A top Senate Republican emphasized Thursday that he plans to pursue bipartisanship in his legislative agenda, rather than the partisan assault favored by some lawmakers.
“Succcesful, meaningful reforms will require buy-ins from both sides of the aisle,” said Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo of Idaho, appearing at a financial regulatory summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce across from the White House.
Such a path would be difficult, given that Crapo would have to deal with an energized populist Left in the Senate, represented by committee member Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and a House Republican caucus pursuing a sweeping conservative overhaul of former President Barack Obama’s Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
But Crapo said his goal is to work in a bipartisan manner and with the Trump administration. Trump, for his part, has called for dismantling the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which congressional Democrats fiercely defend.
The committee already has worked on bipartisan bills relating to securities laws. More legislation designed to get bipartisan support would be coming in the near term, Crapo said, because he wants to “put points on the board.”
At least one Republican on Crapo’s committee, Rep. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, has called for partisan legislation on matters such as reforming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, circumventing a Democratic filibuster through the budget process of reconciliation. Toomey reiterated that stance Thursday.
