Top Democrats on the congressional committees with oversight of financial markets staked out their opposition Thursday to any Republican efforts to attach measures rolling back financial rules to must-pass government funding legislation.
Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters of California, his counterpart on the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to congressional leaders and appropriators Thursday outlining their opposition to such efforts.
In particular, they warned against the banking reform package authored by Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., that would reshape much of the financial system.
The two Democrats noted that a provision rolling back part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law was included in a government funding bill last year, becoming law over the outraged objections of congressional liberals.
“We hope that Congress does not make the same mistake this year by including riders that weaken Wall Street reform in end-of-the-year funding legislation,” they wrote.
Democrats and outside liberal groups have tried to raise awareness about the possibility of such maneuvers.
Before Congress passed stop-gap legislation in September to fund the government through December, top Senate Democrats said that the caucus was on “high alert” for riders included in spending bills.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is likely to become the Democratic leader after 2016, said then that “Democrats are standing arm-in-arm to protect” Dodd-Frank.
The financial services industry, however, has sought relief from new rules that lobbyists describe as onerous and harmful through different means.
Shelby, too, has aimed to advance his far-reaching bill through multiple avenues. After it received no Democratic votes when it cleared the committee, he attached it to a government appropriations bill.
Shelby told the Washington Examiner this week that he was “talking to some folks at pretty high levels” about finding support for legislation.
Asked if there was any deadline he faced for moving the bill, he simply said, “the Congress.”
Government funding runs out Dec. 11. Before then, Congress must pass legislation to raise the debt ceiling, which will be necessary by Nov. 3.
