House Republicans Pass the Most Dangerous Wall Street Deregulation Bill Ever

The GOP is trying to undo the law Obama passed to prevent another 2008 financial crisis.

From the earliest days of his campaign, Donald Trump has opposed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Obama-era financial reform law passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has characterized it as a “disaster” that has created obstacles for the financial sector and hurt growth. In April, he repeated his promise to gut the existing law.

“We’re doing a major elimination of the horrendous Dodd-Frank regulations, keeping some, obviously, but getting rid of many,” Trump said.

The Republican Congress shares Trump’s dislike of Dodd-Frank and this week, the House plans to vote on the Financial CHOICE Act, a Dodd-Frank overhaul bill that will, as promised.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), takes aim at some of Dodd-Frank’s main achievements: It guts rules intended to protect mortgage borrowers and military veterans, and restrict predatory lenders. It also weakens the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability to oversee and enforce consumer protection laws against banks around the country—upending a mix of powers that have helped the CFPB recover nearly $12 billion for 29 million individuals since opening its doors in July 2011.

During an April hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren gave a fiery speech criticizing the measure. “This is a 589-page insult to working families,” she said. “It would unleash the same behavior on Wall Street that led to the 2008 financial crisis.”

“With this bill, fraud becomes easier, consumer abuse becomes easier, reckless lending becomes easier, speculation becomes easier,” says Carter Dougherty, communications director of the left-leaning Americans for Financial Reform. “The chances of another financial crisis rise immeasurably with the passage of this legislation.”

Here’s a glimpse of some of the main ways the Financial CHOICE Act could ease regulation of Wall Street and hurt consumers:

The bill guts the CFPB’s power to crack down on banks

Decimates regulation of predatory lenders

Reverses efforts to curb the practice of forced arbitration

Gives the White House control over consumer protection

Repeals the Volcker Rule

Repeals the fiduciary rule requiring retirement fund managers to work in their client’s best interests

Eases stress tests on big banks

Repealing the government’s ability to restructure a failing financial institution

Raising debit and credit card fees

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