Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticized the Obama administration for being soft on “corporate criminals” in a Friday column for The New York Times.
“The failure to adequately punish big corporations or their executives when they break the law undermines the foundations of this great country,” Warren wrote. “Justice cannot mean a prison sentence for a teenager who steals a car, but nothing more than a sideways glance at a CEO who quietly engineers the theft of billions of dollars.”
Warren said the administration’s lack of enforcement demeans “our principles,” but conceded “weak enforcement is sometimes a result of limited authority.”
While President Barack Obama might not be directly accountable for individual decisions, Warren wrote, he nominates agency heads who are accountable, citing the Environmental Protection Agency as a positive example and the Securities and Exchange Commission as a negative one.
“Each of these government divisions is headed by someone nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The lesson is clear: Personnel is policy,” she concluded.
