Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Emmer (MN-06) joined his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to overhaul Dodd-Frank through the passage of the Financial CHOICE Act.
“Following our country’s financial crisis nearly ten years ago, Congress delivered a bright, shiny package called the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,” said Emmer. “The American people were promised an end to Washington bailouts, more protection for consumers and a more prosperous economy. Unfortunately, we got quite the opposite. Dodd-Frank has led to one of the slowest economic recoveries in 80 years, has failed to end bailouts and has enabled the growth of government’s excessive, unnecessary and overreaching regulations harming American entrepreneurs and consumers. In fact, Dodd-Frank has resulted in 27,669 new regulatory restrictions leading to more than 73 million hours of paperwork and more than $36 billion in compliance costs for the financial service industry. While big banks have gotten bigger, our community banks and credit unions – the lifeline of Main Street – are closing up shop, with Minnesota having lost 25 percent of our local financial institutions in the past seven years. Thankfully, today Congress intervened.”
“Through the passage of the Financial CHOICE Act, we begin to undo the redundant and excessive bureaucratic regulations that are strangling our community banks and credit unions,” said Emmer. “This legislation will remove the roadblock stifling our economic success by fostering an increased access to capital for our small business owners and entrepreneurs. It increases Congressional oversight and transparency, encourages a more accountable Federal Reserve, repeals the Fiduciary Rule and the list of necessary reforms goes on and on. Today, the House successfully passed reforms to shift power from Wall Street and Washington bureaucrats and return it back to Main Street and the American people where it belongs, and I am proud to support this major reform.”
Provisions from Emmer’s Micro-Offering Safe Harbor Act, Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act and FSOC Reform Act are included in the Financial CHOICE Act. These bills improve access to capital for small businesses and start-ups; ease the reporting burden on financial institutions when issuing mortgages to families and first time homebuyers; and promote accountability by bringing federal regulators like the Financial Stability Oversight Committee under the purview of the congressional appropriations process.
The Financial Choice Act is H.R. 10, Emmer is a cosponsor.
Congressman Emmer is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and spoke on the House Floor during debate of the Financial CHOICE Act. Click here to view video.
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