As the fate of the “Cromnibus” hung in the balance on Thursday night, it was reported that widely-reviled JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon personally phoned Members of Congress to urge them to support the bill and the Trojan Horse deregulation it contains.
Seventeen of those 56 House Democrats who answered the call–either literally or figuratively–were among party congresspeople to receive the twenty largest donations from Dimon’s bank during the last election cycle. Seven lawmakers changing their votes from “aye” to “nay” could have killed the bill.
Of those seventeen beneficiaries of JP Morgan’s largesse, eleven were also among the House Democrats who received the twenty largest donations from Citigroup during the 2014 election cycle. The bank’s lobbyists, Mother Jones reported last year, wrote the controversial provision close to Dimon’s heart. A total of 16 House Dems who received the twenty largest gifts from Citigroup voted for the legislation.
The legislation is being called the “Cromnibus” because it contains annual year-end financing measures, but is also a short-term “continuing resolution” aimed at averting a government shutdown.
It also contains two disputed riders not related to government funding. One would allow individual donors, during congressional election cycles, to give up to ten times more money to three national party committees. The section that earned the bill particularly vociferous Wall Street supporters, however, is one that would repeal a section of Dodd-Frank financial reform that currently prevents banks from trading derivatives with retail savings insured by the federal government.
JP Morgan and Citigroup gave a combined $420,150 to the aforementioned 29 Representatives through individual donations and political actions committees. Over 75 percent of them voted for the Cromnibus. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), the Congressman who received the most from both “Too Big To Fail” firms–combined and individually–and the fifth highest ranking house Democrat, was given $65,850. The representatives who received the twentieth largest donations from JP Morgan and Citibank–Reps. Pete Gallego (D-Texas) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.)–respectively received $10,000 and $6,500. All three lawmakers voted for the legislation in the affirmative.
Click here to see the House roll call.
The Democratic Congresspeople to receive the largest donations from JP Morgan and Citigroup can be found here and here, courtesy of the Center for Responsive Politics.
Sam Sacks contributed to this story.
