HR10 Committee Passage
May 4, 2017
House Committee Passes ‘Wrong Choice’ for Wall Street
Statement of Bartlett Naylor, Financial Policy Advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division
Note: Today, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act, a major financial deregulation measure, by a 34-26 vote along party lines. All Republicans voted in favor; all Democrats opposed it.
This massive insult to Americans would threaten financial stability, open security markets to scam artists while closing the courthouse door to their victims. It also would eliminate shareholder resolutions, hobble Wall Street regulators, and supercharge Wall Street bonuses and much more.
Over three days – twice into the late evening – Democrats on the committee attempted to introduce facts into the debate over this bill. The financial crash of 2008 impacted Republicans as well as Democrats. But the bill, authored by committee Chair U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), ignores this fact. It also ignores the reality that since 2010’s passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, our economy has grown, the stock market has soared, unemployment has dropped, and bank loans and bank profits have surged.
If even a fraction of this 600-page libertarian fantasy becomes law, Americans would confront a financial sector with fewer safeguards than existed in 2008.
Public Citizen salutes the committee Democrats. We ask Republicans to return to planet Earth.
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