKEEP: Well, are you going to repeal those two specific things?
BOEHNER Uh, what I want to repeal are the other 158 mandates, commissions, boards that set up all the infrastructure for the government to take control of our health care system.
Listen:
Boehner’s refusal to call for a full repeal could cause a rift with the more conservative members of the Republican party. Last week, for instance, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) — who has proposed a bill calling for complete repeal — warned leadership that “if we leave any component of it in there, it has, it’s just become a malignant tumor that’s attacking our liberty and our freedom and it’s diminishing our aspirations and it saps our overall productivity as a nation,” King said. “If we can’t come to that conclusion, then I want some new people to come help me.” Currently, repeal legislation has has no more than 62 co-sponsors in the House and 20 in the Senate.
Cross-posted on The Wonk Room.
