By a vote of 30 to 26, the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill titled "Create Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs" (the "CHOICE Act") (H.R. 5983). The Republican plan would replace the Dodd-Frank Act. The proposal offers banks and other financial institutions an alternative to the current regulatory regime if they maintain a 10% leverage ratio (among other conditions).
No Democrat on the Committee voted in support of the legislation or offered any amendment. According to a Delta Strategy Group summary of the meeting, one Republican member, Representative Bruce Poliquin (R-ME), voted against the legislation. Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) asserted that:
[T]he CHOICE Act . . . provides economic growth for all, bailouts for none. It ends bailouts. It ends too big to fail once and for all and assures that these companies are subject to bankruptcy, not bailout. It replaces taxpayer funds with loss-absorbing private capital – far more capital than either Dodd-Frank or Basel requires. And it substitutes market discipline for government control.
Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) argued that the "Choice Act is too flawed to be considered for markup, and Democrats will not offer any amendments and will move to dispense [with] this political theatre."
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