House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said he’s willing to tweak his plan to overhaul the Dodd-Frank Act before reintroducing it to Congress early next year.
The committee is “interested in working on a 2.0 version,” Hensarling said Wednesday at the Exchequer Club in Washington. “Advice and counsel is welcome.”
The Texas Republican’s comments come amid speculation that his Choice Act could serve as a blueprint for how Donald Trump overhauls financial reforms enacted after the 2008 economic crisis. During the event, Hensarling said the committee has been in “fairly constant dialogue” with Trump’s transition team about his legislation, but it hasn’t been explicitly endorsed by the president-elect.
Last week Trump’s transition team reiterated the campaign promise to scrap Dodd-Frank. A financial policy team is working on crafting measures that would dismantle the 2010 law and replace it with new policies that encourage economic growth and job creation, according to a statement on the transition team’s website.
Hensarling’s legislation includes a provision that empowers the government to dismantle failed banks. He also calls for eliminating the Volcker Rule restrictions on banks’ trading and investments, and weakening the reach of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
FSOC Value
The current version of Hensarling’s bill is unlikely to get much support from across the aisle in the Senate, which is necessary for it to become law.
Another part of Hensarling’s plan to amend Dodd Frank is putting the panel that designates companies as too big to fail “in the trash bin,” he said Wednesday. The Financial Stability Oversight Council, which was created by Dodd-Frank to identify systemically important financial institutions, or SIFIs, doesn’t have value, he said. FSOC designations of companies could lead to tighter capital and liquidity standards, though rules haven’t yet been finalized.
“I do not believe any institution in America is too big to fail,” Hensarling said.
Trump’s transition team was said to be considering Hensarling to serve as Treasury secretary, as well as former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Steve Mnuchin, investor Wilbur Ross Jr. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon. Hensarling said last week he would “certainly have the discussion” if Trump’s administration called, but that he isn’t pursuing the post.