A battalion of conservative think-tank luminaries battled for hours with Democratic House members Wednesday over the Republican effort to undo the Dodd-Frank financial reform act.
The conservatives were called in to testify in support of the Financial CHOICE Act by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and one of the leaders in the effort to essentially repeal key components of Dodd-Frank.
The CHOICE Act is the GOP vehicle for undoing Dodd-Frank, but during the committee session, House Democracts derided it as the "Wrong CHOICE Act."
Peter Wallison, a financial policy wonk with the American Enterprise Institute, claimed the Dodd-Frank Act deserves the primary blame for the slow recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.
The law was passed in 2010 in large measure to prevent a repeat of the problems that led to that crisis.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a ranking member of the committee, said she feared the CHOICE Act's removal of financial industry safeguards could lead to a repeat of the financial meltdown. Other Democrats who were on the committee when Dodd-Frank was passed, including New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, California Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, criticized the proposal for the same reason.
Lynch asserted the CHOICE Act is the worst legislation he has seen in his 16 years in Congress.
“It affects every home and business in America today,” he said.
Wallison argued that one of the products of Dodd-Frank, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, shouldn’t have the power to force Federal Reserve oversight on large insurers by designating them as large enough and risky enough to pose a risk to the financial system if they fail.
“State insurance regulation has been very successful,” he said.