Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called out dozens of her colleagues for voting to begin debate on legislation that makes it easier for banks to buy state and local bonds. Sixteen of those approving colleagues were Democrats, as Warren noted in a Facebook post.
Barney Frank, a former representative and fellow Massachusetts Democrat, is none too happy that Warren is eating some of their own.
Some Democrats are also concerned. Barney Frank, who helped write Dodd Frank when he was representing Massachusetts in Congress, said he was surprised to see Warren call out the Democrats voting for the bill by name and thinks she made a “mistake” doing so.
“These are people who voted against [Supreme Court Justice Neil] Gorsuch, most of them,” Frank said of the Democrats garnering Warren’s ire. “They support abortion rights, LGBT rights, most of them are strong on the climate change issue. To let a fairly small difference over one issue provoke an angry fight is self-defeating for our fight to win back the Congress.”
Frank said he believes naming the Democrats sent the message Warren wanted to “punish” Democrats who backed the changes." (Boston Globe)
Political analysts may warn Warren against stoking the Democratic civil war, especially as new polling reveals her party is in some serious trouble ahead of the midterms.
Someone on Warren's team may have gotten the memo, because her newest Facebook post indicates that the senator just made $5,000 donations to every state party in the country.
"I want a Democratic Party strong enough to compete for every vote, in every race, at every level, in every state, in every election – and I’m willing to do my part to help make that happen," she wrote.
Still, as The Boston Globe reminds us, many of those 16 Democrats Warren singled out are facing "daunting reelection fights this year." Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), for instance, are vulnerable in states that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016.
(H/T America Rising)