Sen. Scott Brown writes off finance-reform bill

Now we learn that in the Conference Committee the House represented by Rep Frank (D-MA) was able to add a $19 billion bank tax to the bill. Where was Sen Dodd (D-CT)when this happened? Obviously he didn't object too much as it ended up in the Conference Committee bill.

The letter that Sen Scott Brown (R-MA) sent explains his stance on this bill:

In a letter to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), head of the Senate banking committee, Brown said a similar tax wasn’t in the bill he voted for in the Senate last month.

“I am writing you to express my strong opposition to the $19 billion bank tax that was included in the financial reform bill during the conference committee,” Brown wrote in his letter. “This tax was not in the Senate version of the bill, which I supported. If the final version of this bill contains these higher taxes, I will not support it.”

We applaud Scott Brown for standing up to Senator Dodd and the others in the Senate who agree with the addition of the $19B tax. Scott Brown is a breath of fresh air from Massachusetts who actually opposes no new taxes.

Sen. Scott Brown writes off finance-reform bill

By Jay Fitzgerald
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown vowed today he won’t vote for the massive financial-reform package unless a proposed $19 billion bank tax is yanked out of it.

Brown, who last month provided a key vote that allowed a similar reform bill to get out of the Senate, said he simply can’t support a tax increase that might be passed along to consumers.

(snip)

Last week, Brown angrily lashed out at the $19 billion tax, after it was unveiled by conference-committee negotiators. But he stopped short of saying he’d oppose the bill.

Today, he bluntly made his stand clear: No support if the tax remains.

Source: Boston Herald