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Fixing Dodd-Frank From the Bottom Up


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By —— Bio and Archives May 13, 2017

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The fact that the House managed to cobble together the votes needed to pass Obamacare repeal should be a lesson to the House Leadership, which has for too long attempted to legislate from the top down. By giving conservatives like Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) a seat at the table, they managed to pass a bill that many in the media were already pronouncing dead. It is a lesson that did not escape House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). Hensarling is stewarding the passage of Dodd-Frank reform legislation in the House. He crafted a true conservative reform bill that will create jobs, lift job-killing red-tape, and help get our economy moving again. Recent history has demonstrated that for conservatives to achieve victory, the House must pass the most conservative, free market bill possible, knowing that the Senate will surely water the measure down. It does little good to water down a bill in the House only to see it further weakened by the upper chamber. Hensarling, perhaps more so than any other Chairman in the House, understands how the game is played.
The Financial Choice Act, which passed the House Financial Services Committee in early May and will soon be voted on by the full House, protects taxpayers by ending taxpayer bailouts for Wall Street banks, enhancing accountability for Wall Street, and repealing the crony Durbin Amendment, a special interest provision imposed at the behest of Walgreens lobbyists that imposes costly price controls on American consumers. We have more than a half decade of evidence that Dodd-Frank decimated small community banks and credit unions. Its financial rules cost American institutions a total of $24 billion -- 61 million paperwork hours -- to meet the burdens imposed by the bill. In addition to the costs imposed on business, consumers have borne the brunt of provisions like the Durbin Amendment. Free checking, formerly a staple of our banking system, is slowly but surely being eliminated as banks scramble to find revenue that has been lost due to the burdens of the law. Despite these costs, the Elizabeth Warrens of the world view the law as a sort of legislative Ten Commandments. They act like the statute was handed by God to liberal legislators and it cannot be amended or reformed. Even suggesting reform sets off cackles and screams, as well as accusations that you are carrying water for Wall Street. Hensarling is having none of this. His committee passed the reform measure and hopefully Speaker Paul Ryan will soon schedule the measure for full passage in later this month. There is little doubt that the Senate will try to make changes. But Hensarling and his Committee has presented the House with a comprehensive conservative reform measure. Now we can only hope that other Chairmen are watching and learning how to legislate like the man from Texas.



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Articles with Katy Grimes

Megan Barth, is co-chair of RedWave America PAC and The Media Equality Project. She serves as national spokeswoman for MediaEqualizer.com, the leading online watchdog for the intersection of Media, Technology and Government.  .


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