Old Bat Who Hollers “Impeach 45, Impeach 45” Melts Down

Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, consistently advocates government direction of and support for industry. In 2008 she threatened to nationalize the U.S. oil industry. She told oil executives that if gasoline prices went higher she would "be about basically taking over and the government running all of your companies."

She consistently votes for state-industry entanglement—subsidies and regulation. She supported the Wall Street bailout. She supported the mortgage bailout in mid-2008. She supported the auto bailout. She led the fight in 2012 to extend a bank-bailout program called "Transaction Account Guarantee."

In Maxine Waters’ economy, big business rows the boat while government steers.

So, of course she supports the Export-Import Bank, which uses taxpayer money to backstop Wall Street loans to foreign buyers buying Boeing jets and other U.S. goods. It’s another way for government to get business to do what politicians want—in this case, sell goods overseas. 

Waters has a murky history of blending private profit and public power. During the late-2008 financial crisis, she set up a meeting to discuss securing bailout funds for "minority-owned banks." The only bank discussed was OneUnited, where her husband was formerly a board member and in which he still owned stock. OneUnited later got $12 million in bailout funds.

An ethics investigation never found clear evidence that Waters violated House rules, but it did reprimand her chief of staff Mikael Moore, who was also her grandson, for not steering clear of the conflict of interests.

Last month, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), with the support of Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), introduced legislation to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2013 “Indirection Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act” Bulletin. 

The House of Representatives passed a Senate resolution that would repeal an Obama era rule under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) aimed at preventing discrimination at automobile dealerships, the 16th time the House used the Congressional Review Act to overturn an Obama administration rule. Members also passed seven small business-related measures. 

Republicans have made the rollback of government regulations a high priority. In this case, they say the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made a backdoor attempt to regulate how auto dealers negotiate loan terms with their customers, even though Congress explicitly exempted auto dealers from the agency's oversight.

Auto dealers often facilitate financing through a third-party lender. In some cases, the dealer will charge the customer an interest rate that is higher than what the third party agreed to charge. The lender then shares part or all of the extra profit with the dealer.

The CFPB said the practice led to some minority customers paying higher interest rates than similar white borrowers. In its guidance, it highlighted the potential liability auto lenders face from discriminatory "dealer mark-ups" and how that can be avoided.

Critics, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Auto Dealers Association, said that they abhor discrimination but that the consumer bureau provided little concrete evidence of the problems that its guidance was intended to address. The powerful business groups called on House lawmakers to join the Senate in voting to block the agency's guidance. With the House vote of 234-175, the measure goes to President Donald Trump for his signature.

So far, Republicans in Congress and Trump have repealed 15 rules designed to provide health, consumer and environmental protections.

Most of the rules were finalized during the Obama administration's final months. Republicans say their regulatory rollbacks are rescuing businesses from burdensome government rules.

But the vote over auto lending went to a new level because lawmakers voted to rescind guidance issued five years ago. Such guidance conveys to the public how regulators interpret existing law and what steps industries should take to comply.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), said that his family has sold thousands of cars over the years and that his experience shows that auto dealers are trying to help people get affordable transportation. He said someone can't be in business for 65 years doing it the wrong way.

"How in the world can you reduce this down to discrimination?" asked Kelly.

Those words ignited the ire of the perpetually outraged “Mad Max” Waters.  Witness for yourself: