House Republicans Are Trying To Slip Bank Deregulation Into Highway Bill
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans are angling to slip two pieces of bank deregulation into a major highway funding bill that is expected to pass with broad bipartisan support.
According to a source familiar with discussions, Republicans are trying to remove tighter regulations that were imposed on banks with at least $50 billion in assets after the 2008 financial crisis. They also are aiming to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- a brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), which has worked to prevent big banks, payday lenders and other financial firms from ripping off households.
The GOP doesn't need Democratic votes to pass the broader highway bill -- it has a wide majority in the House. But while securing federal highway funding is a top Democratic priority, controversial riders like the bank deregulation items may prompt a veto from President Barack Obama that would be impossible to override without Democratic aid. The riders could also serve as a potential test of new House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his willingness to use major legislation to ram through conservative priorities.
The move to weaken the CFPB is deeply unpopular with Democrats. The legislation, authored by Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), would eliminate the bureau's single director and replace it with a bipartisan panel of commissioners. Since Republicans are generally hostile to financial regulation, the result would be to hamstring the agency with partisan disputes under Democratic presidents, without empowering Democrats to secure tighter rule-making and enforcement under Republican presidents.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bank-deregulation-highway-bill_5637f0e6e4b079a43c045eeb?0l8lg14i
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