House Republicans, and 29 Democrats, voted to gut the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms Wednesday, 271-154. The bill, not at all cynically titled the "Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act,"
rolls back many of the key reforms enacted in Dodd Frank.
It would delay the Volcker rule, which clamps down on commercial banks high-risk trading, remove regulations from private equity firms that provide investment banking services, and water down the rules and oversight on derivative trading—those unsecured, unbacked financial instruments that played such a key role in the financial crisis. Oh, and it would make it easier for publicly traded companies to hide their financial pasts, getting away with many of the transparency requirements for their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Consumer protection? Bah. It may be a new Congress, but Wall Street still owns it.