Somebody's punching very far above his weight class these days.

Senior House Financial Services Committee member, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) told a conference of bankers Wednesday morning that they needed to "find a way to neuter" Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to Politico. Luetkemeyer was at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington when he made the remark, also calling Warren "the Darth Vader of the financial services world."

Besides having a lovely way with a phrase, the Congresscritter is also a big old 'ho for the financial services industry. It's pronounced "LOOT-ke-meyer," emphasis on the "loot."

According to Allied Progress, Luetkemeyer is an old friend to the banking and predatory lending industry, receiving more than $1 million in campaign donations from the industry. He's also scored more than $63,000 from predatory payday lenders which Senator Warren sought to put out of business with a bill she proposed in 2014 that would replace them with the United States Post Office. Nearly one in ten service members end up taking out loans from these sketchy lenders with high interest rates and end up crushed under the weight of debt…Luetkemeyer sponsored HR 766 last year, a bill that would close a Department of Justice (DOJ) effort that targets unscrupulous lending practices. In 2012, he proposed another bill that would weaken oversight of payday lenders by enabling them to skirt the regulatory authority of Warren's previous project, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state laws that have just as much oversight or stronger.

I'm sure it's a comfort to Rep. Luetkemeyer's constituents that he is so cozy with the people he's tasked with overseeing. I have no doubt that Senator Professor Warren will laugh this off, but the knives are definitely out.

Headshot of Charles P. Pierce
Charles P. Pierce

Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.