House votes to roll back post-2008 financial rules
- by Shane Henry
- in Economy
- — Jun 21, 2017
On Thursday of this week, the U.S. House of Representatives took a step toward dismantling the Dodd-Frank Act that put into place regulations on the banking and financial services industries following the financial crisis of 2007-2008.
The bill passed the House of Representatives along party lines 233-186.
Democratic lawmakers are overwhelmingly opposed to the bill, which also faces major obstacles in the Senate.
The House voted Thursday in favor of a bill created to roll back key regulations over the banking industry implemented in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
But big banks are not fans of the bill raising the minimum percentage on assets they should hold as capital in order to avoid stricter federal oversight.
Among the most significant provisions are measures that allow banks to escape heightened regulatory requirements and cut stress tests back from their current annual schedule, while the bill also eviscerates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
"Today, House Republicans are pushing a risky Wall Street-first - Wall Street-first, that's who they are - bill that would drag us back to the days of the Great Recession", House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference.
The Financial Choice Act would also repeal the Volcker Rule, which forbids banks from making certain types of bets on investments.
President Trump has said bank regulators went too far after the financial crisis in cracking down on lending practices, creating an environment that has made it hard for businesses and consumers to get loans.
"It is bad for consumers, it is bad for investors, and it's bad for the stability of the American economy - which is bad for all of us", said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform.
Big financial firms favor the House bill's removal of the retirement account rule, commonly named fiduciary rule, which forces brokers to put customer interest before their own.
Republicans have chafed at the existence of Dodd-Frank since it passed in 2010. Instead, the Senate is more interested in a broad-based bipartisan bill that focuses on economic growth and could include some financial regulation reform, NBC News has reported.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the "Financial CHOICE Act" will reduce the federal deficit by $33.6 billion through 2027.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, said Dodd-Frank ended up being a series of broken promises.
In addition, the legislation reins in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to empower all Americans to achieve financial independence.
"The big banks are bigger, the small banks are fewer", Hensarling said.
