House Democrats on Wednesday successfully blocked a GOP effort to swiftly pass a bill Republicans described as an effort to boost job creation and lower the burden of regulations.
Democrats called the legislation, which would have changed some provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, a favor to Wall Street.
Republicans on Tuesday night introduced the legislation, a package of 11 bills, and tried to pass it quickly Wednesday alongside a reauthorization of a terrorism risk insurance program by suspending the normal House rules for legislation.
But enough Democrats objected to prevent the bill from getting the two-thirds majority needed to approve it under suspension of the rules. The measure failed, 276-146.
“I am very pleased that House Democrats joined together to successfully fight against this Republican effort, a strong rebuke to their strategy of moving controversial legislation in the dead of night,” said Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
“I find it remarkable that just a few hours after gaveling Congress into session, Republicans eagerly brought such a complicated set of bills to the floor — well before any new members had a chance to study these issues or participate in hearings on them.”
Last year, the legislation cleared the House 320-102. That would have been enough to pass it Wednesday, but Democrats objected to expediting the bill. They also said it included new provisions, including a delay of part of the Volcker Rule, a key feature of Dodd-Frank that prevents banks with deposit insurance from speculative trading. The delay would have related to securities made up of business loans.
Part of Democrats’ resistance was likely driven by a desire to prevent the new GOP majorities in the House and Senate from trying to roll back larger parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. Prominent Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, tried to scuttle a government spending bill in December over a provision that stripped a Dodd-Frank provision.
Warren tweeted out her support for House Democrats’ move to block Wednesday’s bill, saying “Great work by [Rep. Pelosi], [Rep. Waters] & the House Dems to block the GOP from delaying the Volcker Rule for the biggest Wall St banks!”
Jeb Hensarling, the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he hoped the bill would be brought to the floor again in the “near future.”
“It’s disappointing so many Democrats, who voted for these provisions just four months ago, suddenly switched their votes in a transparent ploy to appease their far left-wing base,” Hensarling said. “They were for this bill before they were against it. They’ve regrettably told the millions of Americans who are still unemployed, the Main Street small businesses that are the engines of economic growth, and our farmers and ranchers in the Heartland that they will sacrifice positive, bipartisan ideas on the altar of ideological politics.”
Despite the House’s attempt to move the legislation in the first days of the new Congress, it is unlikely that it would have cleared the Senate quickly. Unlike the terrorism insurance bill, the Senate has not debated or developed its own version.
