Democrats Drag Feet On Dodd-Frank Overhaul Order ALL 589 Pages of Law Read Out Loud

VIA Pete Schroeder

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives opposed to Republican legislation that would repeal major sections of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law on Tuesday made multiple efforts to delay the bill.

The House Financial Services Committee was due to consider Representative Jeb Hensarling’s sweeping bill to rework the 2010 law. In addition to eliminating large portions of Dodd-Frank – enacted in the wake of the global financial crisis – it would put new handcuffs on regulators charged with writing and enforcing its rules.

The partisan maneuvering to slow work on the bill demonstrated how divided the two parties are regarding rules for the financial sector, casting doubt on Congress’s ability to revisit them significantly despite Republican President Donald Trump’s vow to “do a number” on existing regulations.

First, Democrats ordered a vote on whether the committee even wanted to actually consider the bill. That amendment passed with support from only the Republican majority.

Then, Democrats ordered that all 589 pages of the law be read out loud by the committee clerk. The reading of legislative language is almost always waived by committee members when considering a bill.

After about 3-1/2 hours of the bill being read to a largely empty committee room, Democrats agreed to shelve that request and proceed to the amendments they wanted to offer. Democrats had drawn up roughly 140 amendments they wanted to offer to change the bill, according to a House aide. But that number is expected to shrink as the two parties work out a path forward.

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