Wall Street, Not Main Street Pushing CHOICE Act to Gut Financial Reform

Rep. Jeb Hensarling insists that his Financial CHOICE Act — a bill that would dismantle the financial reform — is driven by America’s small banks and credit unions. A look at the publicly available facts suggest Wall Street stands squarely behind this radical effort to destroy effective regulation.

The Financial Services Roundtable, a lobby group composed of the largest banks and insurers in the country, lauded Hensarling roundly in past communications. In a letter the day before the markup, the Roundtable called the bill “an important first step” in changing Dodd-Frank.

The American Bankers Association, a group that includes the nation’s largest banks, has also lavished praise on Hensarling: “Hensarling’s CHOICE Act includes key ABA priorities.” His House Financial Services Committee wrote into the bill provisions that overlap with ABA’s own blueprint for kneecapping regulators, a plan that involves watering down capital requirements, raising the costs of debit cards, and avoiding limits on expensive overdrafts.

Lobbying disclosures, available for anyone to see, show a specific interest in Hensarling’s bill among Wall Street’s megabanks and other big players in finance. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase both cited the legislation as a priority that drove $710,000 in lobbying spending each in the first quarter of 2017 alone.

The Securities Industry and Financial Market Association, a major Wall Street lobby, pumped $16 million into the political system during the 2015–16 election cycle. ABA funneled in $25 million. Hensarling himself got $1.9 million in industry cash, including over $120,000 from six Wall Street megabanks: Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.

And now Wall Street wants a return on its investment.