House committee to debate Dodd-Frank alternative

The House Financial Services Committee will debate the Financial CHOICE Act – the Republican alternative to Dodd-Frank – on Tuesday

The House Financial Services Committee will begin meeting on Tuesday to debate the Financial CHOICE Act, the Republican alternative to Dodd-Frank, according to a news release.

According to committee Republicans, the new legislation will curb what they feel are the failings of the Dodd-Frank Act. Many Republicans say Dodd-Frank’s regulatory framework is so overwhelming that it strangles small business and gives government agencies too much power and not enough oversight. Indeed, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) once said Dodd-Frank should be called “the Obama Financial Control Law” and that the act amounted to “regulatory waterboarding.”

“Only Washington would claim Dodd-Frank is ‘Wall Street reform,’” Hensarling said in July, on the anniversary of the controversial law’s passage. “Dodd-Frank includes a taxpayer-funded bailout scheme for banks designated ‘too big to fail.’ It gives big banks an advantage over small ones that can’t keep up with the size, cost and complexity of all its regulations. Instead of ending ‘too big to fail,’ Dodd-Frank has created ‘too small to succeed.’” 

Hensarling and other committee Republicans say that the Financial CHOICE Act will correct Dodd-Frank’s failings, easing regulations on small business while still protecting consumers. According to Hensarling, the Financial CHOICE Act will end taxpayer-funded bailouts of large financial institutions. The act will also ease regulation for banks that elect to be strongly capitalized, according to a committee news release.


Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) announced today that the Committee will begin meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 13 to debate the Financial CHOICE Act, consider possible amendments and vote on the legislation.

The Financial CHOICE Act -- the Republican alternative to the failed Dodd-Frank Act -- will 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; impose tougher penalties on those who commit financial fraud; and demand greater accountability from Washington regulators.