In response to the House of Representatives voting to undo the key provisions of Dodd-Frank, DSCC Spokesman David Bergstein issued the following statement:
“By voting to unravel key provisions of Wall Street reform, Republicans are trying to go back to bailouts and ‘too big to fail’, and letting big banks off the hook for the types of practices that made them millions and left consumers in ruins. Americans deserve financial security, and today Republicans voted – over broad opposition – to repeal rules that made our banking system ‘more robust and resilient than before the financial crisis.’ Any Republican thinking of running for the Senate in 2018 will have to answer for this vote and explain why they put the interests of Wall Street banks above middle class taxpayers.”
Here are the House members weighing Senate campaigns who voted with the banks instead of with their constituents:
Background:
Associated Press: House GOP on track to undoing post-2008 financial rules
“House Republicans headed toward a vote Thursday on dismantling sweeping financial rules established under President Barack Obama that were designed to head off economic meltdowns like the one that caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs and homes during the Great Recession.
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[Democrats] argue that Dodd-Frank, which became law after the 2008-09 economic meltdown, has brought financial security to millions of Americans and that undoing it will encourage the kind of risky lending practices that invites future economic shocks.
They also oppose provisions that would strip away a consumer protection agency’s authority to go after companies that it determines have participated in unfair or deceptive practices in their financial products and services. The agency has returned $29 billion to 12 million consumers who were victims of deceptive marketing, discriminatory lending or other financial wrongdoing.
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The bill also repeals a prohibition knows as the Volcker Rule that bans banks from engaging in propriety trading or forming certain relationships with private equity funds. It rolls back a proposed rule that investment advisers put their clients’ interests ahead of their own. Also, financial regulators would lose the power to dismantle a failing financial firm and sell off the pieces if they decide its collapse could endanger the system. Instead, the bill would create a new chapter in the bankruptcy code that failing banks would enter.
In a report on regulatory reform, the Federal Reserve described the U.S. banking system as much more robust and resilient than it was before the financial crisis. Stronger capital requirements have improved their capacity to absorb economic shocks. But in the push to overhaul Dodd-Frank, Republicans are arguing that the biggest banks have only gotten bigger while local banks and credit unions are dwindling away.”
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