Democratic House committee ranking members are working to make sure their respective committees don’t glaze over the Financial CHOICE Act, which is on its way to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
The Republican-led Financial CHOICE Act, H.R. 10, passed through the Financial Services Committee earlier this month, with all 34 Republicans voting aye and all 26 Democrats voting nay.
Now that the leading act to replace Dodd-Frank is on its way to the full House several Democrats on other committees are urging their chairman to not simply waive their jurisdiction over H.R. 10, which Democrats dub the Wrong Choice Act.
Up until this point, Democrats on the Financial Services Committee have already worked in overdrive to block the bill, including delaying the scheduled mark up for more than three hours by forcing committee staff to begin reading aloud the 591-page bill.
But despite all the political theatre, the CHOICE passed out of the committee.
This moved the work to block the bill to the ranking members of other committees. Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Va., of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Ranking Member John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., of the House Committee on the Judiciary each sent a letter to their respective chairmen to allow their committees to debate and vote on the legislation given its wide ranging effects on the American economy.
Here are snippets from each of the letters, along with a links to view the whole letter.
Ranking member Cummings, for the full letter click here.
H.R. 10 would gut the progress we have made and place our economy at greater risk of another crisis. It would increase risks that taxpayers may have to bail out banks and financial firms yet again. As well as leave consumers vulnerable to the kinds of abusive and predatory practices that hurt so many American families before and during the Great Recession.
Ranking member Scott, for the full letter click here.
I urge you to promptly communicate our Committee’s request for sequential referral of H.R. 10 in order to protect and uphold the historic jurisdiction of our Committee. Irrespective of what one may think of the substance f H.R. 10, the Committee on Education and Workforce should assert its rightful jurisdictional claim on matters that significantly impact the retirement savings of hard working Americans and student loan services.
Ranking member Conyers, for the full letter click here.
I am writing to urge the Committee not to waive its jurisdiction over H.R. 10, the “Financial Choice Act of 2017.”
H.R. 10 is a sprawling piece of legislation that would destroy key financial regulations and consumer protections put in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.