Republican legislation to roll back the Dodd-Frank reform act is moving closer to clearing a final hurdle before being signed into law by President Donald Trump.
CNBC reported that the House will vote on the legislation on Tuesday. It passed the Senate in March by a 67-31 vote with support from more than a dozen Democrats.
“The bill’s enactment would mark the first time policymakers have agreed to ease rules on banks since the 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and hand Trump another victory in his effort to slash rules on the private sector,” Reuters said.
Among other things, the bill would raise the threshold at which banks are considered systemically risky and subject to stricter oversight to $250 billion from $50 billion. It also exempts banks with less than $10 billion in assets from rules banning proprietary trading and exempts smaller banks from several other post-crisis regulations.
“This bill represents the best and most realistic opportunity to enact meaningful regulatory relief for community banks in the 115th Congress,” the leaders of 43 state community banking associations said in a letter to House leaders.
The legislation had been stalled for months, with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) pushing to add several dozen measures meant to boost small business lending and investment.
House Republican leaders agreed last week to move on the legislation without any amendment after the Senate said it would take up those additional bills separately.
“Proponents of the bill argue it eases rules for smaller banks that were not central to the last crisis, freeing them up to offer additional loans,” Reuters reported. “But critics, including most congressional Democrats, oppose easing any rules on banks, warning it increases the risks of future bank failures.”
Hensarling had sponsored a bill that would roll back more Dodd-Frank rules and fundamentally alter the structure of the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau. “With Hensarling heading into retirement at the end of the current term, it seems unlikely that his legislation will ever reach the president’s desk,” Reason said.
