As we watch Trumpcare 3.0 die its umpteenth death and Democrats take a victory lap on the spending deal, another bill is flying under the radar that the GOP might actually be able to pass. Jeff Stein writes:
Republicans on the House Finance Committee have hammered away at a mammoth 593-page bill called the Financial Choice Act that the bulk of the GOP caucus is expected to get behind. The committee already moved the bill to the “markup” phase on Wednesday. [...]
Spearheaded by House Finance Chair Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the Choice Act begins by throwing out much of the banking oversight passed under President Obama’s administration, mostly through the Dodd-Frank act signed in 2010. But it goes further than that, rolling back oversight in a way that could dramatically exacerbate the likelihood of another financial crisis, according to experts in financial regulation. [...]
But the bill looks to some like a wish list of what advocates and lobbyists for the banking industry have demanded. Among the provisions that have most alarmed progressives on the Hill is its proposed elimination of the “Volcker Rule,” which prevents commercial banks from making certain kinds of speculative and risky trades.
The bill would also completely declaw the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau by giving Congress its purse strings and removing its rulemaking authority.
Republicans are busy painting Dodd-Frank as the enemy of financial growth—this despite President Obama presiding over a record-long period of job growth during his tenure.
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters had a different take on the latest GOP deregulation effort.
“It’s an invitation for another Great Recession or worse,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
‘Cuz the first one wasn’t fun enough for Republicans.