Bernie Sanders will give a policy speech about banking reform in New York City Tuesday, where he is expected to outline how he will achieve of one his campaign’s main goals of fighting corporate greed.
In his speech, which the Sanders campaign has already released in part, the Democratic presidential candidate will speak bluntly. “To those on Wall Street who may be listening today, let me be very clear,” Sanders is expected to say. “Greed is not good. Wall Street and corporate greed is destroying the fabric of our nation. And, here is a New Year’s Resolution that we will keep: If you do not end your greed we will end it for you.”
Sanders is expected to discuss his support for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, a policy push led by Senators Elizabeth Warren and John McCain to create a firewall between investment banking and commercial banking. His support for the policy differentiates the senator from frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “Let’s be clear: this legislation, introduced by my colleague Senator Elizabeth Warren aims at the heart of the shadow banking system,” Sanders will say.
The Democrat is also expected to discuss his plans to break up the biggest banks. He’s expected to say that he will ask his Treasury Secretary to compile a list of banks and insurance companies that are “Too-Big-To-Fail”—then break them up. In the speech, he’ll call for a banking industry that “is part of the productive economy, making loans at affordable rates to small- and medium-sized businesses so that we create decent-paying jobs.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign, in an attempt to preempt Sanders’ speech Tuesday, has already called for the candidate to endorse Clinton’s Wall Street reform plan. In a statement to Bloomberg, Clinton’s chief financial officer said: “In his speech tomorrow, Senator Sanders should go beyond his existing plans for reforming Wall Street and endorse Hillary Clinton’s tough, comprehensive proposals to rein in risky behavior within the shadow banking sector.”
Last month, Clinton wrote a detailed op-ed in The New York Times outlining her plans to rein in the banking sector. Sanders’ speech today will offer the most detail yet about his plans.
A recent NBC national poll, which surveyed voters between December 28 and January 3, showed Clinton pulling ahead of Sanders by a 17-point margin.
