While the government may have voted itself some $1.1 trillion to spend until the end of fiscal 2015, the biggest contention in the Cromnibus, or as it is also known, the Cronybus, vote which passed the House with the narrowest of margins on Thursday night, was the swaps push-out provision – drafted by Citigroup – and which, as we detailed yesterday, could put American taxpayers on the hook for up to $303 trillion in gross notional derivatives as a result of “siloing” swaps, and their associated risks, in FDIC-insured operating companies.
We stated that “we now know with certainty that to a clear majority in Congress – one consisting of republicans and democrats – the future viability of Wall Street is far more important than the well-being of their constituents.”
The only question is what was the (s)quid for this particular quo. Now thanks to an analysis by the WaPo, we have the answer.
First, it should come as no surprise that Republicans would be willing to vote for a bill that seeks to indemnify Wall Street from future failure. After all, Wall Street’s proximity to the GOP, and vice versa, is hardly a contentious issue. And yet, it was “only” 162 republicans who voted for the Cromnibus – some 67 voted against. Which means that whipping the 57 democrats who also voted for the Bill to get the crucial 218 passing votes was far more critical to assure passage of the swaps push out provision.
The map below shows the final geographic breakdown of the vote by party:
This post was published at Zero Hedge on 12/13/2014.
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