Chamber to spend another $3M in battle over financial reform

The Chamber of Commerce is ramping up its campaign on financial reform and plans to spend another $3 million in coming efforts.

The Chamber said it spent $3 million already on its financial campaign, which has focused largely against efforts to set up a new consumer financial protection office.

The Chamber is targeting six states now for its advocacy efforts: Tennessee, Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota, Indiana and Virginia.

The Chamber has been opposed to setting up a consumer financial protection office, or agency, that would have broad scope to write rules and enforce them on an array of banks and non-bank financial firms. Such an agency, the Chamber argues, would restrict the flow of credit across the country and limit the potential for economic growth.

Among its other main aims is an exemption for "end users" of financial derivatives so that companies are not limited in using the instruments to hedge commercial risks.