US House votes to roll back financial rules

washington — The Republicanled House has moved closer to fulfilling President Donald Trump’s goal of doing “a big number” on Dodd-Frank, the landmark banking law created after the 2008 economic crisis that was designed to prevent future meltdowns.

But the effort will likely require some major changes to bring about Democratic support in the Senate. Such support was missing entirely when the House voted 233-186 Thursday for a bill that would undo much of Dodd-Frank. House Republicans recognise the uphill climb, but were happy to chalk up a victory.

“Our families, small businesses and communities have been desperate for this change for years,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority whip.

House passage was widely expected. Senators have said they’ll spend the next few months trying to find common ground on legislation designed to boost the economy. Potential areas for compromise include changes to how much capital banks must maintain and decreasing the paperwork burden for small lenders.

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California urged senators not to take up the House bill.

“They are setting the stage for Wall Street to run amok and cause another financial crisis,” Waters said. The overhaul bill targets the heart of the DoddFrank law’s restrictions on banks by offering a trade-off: Banks could qualify for most of the regulatory relief in the bill so long as they meet a strict requirement for building capital to cover unexpected big losses.

Democrats defended the Dodd-Frank law, saying it has meant financial security for millions of people and that undoing it would encourage the kind of risky lending practices that invite future economic shocks.

They also oppose efforts to sharply curtail a consumer protection agency’s power to pursue companies that it determines have participated in unfair or deceptive practices in their financial products and services. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has returned $29 billion to 12 million consumers who were victims of deceptive marketing, discriminatory lending or other financial wrongdoing.

“All we’re doing is spending our time taking away protections for the American people and their futures. Have we learned nothing?” asked Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. Several Democratic lawmakers insisted they were willing to make some changes to DoddFrank, but that the Republican bill went much too far.

“The bottom line is we put an end to the Wild West of Wall Street, and were on a nice, steady playing field,” said Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass. “We should be able to adjust it, but we should not throw it out.” — AP