Sanders opposes ‘cromnibus’ over Wall Street rider

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he plans to vote against the $1.1 trillion government funding bill unless a provision is removed that changes the Wall Street reform law.

Sanders, a self-described socialist who is eyeing a run for the White House in 2016, said he objects to a number of provisions in the bill that cater towards big business and the financial sector. That includes a rider that would roll back part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

{mosads}“Wall Street’s greed and illegal behavior drove us into the worst recession since the Great Depression, impacting millions of people,” he said on MSNBC’s “The Rundown.”

“The idea that we deregulate again, we allow these guys to make risky investments with taxpayers supported money, it’s absolutely insane. It just speaks to the power of Wall Street.”

Lawmakers are facing a deadline of midnight Friday for avoiding a government shutdown. The House is set to vote on the “cromnibus” Thursday afternoon.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has acknowledged he will need Democratic support to get the bill through the House.

Sanders said that he’s also worried about a piece of the bill that raises the private political contribution limit almost tenfold to about $1.6 million.

He said that, although he supports some parts of the bill, the legislation as a whole “puts too much money into the military and not enough into rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure [and] making it easier for young people to go to college or repay their debts.”