Today, the House of Representatives voted on the Financial CHOICE Act (CHOICE), House Republicans’ disastrous proposal to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
It seems that House Republicans have already forgotten the wreckage left by the Great Recession and 2008 financial crisis —when 8.7 million Americans lost their jobs, 3.8 million homes were foreclosed on, and households lost $17 trillion in wealth.
The Republican bill risks repeating this disaster by rolling back a host of prudential and consumer financial regulations and gutting the authority of independent financial regulators. In particular, this bill will:
- Eliminate effective tools and policies to prevent the next financial crisis;
- Subject independent financial regulators to politicized congressional processes; and
- Render the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ineffective in protecting consumers from predatory lending and banking practices.
These among many other provisions within the Financial CHOICE Act will expose the American economy to reckless behavior, financial fraud, and systemic risk that can lead to a large-scale financial crisis and recession. If the CHOICE Act were to become law, financial crises would become more common, Main Street investors and savers would have fewer protections, and financial consumers would lose a valuable advocate.
There’s no question that the Financial CHOICE Act is the wrong choice for America.
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