House Democrats hope to galvanize the public behind them in an effort to thwart a move by the GOP and Trump administration to repeal Obama-era banking reforms.
“Take it to the public,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Monday at a press conference opposing Republican efforts to repeal part of the much-criticized Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. “It’s about letting people know what is happening and how it affects them in their lives and how it affects economic stability.”
Democrats said they will fight efforts to dismantle the law, passed with mostly Democratic party support when they controlled the House and Senate. President Trump and Republicans appear to be laying the groundwork for loosening restriction in the law, which Democrats authored in an effort to protect consumers following the 2008 financial meltdown.
“What happened on Wall Street was about greed and also had been about criminality,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. “Nobody paid the price except the American consumer and the American taxpayer. We are not going to let that happen again.”
Republicans and critics of the law say its restrictive policies have prevented businesses from acquiring loans and have created burdensome regulations that have hurt the economy. Democrats, however, say they are only willing to consider minor tweaks in the law.
“If there is any opportunity to straighten out something that may not have been written in a way that everyone understands, some minor modifications, we have always been willing to do that,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Financial Service Committee.
Democrats criticized a move last week by Trump to signed an executive order to rescind the fiduciary rule, which requires investors to act in the best interest of clients instead of the making moves that bring the highest commissions. Critics of the fiduciary rule said it is costly and would limit investment options.
“That means, who are you responsible to when you advise somebody to make an investment,” Pelosi said in defense of the rule, which she said is aimed at protecting “the average retail investors who are not sophisticated.”
Democrats have few avenues to stop Republicans from passing roll-back language in the House, but it would face a much tougher hurdle in the Senate, where 60 votes and bipartisan backing would likely be required.
Waters said Democrats plan to publicize the law as much as they can to stir public interest.
“We are really talking about breaking down financial services language in ways the average citizen would understand,” Waters said. “When you are talking about deregulation, you are talking about getting rid of consumer protections.”
