House Votes on Financial CHOICE Act Tomorrow

Blog posted On June 06, 2017

The Financial CHOICE Act will go before the House of Representatives for a debate and vote on Wednesday.  The Act, said to be the leading option to replace the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was passed by the Financial Services Committee in May in a partisan vote. 

The original Financial CHOICE (Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs) Act was introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling(R-TX), last year, as an alternative to Dodd-Frank.  In April, Hensarling released a revised version of the act, Financial CHOICE Act 2.0, in response to President Trump’s executive order announcing the beginning of scaling back Dodd-Frank regulations.

The act is expected to pass in the Republican-majority House of Representatives.  House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) says the bill will, “revive our community banks […] and improve access to credit and capital.”  Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) also spoke favorably about the act, calling it “a jobs bill for Main Street.” 

According to Congressional Budget Office, the CHOICE act will cut direct spending by $30.1 billion and revenues will be reduced by $5.9 billion.  Once the act moves to the Senate however, it is expected to face challenges in the Senate.  Members of the Senate Banking Committee have expressed interest in another bill that is more focused on community bank relief than sweeping changes to Dodd-Frank. 

Sources: The Hill, HousingWire, Reuters