In another indication of how President-elect Donald Trump plans to pursue financial reform, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, is reportedly being considered to serve as Secretary of the Treasury in the Trump administration.
The news comes courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, which reports that Trump’s transition team is “far from making final recommendations” to the President-elect about cabinet positions, but notes that Hensarling is among those being considered for the Treasury.
Some are already predicting that one of Trump’s first actions as president will be to take a hammer to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
In fact, Trump’s transition team stated Thursday that “dismantling” Dodd-Frank is one of its main priorities.
Hensarling is already using his position in Congress to push for the replacement of Dodd-Frank with the Republican-crafted Financial CHOICE act, which he introduced earlier this year.
The Financial CHOICE Act would replace Dodd-Frank with a “pro-growth, pro-consumer” alternative that would “end taxpayer-funded bailouts of large financial institutions; relieve banks that elect to be strongly capitalized from ‘growth-strangling regulation’ that slows the economy and harms consumers; and impose tougher penalties on those who commit fraud as well as greater accountability on Washington regulators.
Hensarling told the Wall Street Journal that he feels he’s currently in a “pretty good position” to affect change, but said that he would “certainly have the discussion” if the Trump team asked him to serve at the Treasury.
As Christopher Whalen, the senior managing director of Kroll Bond Rating Agency, noted earlier Thursday, Hensarling is “very close” with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, which could provide an inside track for Hensarling.
Throughout his time as the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Hensarling has often been outspoken on several issues germane to the housing industry, namely the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Dodd-Frank, and GSE reform.
Any time the director of the CFPB appeared before the House Financial Services Committee, he was sure to get an earful from Hensarling.
Hensarling also authored the PATH Act, which would have would down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but failed in Congress in 2014.
