Trump praises House vote to dismantle Dodd-Frank

President Trump on Friday praised the House’s passage of a sweeping bill to strip much of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law in a celebratory tweet.
“Congratulations to [House Financial Services Committee Chairman] Jeb Hensarling [R-Texas] & Republicans on successful House vote to repeal major parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law,” Trump tweeted. “GROWTH!”
Congratulations to Jeb Hensarling & Republicans on successful House vote to repeal major parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law. GROWTH!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017
The House on Thursday passed the Financial Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs (CHOICE) Act, a bill that replaces much of the Dodd-Frank post-2008 crisis financial regulations. The bill, sponsored by Hensarling, passed 233 to 186, with all but one Republican, Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.), backing it and every Democrat opposing it.
Trump promised during his campaign to “dismantle” Dodd-Frank, but never specified how he would want to change or amend the law. Republicans have long been opposed to the Obama-era law and say that it stifles business growth by drowning banks in red tape.
{mosads}Hensarling, the Financial Services Committee chairman since 2013, has been the lead architect of the GOP’s efforts to strip Dodd-Frank regulations. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and GOP leaders touted the bill before Thursday’s vote. Ryan, a longtime Hensarling ally, has called the CHOICE Act “the crown jewel” of the GOP deregulation agenda.
The White House was less effusive, asking the House on Tuesday to pass the CHOICE Act but to work with the Senate on changes that could earn enough support to overcome a Democratic filibuster. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) praised the CHOICE Act’s passage but isn’t expected to try to pass it through the upper chamber.
The CHOICE Act is the most ambitious Republican effort to roll back parts of the law fiercely defended by Democrats under former President Barack Obama. It would give banks that reach certain cash thresholds an off-ramp from Dodd-Frank, reduce the frequency of federal stress tests and restrain oversight powers of several federal agencies that the 2010 law expanded.
Hensarling’s bill would also eliminate orderly liquidation authority — the process through which the federal government takes over and dismantles a major bank before it collapses — and place strict limits on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The CHOICE Act would turn the CFPB, which Republicans consider abusive and unaccountable, into the Consumer Law Enforcement Agency. It would no longer control its own budget, its director would be appointed by the president, and it would lose its authority to crack down on “unfair, abusive and deceptive practices.”
— Updated at 10:58 a.m.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.