Politics & Government

VIDEO: Sen. Warren Grills Bank Regulators in First Committee Meeting

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: "Why aren't more bank executives in jail?"

Bank regulators got a sense of how things will be different on Capitol Hill now that Massachusetts' first female senator Elizabeth Warren sits on the the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees their agencies.

Seven federal regulators from agencies like the Security and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission testified in front of the Committee, which oversees Wall Street. Lawmakers pressed the witnesses on their efforts to crack down on these institutions following the financial crisis, reported MSNBC

When given the floor, Warren cut straight to the point by asking the one lingering question on many minds, reported MSNBC.

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“The question I really want to ask is about how tough you are–about how much leverage you really have,” Warren began. “Tell me a little bit about the last few times you’ve taken the biggest financial institutions on Wall Street all the way to trial.”

Editor's Note: Video of Warren's questioning of the panel is attached to this report.

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Not satisfied with the lack of an answer from the panel, on when was the last trial, Warren questioned why ordinary people often faced prosecution while banks do not.

"There are district attorneys and United States attorneys out there every day squeezing ordinary citizens on sometimes very thin grounds and taking them to trial in order to make an example, as they put it. I'm really concerned that 'too big to fail' has become 'too big for trial," said Warren.

 

 

 

 

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