Sen. Franken opposes Treasury Department nominee Antonio Weiss

[n2doc]

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Sunday called on supporters to reject one of President Obama's nominees to the Treasury Department.

Franken criticized nominee Antonio Weiss in no uncertain terms, arguing Obama had nominated the wrong person for the job of Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance.

He argued Weiss would not put the middle class first, and that he was too close to Wall Street.

"Join me in asking the President to withdraw Antonio Weiss’s nomination," Franken wrote in an email to supporters on Sunday, with a link to the petition. "We need a nominee who will put the middle class first."

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http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/228141-franken-touts-petition-denouncing-obama-treasury-nominee

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Great stuff, thanks! nt

[randys1]

2. I agree, democracy at work

[Frosty1]

3. Does anyone have a link to the petition?

[n2doc]

4. I don't have the email, but here is one

from Warren:

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/Obama_warren_weiss

[RiverLover]

5. Thanks!! I'll sign it as well.

President Barack Obama plans to maintain support for Lazard Ltd.’s Antonio Weiss as a nominee to be a Treasury undersecretary, setting up a clash with lawmakers who oppose another banker regulating Wall Street.

The Obama administration will resubmit the 48-year-old as its pick for undersecretary for domestic finance, a White House aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the move hasn’t been publicly announced. The choice comes even after Democratic lawmakers including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren have criticized Weiss’s nomination. Without resubmission to a new Congress that starts in January, the nomination would lapse.

At least seven senators have come out against Weiss, Lazard’s global head of investment banking, finding fault with his Wall Street experience and his work on corporate tax inversions. Warren has said Weiss isn’t qualified because he’s spent much of his career working on international deals.

“Not every person who swoops in through the revolving door should be offered a top job without some serious cross-examination,” she said Dec. 9 in prepared remarks at an event in Washington. “Qualifications matter, and Weiss doesn’t have them.”

Weiss’s nomination has also drawn ire from the Independent Community Bankers of America and from Sheila Bair, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-23/obama-to-keep-pushing-weiss-for-treasury-amid-warren-led-outcry.html

[Frosty1]

6. Thanks

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. Excellent. K&R

[bigwillq]

8. K and R (nt)

[Vattel]

9. Why don't we need a nominee who will put the poor first?

I guess you are progressive if you think that the middle class matters. But if you think the lower class matters, you are crazy.